A sermon preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields on November 23, 2025 by Revd Richard Carter
Today is the day we remember Christ the King. It has for 33 years been a very special day for me because it is the day I was ordained as a priest in 1992. But what does it mean when we say Christ is King?
The idea of kingship in 2025 has a mixed message. What does it mean to be a king? What does it mean to have a kingdom? Last month in the United States of America, millions took to the streets in what was called a ‘No Kings’ demonstration. It was a mass peaceful protest against what the organisers described as increasing authoritarianism in the leadership of their nation, and disregard for democratic principles. This was a protest, they said, against the undermining of democratic principles and abuse of power. They targeted specific policies including mass deportations by masked militarised agents and the denial of climate change ravaging the natural world. Their placards read ‘The USA is a republic not a monarchy’.
We have all become aware around our world of the rise of autocratic models of leadership-the age of the strong man. Leadership that vaunts an image of masculine power-mocking and bullying opposition, presenting compassion as weakness and care for the poor and vulnerable as liberal ‘wokeism’, presenting humanitarian values as a virus of the mind that undermines the power of individuals and nations to succeed. We have seen an autocratic populism undermining issues of vital importance like international climate change agreements, international human rights, international aid, health care and health insurance, and the human rights of minority groups, like LGBTQI+ rights and the top scape-goat – the human rights of migrants and refugees: in this style of kingship there is a deliberate bypassing of democratic institutions, while claiming to to represent the ‘voice of the people’ against elites.
Social media has, as we know, often played a major role in the rise of such leadership and populism creating a playing field where no one is certain of the truth and all former rules of playing the game are frequently being undermined. This pervasive message of unashamedly vaunting one’s power, self-interest and domination has also sadly become a model that threatens our young people. In a recent survey by the BBC of those aged between 11-17, 47% said that they trusted the news they read on social media was true. Like many I watched with growing horror the brilliant award-winning programme Adolescence which portrays a young adolescent boy struggling to find a macho male identity, threatened and bullied himself and becoming indoctrinated by violently misogynistic toxic voices on social media. He resorts to terrifying violence towards a girl he fears has not only rejected him but by so doing publicly shamed his manhood. It is a chilling exposure of the power of social media and bullying peer pressure to poison the mind and destroy lives with false truth.
Two month ago in the UK, London witnessed a mass far right demonstration; many of the demonstrators draped in St George’s crosses or carrying wooden crosses and Christian slogans on banners while from the speakers’ platform in Whitehall crowds were led in chants of ‘Christ is King’ while the crowds were urged to defend ‘God, faith, family and homeland’. Outside St Martin-in-the-Fields, members of our congregation, with a banner reading ‘St Martin-in-the-Fields Refugees are Welcome Here’, had it torn from their hands and its poles snapped.
Rowan Williams and John Sentamu in response to this so called ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally publicly admonished the organisers of the demonstration for using the language of faith to ‘foster fear’ and divide the kingdom. A wide group of Church of England bishops and senior clergy joined leaders from across other denominations to speak out against any ‘co-opting or corrupting’ of the Christian faith and symbols to exclude others.
‘As Christians from different theological and political backgrounds, we stand together against the misuse of Christianity,’ they wrote.
‘The cross is the ultimate sign of sacrifice for the other.’
‘Jesus calls us to love both our neighbours and our enemies and to welcome the stranger.’
‘Any co-opting or corrupting of the Christian faith to exclude others is unacceptable.’
I began by saying that the feast Christ the King has always been a day of joy and celebration for me. A day to celebrate and follow the call of a very different kind of king and kingdom to the one I have just described. In our Gospel today the first thing we notice is that this king, Christ the King, is on a cross. He is not, nor has he ever been the proponent of violence, prejudice or hatred. Quite the contrary. Again and again in his teaching with his own very flesh and blood he has opposed violence of any kind. He has consistently claimed quite the opposite: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God’.
‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’
Not only has Jesus himself opposed the use of violence but also all forms of discrimination, and his message has continually taken the side of the marginalised. He has taken the side of the gentile, the Samaritan woman, the leper, the sinner, the outcast, the woman taken in adultery – far from creating victims or scape goats, again and again he has liberated them. And he has often claimed that it is in the foreigner and the outcasts that he witnesses the greatest faith.
And most mortally, not only has Jesus opposed violence with incredible courage proclaiming ‘He who lives by the sword dies by the sword’, he is also himself the innocent victim of violence – the one who is himself falsely accused, beaten, crowned with thorns. On the cross he himself is visibly is stripped of power, he is ridiculed and publicly shamed – this is the complete opposite of the strong man. In Jesus’ death we witness the tortured body of one who gives themselves in love for others. In the words of St Paul: ‘We preach a crucified Christ – a stumbling block for Jews, and foolishness for Greeks – but for those who are being called both Jews and Greeks – Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.’ Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world and he dies in solidarity with the abandoned– A naked man crying out on a cross under a sign that reads- ‘The king of the Jews’.
Today’s Gospel, far from vaunting power or anger or condemnation or blame, reveals Jesus’ love in total powerlessness. He calls on his father to forgive- ‘father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing’. He dies abandoned. Even forgiveness belongs not to him in his agony – but to God, their God too. Their father too. This cry is not a cry of self-assertion but in all his pain this prayer to his father for their redemption- it is astonishing act of utter mercy and faith in God as the provider of that mercy- at the very point of suffering when human nature cries out most for revenge Jesus pleads for the forgiveness of those who have crucified him.
And now we see the bitter irony of the leaders scoffing at our king, ‘he saved others but he cannot save himself’. But for the true king – Christ the King – salvation is the salvation of others- there is no other way. Kingship is not about the salvation of self, it is the truth that it is only in our love for others, in healing, in forgiveness, that we too live- that is the meaning of salvation. It is not about me- it is about us, all of us.
And now the two thieves crucified either side of Jesus cry out; the first challenging Jesus, but the second thief recognising something about the unique nature of this king: somehow even in the agony of the cross he has seen that though he himself is one who punished justly, Jesus is innocent. It is hard to defend the innocence of another when we ourselves are under condemnation – even harder in the midst of one’s own agony to admit one’s own guilt and yet this thief sees the true meaning of salvation- the true humanity and the true divinity of this Jesus- ‘Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom’. He does not ask for forgiveness. He asks simply to be remembered. In response, Jesus promises to be with him and by extension all of us – not only in the pain of this world but also in paradise. Jesus is not poisoned by his own suffering and victimhood- at the moment of his greatest agony he gives a gift even greater than mercy- he gives eternal life.
Today I have talked about different models of kingship. I know which king I want to follow, if only I have the grace of God to do so.
Thirty three years ago when I said yes to Jesus Christ at my ordination- it was the best choice I ever made in my life. I have never ever regretted it, though I have frequently failed to live up to its beauty, demands and promises. I still more than ever want to follow Christ the King- my guide, my inspiration-my saviour Jesus Christ the one who searches out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless, reaching into the forgotten corners of our world, so that the love of God may be made visible.
This was the ordination promise that called my heart and still does:
Will you, knowing yourself to be reconciled to God in Christ, strive to be an instrument of God’s peace
By the help of God, I will.
Will you work with your fellow servants in the gospel for the sake of the kingdom of God?
By the help of God, I will.
Though you are still very, very young Arabella, you begin that same path today. A journey to the kingdom, a journey of love which never ends. Today those who loved you made the promise for you to turn to Christ as your king too. You too will face struggles and difficulties but I promise you this, if Christ is your king- he will never, ever desert you. Arabella, today with everyone here and with your loving parents and godparents and grandparents and family and friends, you have entered a family of love- a kingdom that will last forever. With faith, with simplicity, with hope, with love today you begin this journey with Jesus and his goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life and with Christ as your king you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. We pray for you today Arabella, we pray for all of us. All our lives we will have to resist prejudice, injustice and fear and day after day we will discover that to which Christ beckons us. It is to be born again. Born again through his love. It’s a calling to be fully alive and alive to others. The love of Christ the King is what we are called to live. In this way the future is filled with possibility and love, just as you are dear Arabella on this day of your baptism.
