What A Strange King Is This Crucified Jesus

Next Sunday is the final in the church's year of worship. It is often called Christ the King Sunday, especially since the Gospel for this Sunday tells of Jesus crucified with an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews" (Luke 23:27-43). The Jewish rulers in Jerusalem of that day scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!" I plan to use this Gospel lesson as the basis for the sermon I will preach to a small congregation of Lutheran believers in East Texas. I will use the conversation of the two criminals as the text for meditation, focusing on the prayer of the one who repented, saying, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Such a strange king is this Jesus. He had but a few days before entered Jerusalem as a king, riding on a donkey colt in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, "Behold your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." The multitude of his disciples rejoiced and spread their clothing on the road to honor him, shouting, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!" Now he hung on a Roman cross, condemned as an insurrectionist and traitor, mocked by the leaders of his own nation. Such a strange king.

All this is connected to the title he accepted, the Christ or in Hebrew the Messiah, the Anointed One. The great King David was the first anointed one, the first Messiah. His sons were also anointed as the kings of Israel. From that line, said the prophets, one day would come the great king, the Messiah.

The descendants of Israel, the Jews, held the concept of the coming of the Messiah in the highest regard. The prophets foretold that he would usher in a great day of blessing, prosperity and peace. Isaiah, for instance, wrote about the Anointed One who would bind up the broken hearted, free the captives, comfort all who mourn and clothe them with garments of praise instead of a faint spirit. Their ruined cities were to be rebuilt and the restored nation would have foreign servants plowing their fields and tending their vineyards. They had lost so much when led into captivity in Babylon, but their fortunes were to be restored double (Isaiah 61:1-7). What a wondrous time the coming of the Messiah would be. No wonder that the Jews waited with longing and prayed each Sabbath for Messiah's return.

And yet here is this Jesus, directly descended from David, a true Son of David and hailed by the multitudes as Messiah, hanging upon the cross with this mocking inscription, "King of the Jews." I want to focus upon the strangeness of King Jesus. Pilate did not understand it. When he asked Jesus if he was indeed a king, Jesus affirmed that he was. However, his kingdom was not a worldly kingdom. Jesus said,

"My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice" (John 18:36-38). 

There are hundreds of questions flying around this statement. Jesus had no political aspirations nor was he intent on leading a rebellion against Rome. There were many who were ready to do so. Indeed thousands of Jews did rebel against Rome in the generation after Jesus lived on the earth. I will not get into all that in next Sunday's sermon. Instead I want to focus upon the faith of that single thief crucified next to our Lord who believed Jesus was indeed coming into his kingdom. Somehow he believed that Jesus' death was the path that would lead to his reign.

Who was this strange believer? And how did he arrive at such a belief? And what does he have to teach us today? These are questions I  want to explore with you this week and with the gathered believers next Sunday.