Hail to the King

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Matthew 27 (click the link)


KEY PASSAGE:
After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:31, NIV)


PONDERINGS:
I still find myself getting angry sometimes when I read the story of Jesus' crucifixion. What an injustice! The best, most innocent, most loving, most humane man to ever walk the face of the earth is unjustly tried, beaten, and murdered by a whole cadre of vengeful, hateful people. Probably the part that makes my blood boil the most, however, is the mocking of Jesus.

Can you picture Jesus having just been flogged, his skin torn apart, half dead already and, instead of finishing the job, the Roman soldiers prolong the torture by taking the time to bring him before the whole battalion (which could have been up to 600 soldiers) and they mock him and humiliate him by stripping him naked, then putting a royal robe on his battered body, driving the crown of thorns into his head and spending who knows how long bowing before him, hailing him as king, spitting on him and beating him further with the reed they had cruelly placed in his hand?

As I picture what took place inside the walls of the governor’s headquarters I am struck deeply that this was my punishment. It doesn’t matter that it took place over 2,000 years ago—these were the wages for my sin. I deserve to suffer those atrocities—the beatings, the spitting, the mocking, the humiliation, yet he endured it in my place and was marred beyond human recognition so that he could sprinkle me with his blood in order to redeem me from the power of Satan, the power of sin, and from the law of death.

…………

When I read this story, it's hard for me to remember sometimes that this is the same Jesus who only a few days earlier was boldly confronting the authorities in the Temple. It's even harder to remember that this is the same Jesus who only a few weeks before was healing people, celebrating with people, and teaching them the mysteries of God's kingdom. But Matthew has creatively woven hints of all that into the story as a way of reminding us that Jesus' crucifixion was not a messy accident at the end of a glittering career, but instead the proper—though shocking—climax to it.

Earlier in the story, James and John's mother approached Jesus with the request "that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." Jesus assured them that a time would indeed come when he would be enthroned with one person on his right and another on his left (20:23). But, ironically, the "throne" he had in mind was the cross. “Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left” (27:38).

Pilate mockingly placed a placard above Jesus' "throne." What for Pilate and the soldiers was Jesus' "crime"—his absurd claim to be Israel's true king—was for Matthew the absolute truth. And the crucifixion was the means by which his kingdom would be established.

Why? Because the kingdom Jesus had spoken of—from the Sermon on the Mount onwards—was never a kingdom to be established and maintained by force. If it was to be God's kingdom, it would come about by God's means; and the means that the true God chooses to use are the means of self-sacrificial love.

…………

In reading NT Wright's commentary, I realized for the first time that parts of the Sermon on the Mount come back into play in the Passion Story. Jesus himself is slapped in the face by the religious leaders and the soldiers, and doesn't retaliate one bit (5:39). They take off his outer and inner garments, exposing his naked body (5:40). As he is going out to be crucified, the soldiers use their "right" under Roman law to compel someone to carry a burden for them (5:41); only this time the burden in question is the heavy crossbeam on which Jesus will be hung.

What’s the point of all this? Jesus is leading the way he had spoken of from the very beginning, the way of being God's true Israel, the light of the world. He himself is set on a hill, unable to remain hidden (5:14-16). This is how Jesus is shining the light of God's love into the dark corners of the world: by taking the evil of the world—the hatred and cruelty and unthinking mockery of the world, the gratuitous violence, bullying and torture that still defaces the world—and letting it do its worst to him.

Never let it be said that the Christian faith is some airy-fairy thing—all about having wonderful inner, spiritual experiences—and not about the real world. This story takes us to the very heart of what Christianity is all about. And here we meet—up close and raw—the anger and bitterness of the world, doing its worst against the One who fully embodies and represents the limitless love of the creator God.


POINT OF ACTION:
As we watch the shocking, tragic and yet deeply healing events surrounding Jesus' crucifixion, three appropriate responses come to my mind—

First, it's right to be outraged that so many unjust things should happen. The unfortunate reality is that these sorts of things are happening all around us in the world today. If we are willing to hear him, Jesus is asking us what we are going to do about it?

Second, we are of course horrified that such things should happen to Jesus—the very same Jesus who had done so many wonderful things, through whom so much healing and restoration, forgiveness and love came flowing so freely to so many. But the truth is, Jesus' "enthronement" on the cross has brought healing, forgiveness, and hope to millions more. Since we know this to be true, what are we doing to help others to know it, too?

Third, we are of course overwhelmed at the thought that all this was done FOR US. So, by God's grace, let us learn to be truly grateful, to worship and adore Jesus—the One in whose death we see the face of God turned towards us in love. And as we do so, may we hear—afresh and new—Jesus' invitation to follow him on the path of selflessness, the path of life he so vividly described in the Sermon on the Mount and the path of life he walked all the way to the cross.


WHO AM I?
I am Tres Sansom, and I have been blessed with a tremendous set of parents. My parents are polar opposites in their personality—my dad being the type of guy who naturally morphs into the life of the party and my mom being the type of gal who quietly works behind the scenes. But my parents share one thing in common—a heart of service. Throughout my life, my parents have been tireless servants of their family and their Lord's church. As a young man I took their love for granted, but now I count myself blessed to be the son of Ira and Judy.