Christ the King Sunday
\nNovember 22, 2015
\nJohn 18:33-37<\/p>\n
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 It is called a \u201cLazy Eye.\u201d\u00a0 In essence, this means that my right eye does not focus the way it should.\u00a0 It is \u201clazy.\u201d\u00a0 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.\u00a0 To this day I can\u2019t watch a commercial for eye drops without my eyes watering!\u00a0 To this day I can remember sitting in a bit \u2018ol chair with a big \u2018ol machine pressed up against my face, listening to the eye doctor flipping things and turning things and asking me over and over again, \u201cWhich is better\u2014 A or B?\u201d<\/p>\n
As I was studying our sermon text for today I couldn\u2019t help but think of that aspect of my childhood.\u00a0 While my eyesight has not improved much over the course of the years, my understanding of what it means to \u201csee\u201d most certainly has!\u00a0 Our ability to \u201csee\u201d includes not only our physical eyes, but it also includes our minds as well as our hearts.\u00a0 For example, when I look at my wife or my children or my grandchildren I not only \u201csee\u201d the very same people you \u201csee,\u201d but I also \u201csee\u201d so much more!<\/p>\n
Just as you and I can look at the very same person and \u201csee\u201d something totally different, so also a room full of people can look at Jesus and \u201csee\u201d a very different person.\u00a0 Our text for today, my friends, gives us a very good example of that reality.\u00a0 Today then as we close out this Christian church year by celebrating Christ the King Sunday, let\u2019s look at Jesus as John pictures Him here in our text and on the basis of what we \u201csee\u201d let\u2019s ask the question that my eye doctor asked me over and over again:\u00a0 Which Is Better\u2014 A or B? <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0The first perspective (A) includes those people who look at Jesus and on the basis of what they \u201csee\u201d they say:\u00a0 \u201cThis <\/em><\/strong>is our King?\u201d\u00a0 The second perspective (B) includes those people who look at Jesus and on the basis of what they \u201csee\u201d they say, \u201cThis is our <\/em><\/strong>King!\u201d<\/p>\n Our text for today takes us back to the week that we call Holy Week.\u00a0 On Sunday of that week throngs of people welcomed Jesus of Nazareth into the beloved city of Jerusalem with shouts of \u201cHosanna!\u00a0 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!\u00a0 Blessed is the King <\/strong>of Israel!\u201d<\/em> (John 12:13)\u00a0 By Thursday evening Judas no longer \u201csaw\u201d Jesus as the \u201cKing <\/strong>of Israel.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 No rather, by Thursday Judas \u201csaw\u201d Jesus as a way to make an easy thirty silver coins.\u00a0 (Matthew 26:14-16)\u00a0 Within hours of Jesus\u2019 betrayal and arrest He was put on trial by the Sanhedrin (the religious Supreme Court of God\u2019s Chosen People) and condemned as being \u201cworthy of death\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 26:66).\u00a0 What was Jesus\u2019 crime?\u00a0 Blasphemy!\u00a0 Why was He found guilty of blasphemy?\u00a0 Because He told the truth!\u00a0 The high priest had said to Jesus, \u201cI charge you under oath by the living God:\u00a0 Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Do you remember how Jesus responded?\u00a0 He said to the high priest, \u201cYes, it is as you say.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 (See Matthew 26:62-64)<\/p>\n Because Jesus told the truth, because Jesus openly proclaimed that He is <\/strong>the Son of God, He is <\/strong>\u201cthe Christ,\u201d<\/em> the long-awaited Promised Messiah, the religious leaders of God\u2019s people brought Jesus to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and leveled this charge against Him, \u201cWe have found this man subverting our nation.\u00a0 He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and he claims to be Christ, a king<\/strong>\u201d<\/em> (Luke 23:2).<\/p>\n Now put yourself in Pilate\u2019s place, my friends.\u00a0 Pilate was a soldier.\u00a0 Pilate was also a government official in the mighty Roman Empire.\u00a0 Pilate knew a thing or two about kings!\u00a0 He knew that kings were powerful and often pretentious.\u00a0 He knew that kings commanded soldiers (like himself) and kings demanded respect.\u00a0 And now the religious leaders of the people in Jerusalem drag this lowly humble rabbi in front of Pilate \u2014 a rabbi who had obviously been beaten by the Jewish Temple guards (See Luke 22:63)\u2014 they drag Jesus in front of Pilate and demanded that Pilate have Jesus executed (John 18:31) because He \u201cclaims to be Christ, a king<\/strong>\u201d<\/em>!\u00a0 How did Pilate respond?\u00a0 John tells us in the opening verse of our text.\u00a0 He writes, \u201cPilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, \u2018Are you the king of the Jews?\u2019\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 A very literal translation of the question that Pilate asked Jesus is, \u201cYou <\/strong>are the king of the Jews?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 You can almost taste the contempt in Pilate\u2019s question.<\/p>\n Jesus, of course, continued to proclaim the truth.\u00a0 Look at verses 36 and 37 of our text.\u00a0 John records this conversation between Jesus and Pilate, \u201c\u2019My kingdom is not of this world.\u00a0 If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews.\u00a0 But now my kingdom is from another place.\u2019\u00a0 \u2018You are a king, then!\u2019 said Pilate.\u00a0 Jesus answered, \u2018You are right in saying I am a king.\u00a0 In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.\u00a0 Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.\u2019\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Not only did Pilate dismiss Jesus\u2019 claim of who He is and why He came into this world by sneering, \u201cWhat is truth?\u201d<\/em>, but for the sake of political expediency Pilate caved into the demands of the people and had Jesus flogged and executed.\u00a0 (Pointing to the cross)<\/p>\n \u201cYou <\/strong>are the king of the Jews?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 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.\u00a0 There is no shortage of people today who look at Jesus and \u201csee\u201d a great teacher or a powerful prophet or a good example for others to follow.\u00a0 There is no shortage of people today who look at Jesus and \u201csee\u201d a political and social activist, Someone who was willing to stand up for the oppressed by standing against the oppressors.\u00a0 But like Pilate who dismissed Jesus\u2019 claim to be the King, like the religious leaders who protested to Pilate about the sign Pilate ordered to be placed above Jesus\u2019 head on the cross, \u201cDo not write \u2018The King of the Jews,\u2019 but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews\u201d<\/em> (John 19:21), like the people who stood on the hill called Calvary and mocked Jesus by saying, \u201cHe saved others, but he can\u2019t save himself!\u00a0 He\u2019s the King of Israel!\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 27:42)\u2014 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, \u201cThis <\/em><\/strong>is our King?\u00a0 No way!\u00a0 No way am I going to follow Him!\u00a0 No way am I going to believe in Him!\u00a0 No way am I going to obey Him!\u201d<\/p>\n 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, \u201cThis is our <\/em><\/strong>King!\u201d\u00a0 When we \u201csee\u201d Jesus standing before Pontius Pilate, condemned by the religious leaders of God\u2019s people and beaten by the Temple guards, when we \u201csee\u201d Jesus allowing Himself to be led to the cross like \u201ca lamb to the slaughter\u201d<\/em> (Isaiah 53:7) we crumple to our knees and confess, \u201cThis is our <\/em><\/strong>King!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThis is our<\/em><\/strong> King\u2014 the King of kings whose love for this world, whose love for me<\/strong>, 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.\u00a0 This is our<\/em><\/strong> King\u2014 the King of kings who continues to proclaim to us the Truth\u2014 including the truth that the debt of sin that we owed to the God of heaven was so overwhelming that the only <\/strong>way for that debt to be paid was for the King Himself to shed His holy precious blood for <\/strong>us right there on the cross of Calvary\u2019s hill. \u00a0(Pointing to the cross)\u00a0 This is our <\/em><\/strong>King\u2014 the King of kings who now rules our hearts and rules our lives through the power of His holy Word and Sacraments.\u00a0 This is our <\/em><\/strong>King\u2014 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, \u201cI tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise\u201d<\/em> (Luke 23:43).\u00a0 This is our <\/em><\/strong>King\u2014 the King of kings who now rules victoriously over all things for the good of His Church!\u00a0 (Ephesians 1:15-23)\u00a0 This is our <\/em><\/strong>King\u2014 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 \u201csit on his throne in heavenly glory\u201d<\/em> as the Judge of the living and the dead.\u00a0 (See Matthew 25:31ff)<\/p>\n Yes, my friends, this is our <\/em><\/strong>King!\u00a0 (Pointing to the cross)\u00a0 While Pontius Pilate may have dismissed Jesus\u2019 claim, \u201cFor this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.\u00a0 Everyone on the side of truth listens to me,\u201d<\/em> and while there is no shortage of people\u2014 and even churches! \u2014 today who try and \u201cdemote\u201d Jesus from King to \u201cadvisor,\u201d when you and I look at Jesus and \u201csee\u201d Him for who He is, when you and I look at Jesus and \u201csee\u201d what He has done for <\/strong>us and why\u2014 we humbly and gladly fall to our knees and acknowledge Jesus as our <\/em><\/strong>King!<\/p>\n What does this mean?\u00a0 It means that we follow our King\u2014 no matter what we encounter on our journey through this world.\u00a0 It means that we obey our King\u2014 no matter how many people reject the Truth that our King proclaims to us here in His holy Word.\u00a0 It means that we do everything we can to share with others that Jesus is <\/strong>the King of kings and the Lord of lords\u2014 no matter how many people ridicule us for being old-fashioned and out-of-step, intolerant and unloving.<\/p>\n So let me ask you again, my friends:\u00a0 Which is better:\u00a0 A\u2014 This <\/em><\/strong>is our King? or, \u00a0B\u2014 This is our <\/em><\/strong>King!\u00a0 When we stay focused on the cross of Jesus Christ, when we stay focused on who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for <\/strong>us, the answer is clear!\u00a0 This is our<\/em><\/strong> King!\u00a0 (Pointing to the cross)\u00a0 May God grant that both the words of our mouths and the actions of our lives will always boldly confess that Truth!<\/p>\n To God be the glory!<\/p>\n Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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.\u00a0 It is called a 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