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Preaching, Sermons

We Don’t Do Kings [OR What Does Rihanna’s Song “Umbrella” Have in Common with an Ancient Swedish Proverb]

Pastor Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church for Christ the King Sunday on November 23, 2025

[sermon begins after two Bible readings – see the third one at the end of the sermon]

Luke 23:33-43 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 [[Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Jeremiah 23:1-6 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. 3 Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall no longer fear or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
5 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

[sermon begins]

“When the sun shines, we shine together
Told you I’ll be here forever
Said I’ll always be your friend
Took an oath, I’ma stick it out to the end.
Now that it’s raining more than ever
Know that we’ll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella.”[1]

I know some of you can keep singing that song with or without me but let’s try to focus. Terius “The-Dream” Nash, co-writer of Rihanna’s song “Umbrella” said that it “originally came to him as a metaphor for God’s unconditional protection reflected in the chorus of the song.”[2] While the song clearly morphed from those pious beginnings, it’s also possible that Terius knows the ancient Swedish proverb, “Shared joy is double joy, and shared sorrow is half sorrow.” Both “Umbrella” and the Swedish proverb shine a light on empathy. When you share my joy, it’s as if joy expands. When I feel sad and you’re with me, I may still be sad but I’m less alone which can make the sorrow less threatening.

It’s not every Sunday that you get a mash up of Rihanna and an ancient Swedish proverb, but here we are on Christ the King Sunday. Even the title of Christ the King strikes a discordant note in a Sunday worship service. We don’t do kings. Especially as Americans. A Revolutionary War was fought to separate from the tyranny of King George III. Even so, Christ the King Sunday is a relatively new holy day in the church. Almost exactly 100 years ago, there was a Catholic Pope, Pius XI, concerned about the rise of fascism in Spain, communism in Russia, antisemitism presaging nazism in Germany, and secularism in the West.[3] So seductive were these -isms, they captured the imagination of faithful Christians who decided God was on their side. Pope Pius XI spotlighted the Lordship of Jesus to refocus the faithful in 1925. Lutherans adopted the Christ the King celebration in the 1970s. That’s pretty much yesterday in the grand sweep of 2,000 years of church history.

Christ the King Sunday now ends our church year. It’s a New Year’s Eve for church types. As we wrap up this church year, the Biblical texts for Christ the King Sunday include: the prophet Jeremiah’s proclamation of the Lord’s promise to raise up a wise, just, and righteous king; the book of Colossians’ image of Jesus before all things and also in whose kingdom we are made subjects through redemption and the forgiveness of sins: and lastly the Gospel of Luke’s story of Jesus hanging on the cross under the inscription, “King of the Jews.”

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that most of us don’t have firsthand experience living under a king’s reign. We know them in theory, in history, and in fabled story. The prophet Jeremiah knew three or four actual kings. Those kings were not taking care of the people. Jeremiah meant the kings of Judah when he wrote, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.” In the ancient near east, shepherd was a typical metaphor for king.[4] The Lord’s intention was to raise a shepherd from the line of King David, the line from which Jesus was born 600 years after Jeremiah wrote.

The line from which this long-promised shepherd is hanging from a cross. A King. On a cross. For the disciples, Jesus’ crucifixion was proof that the kingdom hadn’t come. Their guy and their side had lost.[5] Crucifixion was how Rome controlled the empire. You didn’t have to actually be a criminal. Rome criminalized a lot of people and hung them on crosses.[6] The empire secured their power through fear. Jesus’ death on the cross was a consequence for how he lived the last three years of his life and what he taught.[7] But it was also more than that. I mean, I didn’t sing Rihanna at the beginning of this sermon for nothing. As she sang about shining together before it started raining more than ever, she’s singing about the joy and pain of life. The great mystery of suffering finds one answer in the crucified king which is God’s solidarity with us in our suffering.[8] That’s the kind of king that’s interesting. A king of compassion and mercy who says things like Jesus, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[9] A king not interested in power over all others. A king who empties himself in service to the world.

Years ago, when I was dipping my toe back into church after ten years away, one thing was essential and that was figuring out where suffering fits in this life. It sounds silly to say that out loud. Brilliant theologians and philosophers haven’t been able to answer the question of why suffering exists although Lord knows they’ve tried. As a pediatric oncology nurse, I saw suffering that should not exist. As a six-year-old child, I had a loving father who could no longer parent because of extreme mental illness. A brilliant father who became homeless because of a brain that could not work. I needed a way to understand a loving God, if my own father’s love wasn’t enough to overcome his illness. The cross is one way to experience God’s presence in the midst of suffering, not the cause of it. A way of understanding God suffering with us because God knows suffering personally in Jesus on the cross. The cross may be insufficient in the experience of suffering in real time. But real suffering can find comfort in the shadow of the cross.

The cross is part of Christ the King Sunday but it’s not the whole story. Jesus said to the criminal hanging next to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus’ promise makes all the difference between the kingdoms of this world based on force or wealth and the kingdom of God based on cross and resurrection.[10] The shepherd who gives life and leads in love is the Lord we follow and confess. Whose kingship compels our hearts, minds, and lives into the reign of God on earth, over and above the pull of power in the world.[11] Not a bad idea given the timeless appeal of trading grace and love of neighbor for earthly power.

On this Christian New Year’s Eve, we are on the cusp of a new church year that begins next Sunday with Advent. During Advent, we await the sweet baby Jesus’ birth. A child who grew up showing us a different Way to live. A way to shine together and protect each other from the rain. Sharing joy and shouldering sorrow with each other. A way of grace, hope, and love so subversive that it threatens the powerful who would have us fear each other. Jesus the Christ was vulnerable, non-violent, self-sacrificing, and died on the cross. He was resurrected into Christ the King who shepherds us on the Way of Jesus. Happy Church New Year everyone. This is good news indeed!

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[1] Umbrella lyrics: Rihanna Umbrella (feat. JAY-Z) Lyrics – Search

[2] Nya Etienne. The Real Meaning Behind Rihanna’s Smash Hit Song Umbrella (The List: August 12, 2023). The real meaning behind Rihanna’s smash hit song Umbrella

[3] Frank C. Senn. The Not-So-Ancient Origins of Christ the King Sunday. Lutheran Forum. November 11, 2017. https://www.lutheranforum.com/blog/2017/11/11/the-not-so-ancient-origins-of-christ-the-king-sunday

[4] Rolf Jacobson, Professor of Old Testament, Lutheran Seminary, Saint Paul, MN. Podcast commentary for November 23, 2025. #1053: Christ the King – November 23, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[4] Skinner, ibid.

[5] N.T. Wright. Surprised by Hope (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), 40

[6] Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Lutheran Seminary, Saint Paul, MN. Podcast commentary for November 23, 2025. #1053: Christ the King – November 23, 2025 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary

[7] Skinner, ibid.

[8] John Paul II. Crossing the Threshold of Hope. (Alfred Knopf: New York, 1994), 63.

[9] Luke 23:24

[10] N.T. Wright, ibid.

[11] Lucy Lind Hogan, Hugh Latimer Elderdice Professor of Preaching and Worship, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington D.C.  Commentary on John 18:33-37 for November 25, 2018.   https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3885 AND Frank C. Senn, 2007. Lutheran Forum  The Not-So-Ancient Origins of Christ the King Sunday — Lutheran Forum

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Colossians 1:11-20  May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Sermons

Matthew 24:36-44 A Future With Hope [or Enough With the Rapture Already]

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Matthew 24:36-44 A Future With Hope [or Enough With the Rapture Already]

December 1, 2013 – Caitlin Trussell

Augustana Lutheran Church, Denver, CO

 

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

 

For one long summer, I was a day-camp counselor.  Not the super-fun-guitar-strumming kind – just kick that little bit of counselor stereotype right on outta here.  Oh no, I was the 17-year-old-in-charge-of-a-large-group-of-5-year-old-girls kind of counselor.  I was more the protector-against-mortal-peril kind of counselor – think mother hen.  Our location was cool but slightly tricky for herding 12 little girls.  It was a dried out river arroyo near Pasadena, California.  Water hadn’t run through it in eons and it was full of scrub oak and draught-resistant trees and the constant threat of poison oak.  We built a group fort and created a group flag which means that there was fort raiding and flag stealing going on.  It was utter triumph to show up at the end of the day flag ceremony with another group’s flag – a sign of a successful raid.

Victory and shame were the two-sides of that stolen flag event.  The ultimate in victory was to show up at the flag ceremony with another groups’ kid – but for the counselor with the missing kid, it was the ultimate shame.  Any of you want to guess who one of those shamed camp counselors was at the end of the day?  Yup, yours truly.  Oh, the ultimate shame…knowing your kid was taken and knowing the return would be anything but a triumph.  After all, even in this fairly innocent form, being taken was not a good thing…

Being taken is rarely a good thing.  In fact, our gospel writer seems to have a strong bias against being taken, a problem so big that no one would ever knowingly opt into it.  Revisiting the flood story reveals this negative bias.  The people swept away in the flood story, the ones not on the ark, were leading their normal lives until they suddenly were not.  Through the story of those lost in the flood, the gospel writer is setting up the negative lens of being taken.

The negative lens of being taken is the set up to read the next verses.  There are two workers in the field, one taken the other not; and the two women grinding meal together, one taken and one left.  Through the lens of the flood story, being taken out of the field or away from the grinding are big problems in this text.  And of course that’s problematic!  Who would want to be living life in one moment and only to be taken out of it the next?!

In the context of the gospel of Matthew, being taken is a bad deal.  At the time of its writing, chaos was in full force.  The Roman occupation left the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem destroyed, there were wars and rumors of wars, and many people were suddenly being taken away, kidnapped either to be killed or enslaved.[1]  In this text being taken is a bad deal.  For people curious about or hurt by rapture theology, this begs a critical question? [2] If being taken is a bad deal, might the gospel be suggesting that being left behind is the better deal?

For some of us long told otherwise about being left behind, just asking this question of scripture can be good news indeed.  And, for some of us, it may be the only good news needed today.  However, in the interest of full disclosure on the Bible text today, there’s more…you just have to wait for it – which is appropriate because Advent is a time of waiting.

As Advent begins, the first Sunday is filled with the image of actively waiting and keeping watch.  This scripture argues for watchfulness in the midst of life being lived.  Notice that the list of activities of those washed away in the flood were simply normal activities, not tied to judgment – “they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.”  The workers in the field and the women grinding meal are doing the work of daily living.  So, by their example, we are also encouraged to be living and working and taking care of the things of daily life even, and maybe especially, in the midst of the chaos of the times.

This is part of the reassurance of this text.  There is a lot that cannot be controlled.  But there is still life to live.  And into the chaos, the wars, the kidnappings, and just as equally into the work, the life, the events of the day, comes the Son of Man.  The Son of Man is also called “the Son” as well as “Lord” in these verses.  All of these labels mean Jesus.  Jesus is the Son; Jesus is Lord; and Jesus is the Son of Man.  It’s important to spell this out because there seems to be a temptation to disconnect the Son of Man in this passage in Matthew from the Jesus revealed in the gospels as a whole.  As if somehow Jesus lived, loved, healed, and died, and then resurrected in a seriously bad mood ready to wield some divine wrath upon a fallen humanity.

It is not so difficult to fathom how idea of the Son of Man became disconnected from the Jesus who died on the cross.  It is the same disconnect made by the criminal on the cross from our gospel reading last week, hanging next to Jesus who was also on a cross and challenging him to save them both if he was the actually Messiah.  Regardless, the one who hung on the cross is also called the Son of Man.  And this is a word of comfort and hope to Jesus followers during the confusing times of the first century and the equally if not more confusing times of the 21st century.

Because, as Pastor Pederson reminded us yesterday at Nina Forgo’s memorial service, Christian people model life not on one particular morality or philosophy or piety.  In relation to this text today, I would add that Christian people do not model life on panic or fear either.

Rather, Christian people’s lives hinge on promise, God’s promise.

God’s promise that insists there is more to the human story and God’s own story than that which has been experienced already.

God’s promise that the Son of Man, for whom we wait and stay watchful this Advent, is the Christ who walked the earth as healer of those in need and died on a cross for all.[3]

God’s promise that draws us into the fullness of the future, a future with hope.[4]


[1] Barbara R. Rossing.  The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation. (New York: Basic Books, 2004), 178-181.

[2] Ibid.  Rapture theology is a 19th century construct.

[3] Arland Hultgren.  Commentary on Matthew 24:36-44 on WorkingPreacher.com. [http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1912

[4] Jeremiah 29:11 – For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.