What sorts of things do you look for in a great king? Maybe you’d look for a strategic mind like with Alexander the Great or Napoleon. Maybe you’d look for someone who is prosperous, like Croesus of Lydia or Solomon the Wise. Maybe you’d look for a peacemaker like Caesar Augustus who ushered in the Pax Romana, or Edgar the Peaceful of England. Maybe you’d look for someone who is glorious and commands respect, like Charlemagne or Louis XIV of France.
Would you want a king who faces mockery? A king people spit on? A king who is beaten? A king who suffers? A king who dies?
There have been many kings and other rulers in this world. They’re different in a lot of ways, but in other ways they’re all the same. Most importantly, just like us, they’re all sinful human beings. They’re all flawed people and many of them are downright corrupt. But you and I know that there’s another king, one who is for us a source of comfort and joy. He’s not like the kings of this world. He isn’t known for warfare or riches or legal prowess or any earthly magnificence. He’s known for a cross. There is no one else like Jesus. There’s no King like our crucified King.
Christ the King Sunday is a day for celebrating the glorious rule of King Jesus and so it maybe seems like a strange thing that for our gospel we turn to Matthew 27 and what do we find? Jesus being mocked by Roman soldiers. A crown of thorns on his head. A sarcastic scarlet robe on his shoulders. A poor staff in his hand. The sneering cry “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Why were they doing this? It was Pilate’s orders. They didn’t know who this Jesus was. They did know the governor. This was for them a chance to have some fun, to take out their aggression against the nation they were occupying, to remind all of them of their place. “We’re the ones in charge. Not you. Not your so-called king.”
Of course they didn’t believe it. If they really believed that Jesus was a king, even an earthly one, they would not have treated him like that. If he was an earthly king they would have taken him as a prisoner to Rome and paraded him through the streets, the way that Julius Caesar did with the Gallic king Vercingetorix.
It’s a sad irony, really. It’s true that Jesus was not an earthly king. And yet they should have all been clamoring to have him as their king. Who else could heal the sick, the diseased, the lepers? Who else could restore sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and could make the lame to walk? Who else could drive out demons, spirits of evil screeching in fear at his presence? Who else could feed the hungry with miraculous bread and fish? Who else could wake the dead as if they were only sleeping?
Jesus was not king of the Jews, because the Jews did not want him. And he was no king to those soldiers either. They did not fear him or love him or trust in him. Instead they mocked him and despised him. They spat on him. They ridiculed him. They hit him. They crucified him.
And we might look at this as a historic tragedy, an example of human corruption, a waste of a good man. But this is our story too because it was for our sins that Jesus went to the cross. Yes it was the soldiers that put the crown of thorns on his head. But it was because of our sins that Jesus stood quietly while blood dripped down his face. And it was the soldiers who spat on him. But every time we’ve spoken carelessly or vindictively we’ve spat on him too in a way far more vile. The blows we have struck against one another have landed squarely on him. The shame that we have worn with pride is his scarlet robe.
Is this the way you treat your king? But do not look on Jesus with pity. This was not his sorry end. This was his goal. This was his victory. Jesus’ death was just the beginning of the rule of our crucified king.
It was no accident that Jesus was there, no tragedy of history. The kings of this earth try to escape death, just like everyone else. They try to accomplish as much as they can, but then death always comes. Their rule ends. The good and the bad goes with them to the grave. The rulers from that time: Caiphas the High Priest – we have his bones. Pontius Pilate – he was reportedly ordered to kill himself. Emperor Tiberias was smothered to death in his bedclothes. They’re all gone. Dust to dust. But Jesus’ tomb is empty. He isn’t there. He rose from the dead to rule at the right hand of God the Father. He lives to be our eternal crucified king.
In the weakness of the cross is his true strength. In the defeat of death is his true victory. And so what a wonder is this—this Jesus who was clothed with a mocking scarlet robe is the one who put off his divine glory and clothed himself with our human nature. This Jesus who was spat on is the one who spoke and by his word the heavens and earth came into being. This Jesus whom they struck with a staff was the one who stretched out the staff of his judgment to destroy the earth in the flood. This Jesus who stood silent before them is the one who thundered with his law on Mt. Sinai. And this Jesus’ whose head was crowned with thorns is the one who died in order to give us the crown of life.
It isn’t hard for a king to exercise authority. Any king can bark out commands. Any king can seek revenge against his enemies. But Jesus is the king who sacrifices himself for the world. He’s the king who suffers mockery, and pain and death—who bears all the weight of hell—for you. Not for faceless masses like an earthly king looking down out of his palace window, but for you, you whose name and face were on his heart more dear than his own blood that poured from his veins.
What kind of a king is this Jesus? If you want a king who will make the Christian church on earth glorious, then Jesus isn’t the king for you. He didn’t promise a successful church or a huge church or a wealthy church, but he did promise a church that will face persecution, and one that will lose its members to false doctrines and false Christs, and one where the love of many will grow cold.
And if you want a king who will solve all your personal problems – a king who provides free healthcare, who cancels your student debts, who makes your life run smoothly, who gives you your dream job and every kind of success in the world, then Jesus isn’t the king for you either. Instead, Jesus says that anyone who wants to come after him must take up his cross and follow him. And he says that if the world hated him, it will hate us also. And he said that his power is made perfect in weakness.
Maybe you want a king who will bring peace on earth, who will prevent all accidents and murder, who stops crime and evil acts and wars and death. But if that’s the kind of king you want, then Jesus isn’t the king for you. Instead, he’s a king who asks us to trust him and who says, “Be still and know that I am God.”
The good kings of this world serve their people. They promote happiness and security and prosperity. But Jesus, our crucified king, give us something far better. He gives us the hope of eternal life. It’s a sure hope, a certain hope, as certain as his cross and empty tomb. The payment for our sin and for our death has been made, payment that he made with his own blood. He gives us an eternal security because the devil has no power over us – his head was crushed there at the cross. He connects us to himself by Word and Sacrament, a white robe in Baptism for his scarlet mantle, a glorious feast of peace in his Supper with the King who gave his body and blood over to suffering for us. Through these the gift of the Holy Spirit to work in us a hearty faith.
We can easily get discouraged at the hardships we face in this life, and by all the turmoil of the nations of the world, by the rulers that come and go, but when that happens we need to be reminded of the eternal love of our crucified King. The kingdom is his. In him, the kingdom is ours.
And so we wait for our King. When he comes again, he will come in glory. He will come to judge the living and the dead. This world and all its kings and kingdoms will come to an end. Where will the mockers and the scoffers be on that day? How can the wicked stand in his presence and face his judgment? But when he appears, look at his hands. Look for the nail marks, and know that those marks are for you. There’s no king like Jesus. Jesus reigned for you in his suffering and death. He reigns for you in his resurrection. No one else is like him. He’s our eternal king, our Redeemer-king, our crucified king. Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson