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Daniel English

December 17, 2025

Sermon - Advent 2 Midweek

Hebrews‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭4; Hebrews‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬-‭10‬; Psalm 45:1-7

Jesus Christ - Our King

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christ is King. Everything was put in subjection under Christ’s feet. Everything is under Christ’s control (Hebrews 2:8). Christ commands the morning and causes the dawn to know its place, Christ has seen the storehouses of the snow and the hail, Christ provides the raven its prey and Christ knows when the mountain goats give birth (Job 38:12, 22, 41; 39:1). He knows every hair on your head (Luke 12:7), and He knows the number of your days (Psalm 139:16). Each week during our midweek Advent services when the Thanksgiving for Light has been sung, we have proclaimed that Christ is the Lord our God, King of the Universe. Christmas Choir concerts that sing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah—if they still sing it—proclaim: “The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 11:15;19:16). Christ is King… and yet… we can’t see it.

We hear about the triumphant victory of our King, but in many ways our lives are characterized by pain and suffering. A body aching with the pains of age, the death of a loved one, broken trust and broken relationships, sometimes we even suffer violence and abuse. Some traumatic moments bring suffering that lasts for years. If you haven’t suffered yet… you will. Given enough time, we will all suffer… Philosophers have wrestled with this for a long time. It is called this “the problem of suffering.” An ancient philosopher, Epicurus, set up this paradox: If God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good… then suffering shouldn’t exist. But it does. Why do we suffer? For some this is a very challenging question. For the Christian, the answer is simple, though it may be unsatisfying… or hard to hear: it is our fault. When mankind fell into sin in the garden all evil and suffering followed. But fast forward to today… didn’t Christ win? Didn’t Christ say on the cross, “It is finished?” Maybe you’ve thought about this before. If Christ is King, why does evil remain? Why do we suffer?

This is the challenge of understanding Christ as King. Right here in our second reading from the book of Hebrews, beginning with the quote from Psalm 8: “‘You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.’ Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside of his control.” …everything is in Christ’s control… but… “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him” (Hebrews 2:7b-8). Jesus Christ is at this moment reigning at the Right Hand of the Heavenly Father… but at present we do not yet see it. “But,” the reading continues: “we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). Instead of a dazzling crown of gold set with precious stones, we see a crown of thorns. What kind of King is this? Instead of what you might imagine the King of the Universe to look like… we see a Suffering Servant.

So when we ask what to do with suffering, we can, as with all things, look to Christ. What did Christ do with suffering? … He endured it. Look at Hebrews again: we see “Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:9b-10). Jesus was made perfect through suffering. Jesus tasted death for you. Jesus came down to earth to suffer for you, and now you can know that you do not suffer alone, but Christ suffers with you. Isn’t that beautiful? Who could have predicted that to show His might and power, God chose to do it through mercy and self-sacrifice. Through bitter, innocent sufferings and death. How many of the world’s invented gods humiliated themselves to become flesh and suffer for the sake of their creation? Only the True God did that… our God, Jesus the Christ, and He did it for you.

From the early days of Jesus’ ministry, there was serious confusion about what exactly it was that our Lord Christ was here on earth to do. Right after he miraculously fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two small fish, John records in his Gospel account that the people recognize Jesus as the prophet who is to come into the world and immediately want to “take him by force to make him king” (John 6:14). But what kind of king? Paul Kretzmann writes in his Popular Commentary, “... Jesus is not a mere Helper in physical needs; His aim is not to cater to the temporal, carnal desires of men; He is no ‘bread-king.’ [...] the idea of an earthly kingdom was not included in His plan of salvation” (Kretzmann Popular Commentary on John 6:15-21). In Luke’s Gospel, shortly after this event Jesus foretells His death for the first time, “saying, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22). Here Jesus begins to correct the misconception amongst His disciples—something they will not understand fully until they are filled with the Holy Spirit some three years later at Pentecost. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall, Jesus’s kingdom is forever. The Explanation of the Small Catechism says, “As King, Christ rules with His almighty power over all creation, governs and protects especially His church, and finally leads His church to glory in heaven” (Small Catechism 1991 p126-127). King Jesus rules over His Kingdom in order to protect and preserve His church, not from suffering, but from unbelief, sin, the devil, and hell.

This Advent we have been considering Christ according to his threefold office: Prophet, Priest, and King. Each week we have looked at a type of Christ and compared the two to learn more: Moses the prophet was a type of Christ, as a prophet Jesus represents God to us. Jesus brings God’s Word to us, Jesus is the very Word made flesh! Aaron the priest was a type of Christ, as a priest Jesus represents us to God. He offers Himself up as the atoning sacrifice for our sins and continuously intercedes for us with His Heavenly Father. Remember the type points to Christ and Christ is the real deal, He is always greater.

Up until now I’ve been using the imagery of a shadow. The shadow is the type, and whatever is casting the shadow is the fulfillment, the real thing. Now I want you to switch metaphors with me and think about it like a typewriter. I tried this during a children’s message last year and it didn’t work, but I hope I have a better demographic alignment now. A typewriter has a metal arm called a typebar for each letter. At the end of the typebar there is a little embossed letter, called the typeslug. When you press the ‘A’ key, the typebar with an ‘A’ typeslug launches forward and imprints an ‘A’ through the ink ribbon onto a sheet of paper. The ‘A’ on the page is a type of the ‘A’ on the metal arm. The ‘A’ on the page isn’t actually the metal ‘A’ but you know the letter ‘A’ when you see it. Now think about it this way, Christ is the fulfillment, Christ is the real deal, he is the King… and each one of you is a type of Christ. When you were baptized, an imprint was made on your heart. C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N, “Christian.” You were made a child of God. You were made a new creation. As Luther would say it, you became a “Little Christ.”

In 1999 Rev. Dr. Richard C. Eyer from Concordia University Wisconsin wrote on the Problem of Suffering: “Because we have become one with [Christ] through our baptism, our suffering has become his and his has become ours. It is as Paul says, ‘I rejoice in my sufferings… I complete what is lacking in Christ's suffering…’ This suffering we bear adds nothing to our salvation. We do not suffer to earn heaven. Rather, our suffering has become Christ's suffering in us as he attaches himself to us through our baptism. [...] It is hopeful… to say that our suffering is from God for then we know to whom we must turn who is [all-good] and [all-powerful] and will turn our tears into joy in heaven.” Suffering, then, is no longer a problem for the Christian. By Christ’s suffering, you are forgiven and set free. You are joined to His death and resurrection by your baptism. Now, you are invited to share in the sufferings of Christ. This has even become a joyful thing. You are invited to share in the sufferings of your neighbor. You can even suffer wrong at the hands of others… your friends, your children, your spouse. You can suffer wrong without complaint and give forgiveness without end because you know the power of Christ’s sufferings for you, and all that Christ has forgiven for you. We can echo the words of the apostle Paul, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory for ever and ever” (2 Timothy 4:18).

In the Name of Jesus, Our Heavenly King. Amen.