Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe Year C – Homily (2025)
Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe
2 Samuel 5:1-3
Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5 (see 1)
Colossians 1:12-20
Luke 23:35-43
November 23, 2025
God has always led his people.
The Israelites wanted a king like every other nation had (1 Samuel 8:1-9). God warned them how a king would treat them (1 Samuel 8:10-18). Yet, they persisted in asking for a king. God granted their request (1 Samuel 8:19-22).
God appointed Saul as king. As God foretold, Saul was not a good king. The Israelites came to realize this. They would come to ask David to be their king.
They ask David because he is their bone and flesh. They realize it was David who had led them in their victories. Lastly, they pick David as their king because they have come to know that the Lord said to him, “You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.” … Perhaps they should have started with the last reason, because God said so (see 1 Samuel 16:1-13).
So, they anointed David “king of Israel.”
Today we celebrate the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe. We call Jesus the Christ. “Christ” means the anointed one, the chosen one. Jesus is the one the Jews had been waiting for. He is the chosen one and He is to be our king.
Many Jews who saw what Jesus did and heard what He taught had come to think He was the Messiah, the Christ, they had been waiting for.
Many of them expected a messiah who would get rid of the Romans, restore the nation of Israel, and serve as their political king.
Their hopes seemed shattered when Jesus was arrested and crucified. How could such things happen to the Messiah!
Thinking him not to be the messiah, the rulers began to mock him and the soldiers joined in. They mocked him as “the chosen one, the Christ of God” and as the “King of the Jews.” They called on him to save himself but they really didn’t understand what it meant for him to save others or himself.
They also didn’t properly understand what it meant for Jesus to be the King of the Jews. He indeed is king but not of a political nation.
Jesus was not interested in politics and neither should we. Yet, He did speak about issues that come up in politics. He spoke not for political motives but to speak about what is right. We need to do the same.
Even one of the criminals crucified alongside him mocked him. Yet, there was another criminal who was the one who recognized Jesus’ innocence and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The “good criminal” understands that Jesus’ kingdom does not belong to this world (cf. John 18:36).
The “good criminal” has seen the glory in Jesus and repents. For this, Jesus said to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” He has seen the “glory of the coming of the Lord.” He understands Jesus to be king who tramples out what is not in accord with God’s Will (see “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” by Julia W. Howe, 19th century).
Jesus is not king of just the nation of Israel. He is king of “all the ends of the earth.” He is king of all the creatures of the sea. He is the King of the Universe. We should “lift up our eyes to the wonders of the Lord” as we see his deeds and wonders. It is not just Israel who will call Jesus Lord but “every nation” (see “All the Ends of the Earth” by Bob Dufford, 1981).
What does it mean to say Jesus is king?
Paul provides some answers in his Letter to the Colossians. Paul writes of Jesus, “He is the image of the invisible God…all things were created through him and for him…He is the head of the body, the church.”
Jesus has always been involved in the lives of his people from creation for “he is the beginning” and He comes to be our head. He comes to “reconcile all things” to himself.
Recognizing Jesus as our king we have “builded him an altar.” We recognize Jesus as the one who sifts “out all human hearts before his judgment seat” and delivers “the righteous sentence.”
Jesus is the one who defines what it true. Where do we find his truth? The greatest weapon in the battle to follow Jesus is not a sword of military conquest.
Here I think of the words found in Hebrews 4:12, “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”
Are you ready to accept Jesus as your king?
Do you let God’s Word penetrate your soul?
You must accept his words as found in the bible to follow him. To accept Jesus as our king we must enthrone him in our hearts. We must make him #1 in our lives. We must stop listening to the world instead of Jesus.
Have you?
Is Jesus your #1 priority? Are you sure? Is Jesus more important to you than work? How about sports, musicals, or plays? Do you live your lives according to Jesus’ teaching or as the world says? If you reject what our faith teaches in favor of what the world says, you have not made God #1 in your life. Let us “never call retreat.”
We must live his Word. We must speak up for what we believe in faith. Do not speak in the name of politics. Rather speak in the name of Jesus our King.
Jesus is the one who laid down his life for you. Follow him.