THIS IS OUR KING?
Today is the last Sunday of the Christian church year, the final Sunday in the season of “End Times.” And in the recent past this last Sunday has been designated as “Christ the King” Sunday. A day on which we celebrate our Lord’s power and might and rule and authority. A day on which we picture our risen Savior clothed in royal robes, sitting on his judgment throne, with a crown on his head and a scepter in his hand and all of his subjects under his feet. And words like “majesty” and “grandeur” and “glory” are used to describe our Almighty Lord and his eternal reign over all things. And so out of all the Scripture passages about this mighty King that are found in the Bible, what section of God’s Word do you think we have for the basis of our sermon today? A portion of Revelation chapter nineteen? “Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:15-16). Or maybe the story from Palm Sunday when the people praised Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey? “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel” (John 12:13)! Or maybe even the Old Testament reading we had earlier this morning from Jeremiah 23? “The days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:5-6). What powerful sections of Scripture that describe our powerful King! What incredible words of the Bible that depict the King’s incredible acts! But our sermon text isn’t any of the above. In fact, our sermon text isn’t anything like these magnificent descriptions of our King. This morning, instead of having one of these great prophecies or stories or visions that fill our minds with grand pictures of Christ the King in all his majesty, we have a story from the book of Luke that gives us the details about the King’s murder. Instead of the reign of Christ our King we see him ridiculed. Instead of the dominion of Christ our King, we read of his death. Here we have Christ our King on a cross:
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
This is our King? This is the passage that we are going to use to celebrate “Christ the King” Sunday? He certainly had a crown, but it was a crown of twisted thorn branches. There was a staff, but not in his hand; the soldiers used it to hit him in the head before they had brought him out to this place of his execution. He had a robe: put on by the soldiers in mockery a couple hours before and then ripped off of him along with the rest of his clothes. His subjects were there under his feet, but only to shout obscenities at him as he hung there. His throne was a cross to which he was nailed. His “advisors” were criminals, one on each side. And in place of glory, shame. In place of praise, derision. In place of honor, humiliation. In place of power, weakness. This is our King? This is really the best portion of Scripture that could be picked for a day like today?
It seems a little out of place that this would be the portion of Scripture picked for this Sunday because Jesus isn’t powerful here or mighty or impressive… or kingly in any way! He looks pitiful and pathetic and dying. It just doesn’t seem to be the appropriate moment in his life that we would want to hold up and brag about and celebrate as an accurate representation of Christ our glorious King. And that’s exactly what the people at that time thought too. This was no king! This was no powerful ruler! This was a guy who claimed big things about himself and whom a lot of people followed around, but someone who couldn’t prevent his own arrest and sentencing and crucifixion. And so the rulers of the Jewish people who were there on the scene started to say, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” Prove it! If you really are the chosen Messiah, get yourself down from there and prove who you claim to be! Then we’ll believe you! Then we’ll admit that you’re right! But that wasn’t the only time that day someone dared the Savior to save himself. The Roman soldiers, too, came up to him and sneered, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.” The sign above your head claims that’s who you are! But your own Jewish countrymen put you up there! And what kind of king if forced to hang on a cross anyway! Come down, Jesus! Live on, Jesus! Show us what you got! And then even one of the criminals hanging there with Christ, someone who should have empathized with his situation, started to blaspheme Jesus’ name: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
“Save yourself!” the heartless criminal scoffed. “Save yourself!” the Roman soldiers challenged. “Save yourself!” the Jewish leaders snickered. But that was the whole point: Jesus was up on that cross because he didn’t want to save himself. Jesus was up there because he wanted to save us. He was up there to save the man beside him who was mocking him to his face. He was up there for the soldiers who were ridiculing him, who were dividing up his clothes in front of him, the ones who probably also scourged him and pressed that thorny crown into his skull and beat him with a rod. He was up there to save the rulers of the people who had gathered the crowds in the first place to scream for his crucifixion and who were now standing there heckling him as he died. He was up there for all those people on the scene, watching. Those people who were not pleading for mercy, not shielding their children’s eyes from the gory execution outside of Jerusalem’s walls, but staring, waiting for the King to be tortured to death by his own subjects. Jesus was on that cross because he knew that’s where he needed to be. And Jesus remained on that cross because he knew that’s where we needed him to die.
What love this King displays! What passion! What patience! He doesn’t react in anger to the mocking. He doesn’t give in to the jeers and the taunting. He doesn’t prove everyone wrong, come down from the cross as he could have, and pronounce judgment on all those who were speaking against him. Oh, the King would come down from the cross alright, but only as a corpse. And the King would prove them wrong, but not in an immediate act of condemnation that Friday afternoon; he would prove them wrong by the miracle of his resurrection the following Sunday morning. This King may not have been all that majestic at that very moment, but he was altogether merciful. He may not have been all that outwardly impressive as he cried out in agony, but he was impressively compassionate. This is your King. This is your King at his worst and at his best. This is your King dying, but winning. This is your King worth being proud about.
Because where are you in this whole scenario? Your King shouldn’t have had to do this! Your King shouldn’t have had to humiliate himself in such a way or put up with the relentless taunting from his executioners or undergo such excruciating pain. He deserves unending glory and honor and praise from everyone and everything. But here he is anyway! The King of kings and the Lord of lords, the one who created this entire universe with a word, the one whom heavenly angels fall down in front of in trembling awe, the one whose glory is so intense and overwhelming that no one here can look at it and live, this one, this King, is slowly bleeding to death. Why? Because of you. And because of me. The failures and the disobedience and the flat out rebellion of his subjects forced him there. We should be the ones who sacrifice for him! We should be the ones who give things up for him! We should be the ones to serve him! But it’s the King who serves us, who gives everything up for us, who sacrifices for us! Everything is mixed up, isn’t it? Everything is twisted around. The King is putting himself in the position of a slave - shouldering all of the burden - while we stand around like kings doing nothing!
I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to just stand around and watch if other people are working. And especially if someone is working on my behalf. I feel guilty if I just stand there and can’t pitch in or help out in some way. But here our King hangs and he bleeds and he agonizes… and we can’t do a thing about it. Even if we wanted to we couldn’t do anything to help him; we couldn’t do anything to lend a hand. All we can do is stand here and watch him suffer. All we can do is wait for him die and think about all those sins that we have personally committed that he is now paying for. All of those selfish mistakes and all of those hurtful words and all of those nasty thoughts that our King is forced to endure. And we can’t lift a finger. We can’t conjure up one encouraging word. We can’t even offer any moral support because we are immoral by nature. There is nothing that is going to help Jesus get through this. There is nothing that we can possibly do to ease his pain. We’ve done enough already...
And there was at least one person there that Friday afternoon who understood that. There was at least one person there who realized that this King was dying because of and on behalf of him. It was the criminal on Jesus’ right hand side. And after rebuking the other man for mocking Jesus, this criminal boldly asked, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” It was a simple statement, but a powerful one. A confession of sins and a confession of faith. He knew what Jesus was doing; he knew who Jesus was; and he publically professed that he believed Jesus had a kingdom; and although this King would die that afternoon this man fully believed that Jesus would live in his kingdom forever. And here, in answer to this repentant criminal’s plea, in the middle of his own crucifixion, is where this battered and bloodied King finally displays the full extent of his power. Because here this King guarantees this criminal a place in heaven! At the height of his weakness, during the darkest hour of his life, on the edge of death, our King shows how powerful he really is: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” He promises this convict an instant life in eternal glory. He assures this sinner that his sins won’t count against him in heaven’s courtroom. The King grants pardon to this man condemned to death. And the King would give it to him - on that very day! This King who had been beaten and scourged and who was now running out of breath would on that very day take this man hanging next to him into Paradise! Is this not power? Is this not strength? Is this not authority? Is this not mercy?
And he shows this same mercy and displays this same power for you. This King, your King, promises you: “Today or tomorrow or the next day you will be with me in Paradise. I have the power to do it. And my suffering and my death and my resurrection will it happen. Do not let these bruises and cuts and blood puddles fool you. I am your King. I am all-powerful. I am perfectly in control. And all of this torture and pain and terror on this wooden cross is exactly what I have planned. And once I am done, you will be saved. And once you are done in this life, you will have life with me. You will be with me in Paradise.” This is your King. Someone who would rather serve you than be served by this world. This is your King. Someone who would rather die for you than live without you. This is your King. This is your Savior.
Amen.
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” - Rev. 5:12
Posts
