Lord, keep us Joyful in Christ our King!
Who Would Want This King?

A King who is ________ and ________
A King who __________ and ____________
_________ turned into _________
He is our ____________ ______

Welcome to worship today at Morrison Zion Lutheran Church.  We exist to glorify God.  We have set out to do this by gathering around the Gospel so that we may grow in the Gospel and go to others with this Gospel.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from Jesus Christ, our Lord:

Recently we had the crowning of a new king, not in the United States, but in England where Prince Charles finally became king.  Many people watched this event that was filled with pageantry.  The crowds were there, celebrities, and all the fanfare of what it would be to see this king finally become king after waiting years and years.  As the British people welcome their king, it’s interesting to think if that’s the king that they want or a king that they need.  While it’s interesting to think about some of his children, where one of his children is Prince Harry, I think if he’d ever be in line, there would be many people that would be saying, “We don’t want him to be our king.”  He’s left England and moved to America with his wife.  So he doesn’t even seem like he wants to be there, but imagine if he someday was in line to be king.  Do you think the people would be clamoring and saying “We’re excited for this king!”?  I don’t think so.

I think in the history of kings, there are good kings, there are bad kings, but think about the politics and the people that lead you.  Often kings are respected, but there are times when people are put into leadership and it’s a king that people don’t want.  Who would want this king?

When we find Jesus in our Sermon text here, we know the situation pretty well.  We know the story of Jesus, how He has been arrested and put on trial, how He has moved from person to person and was accused falsely.  They said that He had said blasphemy against God.  But the Jews didn’t have any power, so they sent Him over to the Roman government.  Pilate, in order to bring some punishment to Him and maybe change the minds of the people so they say “You’ve done enough” (which still wasn’t fair or just), he has Him taken out to be beaten.  We see all the things that these soldiers do, who didn’t believe He was a king.

When we look at Christ the King and we read about Ezekiel and we read in 1 Corinthians what Christ will look like when He comes back, He does not look like this picture.  So what does it mean that our King looks beaten and mocked?  We will see what that means for us in our faith and for us today in our faith life as well.

We see first what happens to this King that the governor’s soldiers took away.  What did they do?  They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head.  They put a staff in his right hand.  Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him.  “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.  They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him.  What kind of King is this?  He is a King who is mocked and rejected.  The Jewish people didn’t want Him.  The Romans said how silly this is.  Here is the King of the Jews, and what are they doing?  They are beating Him.  What kind of king allows that to happen?  Wouldn’t a king have horses and military and might—people that are going to defend him and make sure that this doesn’t happen to him?  So the Romans mock Him and the Jews certainly have rejected Him, and His own people have run away and betrayed Him.  This is our King who has been mocked and rejected, beaten and suffered for you.

This is the picture we read so often, but think about all the things that this looks like.  They put a scarlet robe on Him and the crown of thorns which is twisted.  You can just imagine the mockery of knowing He was the King of the universe, the King of the world, and what do they do?  They put thorns on His head and they beat Him on the head and drive the thorns into His skull.  What pain!  What mockery!  They kneel before Him, a King, but they aren’t kneeling before Him to worship Him or to give Him honor.  Instead they do it to mock Him.  What kind of king is this?

This is a king unlike others because most kings would never put themselves in this place.  The truth is that He put Himself in this place willingly.  So what kind of king is this?  He is a King who suffered and sacrificed for you and for me and for the whole world.  How do we know that He sacrificed?  The night He was arrested, as Judas came and the group came, He showed His power as He asked who they were looking for—Jesus of Nazareth.  And what happened?  The people fell down.  He showed His great power and if He wanted to, He didn’t have to be arrested.

Then as Peter tries to defend Him and cuts the ear off of one of those trying to arrest Him, Jesus says “Put your sword away.  If I wanted, I would call down legions of angels to protect me.”  Jesus could have protected Himself, so we know that He sacrificed Himself.  He is a king unlike any other, who had power and might, but what does He do with all that power and might?  He suffers.  He suffers in our place.  He suffers so that we would not suffer.  The mocking, the abuse, the ridicule, the pain so that we would not have that judgment and damnation, because it says here in just simple words at the end:  Then they led him away to crucify him.

Sometimes it’s amazing how matter of fact Scripture is.  They led Him away to crucify Him.  Not a big deal, right?  It’s a HUGE thing!  Here He is, already beaten and mocked.  They put a robe on Him and now they are going to go and kill Him in one of the most painful, if not THE most painful way to die.  As nails would be driven, not through His hands but through His wrists to make sure He stayed up there, and the way He most likely would die would be suffocation from the blood in His own lungs as He continues to push Himself up to get a breath, and finally there would be no more.  He suffered and died and was crucified for you.  A sacrifice He made which no other king would do.  Can you imagine any other king purposely going through this for anyone?  This is your King.  Christ the King, who loved the world so much to go through all of this.

As He went through all of this, it’s amazing to see the truth of what the people did and how many truths they actually showed.  But their mockery turned into majesty.  Look at what they did.  They put a scarlet robe on Him.  He was a King.  This scarlet robe, think about it, it talks about how our sins that are scarlet would be turned to white, like snow.  This scarlet sacrifice that He made was so important for us.  Then as they put this crown of thorns on Him, the crown to say He is a king, the crown of thorns which was the curse that God said would come because of sin (back in Genesis) and the earth would be filled with thorns.  Your work would be difficult.  Here He is taking that curse that was put on us and went to the cross, the curse for sin, to suffer for you and for me.

Then they yell “Hail, king of the Jews!”  They yell in mockery, but the truth.  The same as when Pilate put the sign up, “Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.”  They do so in mockery and they do so to mock the Jews or to mock Jesus and to say how ridiculous this must have been.  But the truth is, He was the King of the Jews and He is the King of the world.  He is YOUR King, the one who loved you so much to go through all of this.  When the people kneel, they also show what would happen at the end of the world.  All people, even those who mock Him, who doubt Him, will kneel one day.

So what does this look like?  What does this mean for us that our King turns mockery into majesty and all the things of mockery and suffering that makes us say “How can this be someone to worship?  Who would want this to be our King?”

In our life, we face a lot of mockery and doubt because of what we believe.  People mock Jesus in your life.  “How could you believe in God?  You believe in Creation?  We know from science that it’s just evolution.  There is no God.  You pray to a God?  That’s silly!”  We could be mocked for our faith and mocked for doing God’s Law, holding to the things that He says are good and right, when the rest of the world says “No.  Live out your life the way you want.”  We know that this life is going to be filled with mockery because the world is filled with sin and sinners and people who do not like the truth and the King and what He has to say.  So in the same way as Jesus said, if the world has hated Him, what will they do to us?  They will hate us.

But what do we do with that mockery?  Do we become afraid?  Do we become fearful?  Do we begin to doubt or question God and say “How could you let this happen?” or “Why would you allow so many people to not believe and for many people to stray?  If you’re the King, show your power!”  Then we mock Him by doubting that He is King, that He has power and that He can do what He says.

It has been said that Jesus is Lord, a King, and it means that “His way goes.”  How often do we struggle with that?  Do we struggle with the ways of the King and our Lord?  Our life doesn’t always look victorious.  It can be a struggle.  So just like Jesus, things aren’t the way that they seem.  But it’s important for us to see what this all means for us as He suffered and died and was then victorious.  He is our victorious King.  As He was crucified, what was He doing?  He was defeating death.  He was defeating sin and the power of the devil.

When the devil thought he was winning and had gotten everything done in the way he thought best, “I’m killing the Son of God,” here Jesus accomplishes His mission to die for the sins of the world.  The Innocent One, the King who came down from heaven to live among us, to live a perfect life, dies in our place and redeems His people.  Just like in Ezekiel, the Shepherd will come down to save His people, to gather them up, to make YOU victorious, and to give YOU life.

That doesn’t mean that life here on earth is so easy.  There will be pain.  There will be difficulties.  There will be mockery.  But just like Jesus, we do not need to fight.  We don’t need to attack people.  But what did Jesus do?  He knew God’s plan and He knew what God was going to do.  He made Him victorious and He continues to preach His Word, and we will continue to preach His Word, knowing the truth—knowing that God is with us through all difficulties.

We can struggle to see what a true King would look like.  We see all sorts of looters that are selfish, that seek their own good and not the good of the people.  But we have a truly victorious King.  One who went through mockery and the sin and the punishment that we deserve, the things that put Him on the cross, He suffered for you.  Not just so that He could be King but so you too would rise and be with Him forever.  His love outpours onto you so that we can share that love with others and share a comfort that no matter what we face in this life, there is more.

Christ the King—He truly is victorious.  We don’t always see it, but we will see it one day.  How wonderful, how great it is to know that our King is victorious now and forever.  Amen.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ^{(Philippians 4:7)} Amen.