November 23, 2025, Christ the King/Thanksgiving Sunday
John 18:33-37
Introduction
Today is Christ the King Sunday—the last Sunday of the Christian Year—and celebrates the coming reign of Jesus Christ. It’s a day in the life of the church that doesn’t get a lot of attention because it so often falls on the Sunday before Thanksgiving which is the typical focus. But this text for Christ the King Sunday can guide us to recognize and grow within both observances because this text is about identity—because when we allow Jesus to show us who we are—by showing us who he was, and is—then we can give thanks for the blessing of identity clarity.
Move 1
Do you ever feel like you are one person here and another person out there? Do you sometimes change who you are and how you present yourself depending on where you and who you are with? I suspect we all do.
In some settings, and with some people, there is integrity and alignment between who I say I am, my words and actions, and the values and truths that govern my life. Everything lines up. I’m honest, whole, and real. I’m comfortable in my own skin. But in other settings and with other people I change. I get anxious and doubt myself and the real me doesn’t show up. Who I am on the outside doesn’t match who I am on the inside. My words and actions, or more often my silence and passivity, contradict the values I claim to hold. I betray my own integrity. I lose myself. Maybe you know what that’s like.
I think being truly ourselves is one of the hardest things we do these days, and it’s getting harder. And consequently, we struggle to be ourselves and have authenticity and integrity regardless of where we are, who we’re with, or what is happening. And it’s just this kind of struggle that is at the heart of Jesus’ conversation with Pilate in today’s Gospel; all rooted in the three questions Pilate asks Jesus.
Now, Jesus certainly knows who he is, and is not struggling with the questions. But the questions Pilate asks are the questions we struggle with—and it’s in Jesus’ responses where we are shown how to deal with such struggles.
The three questions at the heart of today’s conversation between Pilate and Jesus are rooted in identity, action, and truth. I want to use those questions and the conversation between Pilate and Jesus as a lens through which to help us find identity clarity.
Move 2: Identity
“Are you the king of the Jews?” With this first question Pilate is asking, “Who are you?” And he wants a yes or no answer. He wants clarity. But Jesus knows it’s not a question answered by a simple yes or no because clarity about who we are goes far beyond a yes or no answer. Clarity to the question “Who are you?” goes beyond even our name, the work we do, the roles we fill, our birthplace, where we live, or who we’re related to. And this is why Jesus deepens and changes the direction of Pilate’s question, asking Pilate, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”
Jesus is asking, “Who’s asking? Is it you or someone or something else?” Jesus is asking, “Who’s directing your life?” And Jesus is asking this question of Pilate because Jesus understands how the world works and how the world will work in us if allow the world to direct us.
*******
So let’s put ourselves in the shoes of Pilate…Who or what directs your life today? Is it Wall Street and bank statements? The Republicans, the Democrats—your choice of news outlets? Is it your work or family? Is it the “temples” we’ve built that we heard Jesus talk about last week? Is it your reputation, your anger or grief, voices or wounds from the past? Is it the Gospel of Jesus Christ and values or qualities you find expressed there?
Whoever or whatever directs our life also identifies and defines us. It tells us who we are and who we are not. So ask yourself… Who or what is directing your life today? Then ask yourself if you are who you want to be? Is there more to you than who you’ve become? These questions help us to find identity clarity.
Move 3: Action
Next, Pilate asks, “What have you done?” And Pilate asks this because he understands whoever directs our lives, what actions we take, identifies and defines us. Pilate is asking his “Who are you?” question again. And Jesus responds, “My kingdom is not from this world.” Jesus moves that question from the outside to the inside, saying you can’t understand what I’ve done apart from the values I hold—so if you don’t have those values inside you, you’re not going to understand. For Jesus the kingdom represents God’s ultimate values; God’s desires and best hopes for the world, you, and me.
“My kingdom is not from this world” is Jesus saying our actions and words reveal the values we hold, and the values we hold are expressed in what we do and say. Our outside and our inside are always in relationship, sometimes through alignment, but other times through contradiction.
So let’s put ourselves in the shoes of Pilate again…What have you done? Look at what you are doing in your life today. Listen to what you are saying or posting on social media. Consider what you’ve said and done this past year. What values are being revealed, affirmed, or contradicted? What do they have to do with the Gospel? Is that who you want to be and how you want to live? And if it’s not, what will you do to show clearly who you are?
Move 4: Truth
And finally, still trying to get to a place of clarity, Pilate asks, “So you are a king?” And Jesus says, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Jesus is once again redirecting Pilate’s question saying, “You still don’t get it. It’s not about a title, it’s about truth.” And for Jesus truth is not a concept, or a proposition, nor is it something to simply believe. Truth is a way of being. Truth is something to be done.
To make truth just a belief is too easy. I can believe the truth of love, but am I loving you, my neighbor, my enemy? I can believe the truth of forgiveness, but what does that matter if I don’t forgive? I can believe the truth of welcoming the stranger, and still close my doors and heart to the migrant and refugee. I can believe the truth of a thousand different things, but never do a single one of them. Which ultimately means… if I’m not doing the truth, it doesn’t much matter what I believe.
Jesus testified to the truth by doing the truth; by loving, forgiving, welcoming, healing, feeding. What about you and me? What is the truth in your life today? What truth are we doing? What truth is still waiting to be done by you and me that will bring clarity to our identity?
Conclusion
On this Christ the King Sunday we celebrate that Jesus is King, and that his reign throughout the Christian Year once again unfolded before our hearts and spirits, bringing clarity to who we are—holy and beloved children of God. And on this Thanksgiving Sunday, we rejoice, celebrate and give thanks for this truth and for this identity.
But, for some, Thanksgiving is a day when our identity is challenged the most. Be it through traps set by those just wanting to pick a political fight, saying things like, “Can you believe that government shutdown? Well, you know who’s to blame, right?” Or maybe we’re challenged through nosy questions, “So… are you seeing anybody?” Or maybe, “When are we going to have some little ones running around here?” Or, “Nice house. How much did you pay for it?” And my favorite are those times when you are cornered by someone who goes off on a one-sided rant about the state of the world; or their chronic and debilitating health struggles; or if you are a preacher, a judgmental diatribe that often ends with, “So we know they’re not going to make it into heaven.”
All of it can challenge our identity, and muddy the waters between who we really are, and who we will let be seen. And that’s when we have to return to Jesus to claim again our identity clarity.
*******
Jesus never let his identity, action, or truth-doing be determined by where he was or who he was with. Instead, he brought his identity, action, and truth doing to every place he went, every person he met, and every circumstance he faced. Who he was here is who he was over there. And that’s how I want to live, don’t you?
Our struggle for authenticity, integrity, clarity about who we are is the struggle to reclaim ourselves. Every place we go, every person we meet, every circumstance we face holds before us challenges and struggles about our authenticity and integrity.
And Jesus showed us, and showed us how, we can be confronted by the struggle of who we are and who others are trying to make us out to be; and how to overcome that struggle—by knowing, and living, that it is Jesus who directs us; it is Jesus who leads us in our actions; and it is doing the truth of Jesus in our living that truly proclaims who we are, whose we are.
So on this very special Sunday, let us embrace and give thanks for who we are, and who we are blessed to be. Holy and beloved children of God, who know who we are, whose we are, and who we can show the world we are, wherever we are—all because Jesus has give us identity clarity. Happy Thanksgiving. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, November 23, 2025, Christ the King/Thanksgiving Sunday
Eternal God, in whose reign we find our true selves, we gather on this Christ the King Sunday, and lift up our hearts in prayer, acknowledging the words of Pilate and the quiet, persistent truth of your Son, Jesus, who declared that his kingdom is not of this world.
We thank you for the kingship of Christ—a reign not built on earthly power or coercion or fear; but on truth, grace, and sacrificial love. His is a kingdom that transforms hearts and minds, offering a peace the world cannot give.
As we also observe Thanksgiving Sunday, our hearts overflow with gratitude. You have been our provider, our sustainer, and our constant source of strength, and there are no words adequate to express our thanks for the bounty of the earth, for our daily bread, for the relationships that enrich our lives, and for the promise of eternal life through Christ our King.
So we will simply ask that on all days you open our eyes to the countless blessings we often take for granted and instill in us a spirit of profound thankfulness. Then help us to share those blessings in any way we can so that the spirit of thankfulness spills far beyond our dinner tables and homes.
Lord God, when surrounded by the fleeting promises of earthly power and security, keep us grounded in who you have called us to be, helping us to discern your truth in a world full of competing voices. Give us the courage to stand for justice and righteousness, mirroring the values of your eternal kingdom. Embolden us to be citizens of both this world and the next, faithful in our responsibilities here, while living out our true identity as your holy and beloved children who share kingdom with all.
Now Lord, we bring before you the specific concerns of our hearts, and ask you to hear them clearly in this time of Holy Silence.
All these things we offer to you, our King and our God, through Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”