Christ the King
at Epiphany on
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through our humble and heavenly King. Amen.
Luke 23:35-47 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." 36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him.
They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, "If you are the king of the
Jews, save yourself." 38 There was a written notice above him, which
read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 39 One of the criminals who hung
there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" 40
But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are
under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting
what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." 42 Then
he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43 Jesus
answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." 44
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the
ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple
was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into
your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. 47
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was
a righteous man."
Our King Jesus
1. What he has done for us
2. What he does for us
A cartoon has been found on a wall in the ruins of ancient
A crucified god? It just defied all reason. The non-Christian says that God would
never involve himself in the world like that!
It does sound kind of ridiculous, doesn’t it? Here we are this morning, worshiping
our God as King, and then we come to these verses recorded by Matthew about how
our great Savior and King was humiliated, mocked, and shamed. What kind of king
is this Jesus, anyway?
This morning, we center our attention on our King Jesus. Though the world may mock
and ridicule him, though unbelievers may scoff and deny him, we will discover what
great things he has done for us. We will also discover what he continues to do for
us as our great heavenly King.
1. What he has done for us
Who is this King Jesus? He began his life very humbly. His parents were both descendants
of the great king David, the greatest king of the Jews. Yet, they were mere peasants.
Jesus was born in a barn. He grew up in relative obscurity, in the low-class town
of
Jesus had no college-level education, much less a royal tutoring from renowned wise
men. He was never elected to public office. He never married. He didn’t even have
a queen. He never owned a home, much less a palace.
He certainly didn’t act like a king.
Then to top it off, he was arrested on trumped-up charges and condemned to die.
His best friends deserted him. All the crowds that flocked to hear him speak and
watch him perform miracles were suddenly nowhere to be found. What kind of king
doesn’t have the support of his adoring public?
What kind of king has no royal vestments of his own? Jesus had no scepter except
for the staff given him by jeering soldiers. He had no royal gown except for the
scarlet robe draped around him by those who feigned respect. He had no crown except
for the crown of thorns brutally shoved upon his head by those who made sport of
him. He had no subjects unless you want to count the soldiers who spit on him, struck
him with his scepter, and called out, “Hail, king of the Jews!”
What kind of king was this Jesus? He was exactly the king we needed!
Could Jesus have stopped any of this mockery at any time? Of course he could have!
He could have said, “Enough is enough!” and thrown the whole company of soldiers
back against the wall, all with just a wave of his hand. He could have gone Bruce
Lee on them and started kicking them around. He could have called down fire and
brimstone from heaven and had a more spectacular light show than any special effects
on a Star Wars movie. Later, when the Jews called for him to come down off of the
cross to prove he was God, he could have done it. He could have ripped his hands
and feet right off of that cross. But he didn’t do any of that. Not a bit. Why?
Not because he couldn’t, but because he wouldn’t.
Jesus had to be humiliated. He had to suffer from the depravity of humanity. He
had to feel the sting of sin on his head, on his back, in his hands and feet, and
in his heart. That was what he had come to do. He had to do it for us. He had to
do it and we needed him to do it.
We needed Jesus to go through all of
this. What kind of king shows his love by sitting in an ivory tower, giving commands,
living up the good life, oblivious to the plight of the starving, poverty-stricken
masses in his kingdom. (That kind of sounds like the king recently deposed in
Why do we need this kind of king? We needed a king who would become one of the dregs
of society, because we are the dregs of humanity. We needed a king who would give
up his innocent body to thorns, scourging, and nails because our bodies are tainted
with sin. We needed a king who had a gracious, perfect heart because our hearts
are deceitful and beyond cure. (Jeremiah 17:9) We needed a king who was pure love
because the evil that humanity will perform is incredible!
Just as we are sinners in our entirety, so Jesus paid for our sin with the entirety
of his body. We might be spoken of as people who “sin all over.” The book of Romans
tells us that we are plagued by such evils as the proud look, lying tongues, hands
that shed innocent blood, hearts and minds dwelling continually on wicked things,
feet that run to mischief, etc. (Romans 3) There are scores of people who make their
living inventing new ways for us to sin! And we fall for them! The Bible tells us
that as believers we are not to yield the parts of our body as instruments of wickedness.
But the fact is that there is a lot of people doing a lot of yielding! (Romans 6:13)
I like this illustration of our sinfulness: if sin were blue, I might not be as
dark blue as I could be, but I’d be some shade of blue all over! Every part of me
is warped in some way by my sin. Sin is completely a part of us.
But notice that Jesus’ physical humiliation was complete as well. He was the Prince
of Peace, and his royalty was mocked by a scarlet robe. He performed miraculous
deeds with his hands and those hands were ultimately nailed to a cross. With his
mouth Jesus said, “Father, forgive them,” and with their mouths they cursed and
mocked him. His spittle made a blind man see and yet they spit in his face. On his
back he willingly bore a cross, and they scourged and whipped that back.
I think you get the idea of just how much Jesus was humiliated. But why? Why did
he do all this? What did it all ultimately accomplish? Jesus wore a crown of shame
so that we could wear a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10) Peter tells us that Christ
suffered for our sins, the Righteous for the unrighteous, so that he might bring
us to God. Jesus shed his blood, so that our blood doesn’t have to be shed. The
wages of our sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Though are bodies are infected with sin and death, Paul tells us that Jesus made
us “dead to sin and alive to God.” (Romans 6:11) Jesus lowered himself so that we
might be raised to eternal glory. He died so that we might live. He humbled himself
so that we might be exalted.
This is not some “dufus” that doesn’t know any better. The soldiers aren’t just
picking on him because he is a “nerd.” Jesus is our King. He is exactly the kind
of humble, yet glorious King we need. Look at everything he has done for us.
2. What he does for us
Many of the things Jesus has done for us and given to us we will receive in the
future, in our eternal glory – the crown of victory, a heavenly home, perfect sinless
bodies, seeing our Christian loved ones again, etc. But there are also many things
that he does for us right here, right now, in this life.
Have you ever had one of those days when nothing gets done? It’s not that you haven’t
worked hard, but at the end of the day, everything looks about the same. You empty
your bank account paying the bills knowing that, though the paycheck is history,
the bills will be fruitful and multiply. You clean the peanut butter off the kitchen
windows while someone is putting Milk Duds in the toaster. You rake all the leaves
and then the wind starts blowing again. Do I even need to mention the laundry? Unless
you have naked people running around your house, it’s clearly never finished.
I feel your pain. But I have some encouragement for you in your unfinished business.
Because Jesus is our King and he gives us rooms in his heavenly kingdom, we know
we won’t have these kinds of chores for too long. Surely blown head gaskets, red
Kool-aid carpet stains and computer crashes all came with the curse of sin. Evil
stuff. It’s not that I don’t think we’ll have jobs to do in Glory, it’s just that
I’m sure Heaven must be an ammonia-free zone. No Tidy-Bowl man. No carpal tunnel
syndrome from typing. No oil under the fingernails.
That is what we have to look forward to. That is all in the future. But we also
can receive rest and comfort from our frustrations here on earth. Do you know when
we’re the most frustrated about not finishing or accomplishing anything? It’s when
we’re struggling in our own strength to do the finishing, and we’re focusing on
the wrong accomplishments. Everything
that’s really important in life is already finished by the “Author and Finisher”
of our faith. When we surrender and let the Finisher do the finishing, the Completer
do the completing, we can kick off our shoes and stop sweating the never-ending
bills, dust bunnies and laundry.
“May the God of peace … equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may
he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ.” (Hebrews 13:20-21)
And again, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians
4:13)
He is the Completer of every good work in us, and even more importantly, the Completer
of our very hearts. “He who began a good work in you will complete it,” we’re told
in Philippians. (1:6) And “you are complete in him” is the message of Colossians
2:10. When the Father completed his redemptive plan for us through the sacrificial
death of his Son on the cross, the three words that rang across eternity were “IT
IS FINISHED.”
So shrug away the muddy socks you found under the sofa – even if you did find a
fishstick inside. Yes, even if you can’t remember the last time you had fishsticks.
Jesus has taken care of all our troubles, all our worries, all our frustrations.
He isn’t just our Savior for in our future, he is our Savior for the here and now!
He is our King for all eternity, sure, but he is also our King right now, in the
present! “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will
he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
Because Jesus is our King who went to the cross and to the grave, we have what we
need to live and survive in this life. We have forgiveness, hope, love, and comfort.
We have healing and consoling and encouraging. We also have our King’s strength
when we are weak from sicknesses. We have our King’s courage when we are afraid
to take on the devil’s temptations. We have our King’s fortitude and patience when
our kids are getting on our nerves. We have our King’s assurance that nothing will
be able to separate us from the love of Christ – not trouble or hardship or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. (Romans 8:35) Not even ring around color,
computer viruses, flat tires, male pattern baldness or increasing wrinkles.
This is our King Jesus! He is our King, who for a time, gave up everything in order
to give us everything. Our King conquered by allowing himself to be conquered. He
is the King ho delivered us from the bondage of sin so that we might live a life
of freedom now and for all eternity with him. Jesus Christ is our humble, yet victorious
King. He is worthy of our praise and worship now and for all eternity. Amen.
Be faithful, even to the point of death, and Jesus promises
that he will give you the crown of life. Amen. (Revelation 2:10)