Christ the King Sunday
November 22, 2015
John 18:33-37
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
When I was young, in my early grade school years, the doctors not only discovered that I needed to wear glasses (which I strongly dislike to this very day), but they also discovered that I have amblyopia in my right eye. It is called a “Lazy Eye.” In essence, this means that my right eye does not focus the way it should. It is “lazy.” Not only did this cause some difficulties in gym class (especially after they put a patch over my left eye to try and force my right eye to get to work!), but it also meant that I went to see the eye doctor every single month. To this day I can’t watch a commercial for eye drops without my eyes watering! To this day I can remember sitting in a bit ‘ol chair with a big ‘ol machine pressed up against my face, listening to the eye doctor flipping things and turning things and asking me over and over again, “Which is better— A or B?”
As I was studying our sermon text for today I couldn’t help but think of that aspect of my childhood. While my eyesight has not improved much over the course of the years, my understanding of what it means to “see” most certainly has! Our ability to “see” includes not only our physical eyes, but it also includes our minds as well as our hearts. For example, when I look at my wife or my children or my grandchildren I not only “see” the very same people you “see,” but I also “see” so much more!
Just as you and I can look at the very same person and “see” something totally different, so also a room full of people can look at Jesus and “see” a very different person. Our text for today, my friends, gives us a very good example of that reality. Today then as we close out this Christian church year by celebrating Christ the King Sunday, let’s look at Jesus as John pictures Him here in our text and on the basis of what we “see” let’s ask the question that my eye doctor asked me over and over again: Which Is Better— A or B? The first perspective (A) includes those people who look at Jesus and on the basis of what they “see” they say: “This is our King?” The second perspective (B) includes those people who look at Jesus and on the basis of what they “see” they say, “This is our King!”
Our text for today takes us back to the week that we call Holy Week. On Sunday of that week throngs of people welcomed Jesus of Nazareth into the beloved city of Jerusalem with shouts of “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!” (John 12:13) By Thursday evening Judas no longer “saw” Jesus as the “King of Israel.” No rather, by Thursday Judas “saw” Jesus as a way to make an easy thirty silver coins. (Matthew 26:14-16) Within hours of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest He was put on trial by the Sanhedrin (the religious Supreme Court of God’s Chosen People) and condemned as being “worthy of death” (Matthew 26:66). What was Jesus’ crime? Blasphemy! Why was He found guilty of blasphemy? Because He told the truth! The high priest had said to Jesus, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Do you remember how Jesus responded? He said to the high priest, “Yes, it is as you say.” (See Matthew 26:62-64)
Because Jesus told the truth, because Jesus openly proclaimed that He is the Son of God, He is “the Christ,” the long-awaited Promised Messiah, the religious leaders of God’s people brought Jesus to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and leveled this charge against Him, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and he claims to be Christ, a king” (Luke 23:2).
Now put yourself in Pilate’s place, my friends. Pilate was a soldier. Pilate was also a government official in the mighty Roman Empire. Pilate knew a thing or two about kings! He knew that kings were powerful and often pretentious. He knew that kings commanded soldiers (like himself) and kings demanded respect. And now the religious leaders of the people in Jerusalem drag this lowly humble rabbi in front of Pilate — a rabbi who had obviously been beaten by the Jewish Temple guards (See Luke 22:63)— they drag Jesus in front of Pilate and demanded that Pilate have Jesus executed (John 18:31) because He “claims to be Christ, a king”! How did Pilate respond? John tells us in the opening verse of our text. He writes, “Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’” A very literal translation of the question that Pilate asked Jesus is, “You are the king of the Jews?” You can almost taste the contempt in Pilate’s question.
Jesus, of course, continued to proclaim the truth. Look at verses 36 and 37 of our text. John records this conversation between Jesus and Pilate, “’My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’” Not only did Pilate dismiss Jesus’ claim of who He is and why He came into this world by sneering, “What is truth?”, but for the sake of political expediency Pilate caved into the demands of the people and had Jesus flogged and executed. (Pointing to the cross)
“You are the king of the Jews?” The contempt that Pilate had for Jesus as he looked at the humble seemingly helpless Rabbi standing in front of him can still be heard in the reaction many people have toward Jesus right down to this very day. There is no shortage of people today who look at Jesus and “see” a great teacher or a powerful prophet or a good example for others to follow. There is no shortage of people today who look at Jesus and “see” a political and social activist, Someone who was willing to stand up for the oppressed by standing against the oppressors. But like Pilate who dismissed Jesus’ claim to be the King, like the religious leaders who protested to Pilate about the sign Pilate ordered to be placed above Jesus’ head on the cross, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews” (John 19:21), like the people who stood on the hill called Calvary and mocked Jesus by saying, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel!” (Matthew 27:42)— like all these people of old, there is no shortage of people today who look at Jesus as He is portrayed to us on the pages of Scripture and say, “This is our King? No way! No way am I going to follow Him! No way am I going to believe in Him! No way am I going to obey Him!”
It is only by the grace and power of God, my friends, that you and I are able to look at Jesus as John portrays Him here in our text and say, “This is our King!” When we “see” Jesus standing before Pontius Pilate, condemned by the religious leaders of God’s people and beaten by the Temple guards, when we “see” Jesus allowing Himself to be led to the cross like “a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7) we crumple to our knees and confess, “This is our King!” “This is our King— the King of kings whose love for this world, whose love for me, is so profound that He was willing to leave His royal throne in the Kingdom of heaven and be born into this world in the most humble of circumstances. This is our King— the King of kings who continues to proclaim to us the Truth— including the truth that the debt of sin that we owed to the God of heaven was so overwhelming that the only way for that debt to be paid was for the King Himself to shed His holy precious blood for us right there on the cross of Calvary’s hill. (Pointing to the cross) This is our King— the King of kings who now rules our hearts and rules our lives through the power of His holy Word and Sacraments. This is our King— the King of kings who comforts His dying children with the same guarantee that He gave to the repentant thief who was dying on the cross next to Him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). This is our King— the King of kings who now rules victoriously over all things for the good of His Church! (Ephesians 1:15-23) This is our King— the King of kings who will one day return to this earth in all of His power, majesty and glory, surrounded by millions upon millions of heavenly angels and “sit on his throne in heavenly glory” as the Judge of the living and the dead. (See Matthew 25:31ff)
Yes, my friends, this is our King! (Pointing to the cross) While Pontius Pilate may have dismissed Jesus’ claim, “For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me,” and while there is no shortage of people— and even churches! — today who try and “demote” Jesus from King to “advisor,” when you and I look at Jesus and “see” Him for who He is, when you and I look at Jesus and “see” what He has done for us and why— we humbly and gladly fall to our knees and acknowledge Jesus as our King!
What does this mean? It means that we follow our King— no matter what we encounter on our journey through this world. It means that we obey our King— no matter how many people reject the Truth that our King proclaims to us here in His holy Word. It means that we do everything we can to share with others that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords— no matter how many people ridicule us for being old-fashioned and out-of-step, intolerant and unloving.
So let me ask you again, my friends: Which is better: A— This is our King? or, B— This is our King! When we stay focused on the cross of Jesus Christ, when we stay focused on who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us, the answer is clear! This is our King! (Pointing to the cross) May God grant that both the words of our mouths and the actions of our lives will always boldly confess that Truth!
To God be the glory!
Amen