Jesus the King*

Good Friday Community Service

Everything started exactly right. Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, with God as their God and friend. But you know the story; they sinned, and the entire world felt the sting. Separation from God ensued. The God of the Universe pursued His creation, created from nobody a people, a people He would bless to be a blessing to the world. The Lord would be their God and they would be His people. God led Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Later, God called Moses to lead His people out of Egyptian captivity – leading Israel in a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. But in the last five chapters of the book of Judges, three times we find the phrase: “in those days Israel had no king.” This is an important designation, because a king was not simply the ruler of his people. In the Ancient Near East, a king didn’t function quite like a king or ruler might function today. It was the universal understanding that the king was not the top dog – the deity who that nation worshiped was the top dog. The realm of the gods is the realm of life and blessing, and that life and blessing is mediated by the king to the people.

The flow of life comes from God through the king to the people. Psalm 72 is a good place to look for this. A feature of this flow is military might and protection. He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor. (Psalm 72:4). Another feature is justice. Endow the king with your justice, O God… He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. (Psalm 72:1-2) A third area is the flow of order being brought out of chaos, and a fourth is agricultural bounty: He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth…

There is also the sense of intimacy between the deity and the king – because the king mediates the deity’s life and blessing to the people, the king is seen as the son of the deity.

So when Judges 17:6, 18:1, and 21:25 tell us that in those days Israel had no king, this is super bad news. It’s not that they were aimless or leaderless; it is that they are unable to access their god’s life and blessing. So it is in this context that we read that “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.”

Of course everyone did as he saw fit, as there was no mediator to deliver God’s life and blessing to the people. People will do what they have to do.

And so we see in 1 Samuel 8, the people demand a king, and they get one. They first get King Saul, who disobeys God, and from whom God withdraws his anointing in 1 Samuel 15. So God instructs Samuel to anoint David King.

And to King David and his descendants, God makes this audacious promise (in Jeremiah 23:5): “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David [or from David’s line] a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

Now everyone in the Ancient Near East understood that a king must be anointed; anointing is said to symbolize the descent of God’s holiness upon the king and as a sign of a bond never to be broken. God sent Samuel to Jesse’s house to anoint one of his sons as king. In 1 Samuel 16, we see the scene where Samuel wonders over each son, is this the one? Finally, the youngest son is brought in from tending the sheep, and the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. (1 Samuel 16:12-13)

In the end of Matthew 3, we find Jesus’ baptism. Like in the anointing ceremony, God’s prophet is present. Samuel was there for David, John the Baptist for Jesus. But for Jesus, right when he went up out of the water, at that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. (Matthew 3:16). It is the Holy Spirit who does the anointing, God’s holiness descending on him as a sign of the bond never to be broken!

During the baptism, an audible voice from heaven is heard, and do you remember what it says? Let me read Matthew 3:17: Then a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Remember the intimate “son of the gods” symbolism of the king?

There is no question that Jesus is being anointed king. And like David, who had to wait years, Jesus’ anointing and enthronement were distant. Though Jesus was anointed, he wasn’t crowned king until later.

Even before Jesus was anointed king, there were those who recognized him as king. Remember the magi, or, as we often call them, the wise men? Matthew 2:1-2 tells us that After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Foreign mystics knew that this was the king. When Herod went looking, the chief priests and teachers of the law affirmed that some 400 years previously, Micah had prophesied that the coming king would be born in Bethlehem.

In John 1:49, we see Nathanael recognizing who Jesus is when he declares, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

Jesus went about his ministry, always talking about the kingdom of heaven – where is it? Who gets in? What’s it like? And then this past Sunday, we celebrated Palm Sunday, which is full of kingdom imagery. Like every king of Israel, Jesus rides up into Jerusalem triumphantly. Someone might have expected the king to ride a warhorse, but Jesus specifically fulfills the prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 by riding in on a lowly donkey. Even the palms were waved in acknowledgement of his kingship – just as the people waved palm boughs in the festal procession of Psalm 118.

Not only this, but the kingly processional included riding not only into Jerusalem, but up to the Temple. The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. (Psalm 118:27). Where did Jesus go once he arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? Directly to the Temple.

And so Jesus was arrested for blasphemy and sedition. His trial, as recorded in

John 18, includes this interchange between Jesus and Pilate: Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:33-37)

And so Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion. The cross even had a “seat” for the crime of sedition. The soldiers dressed Jesus up in royal purple robes and twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. (Matthew 27:28-29)

Even the crucifixion itself was set up to mock Jesus. There were three crosses, with the center cross taller than the others, with the two crosses to left and right are the “two assistants on his left and right.” Remember how James and John, the sons of Zebedee asked to sit at his right and left hand? This is the scene in a throne room. So not only was the cross a horrible, cruel means of execution, in this case it is also a mockery of his royal throne room.

And the sign is nailed to his cross, written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And when some of the chief priests and Jews complained, wanting the sign changed, Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” (John 19:19, 22)

And the crowds mocked him, shouting, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.” (Matthew 27:42)

Jesus went through every step to be crowned king, culminating with this mocking coronation ceremony… and through this mockery, they actually crowned him King of the Jews… and Jesus accepted it.

But if we go back to Psalm 72, we realize that to be crowned King of the Jews is far more than just to be crowned king of one group of people. In Psalm 72, we read this: He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. (Psalm 72:8). All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him. (Psalm 72:11) All nations will be blessed through him and they will call him blessed. Praise to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. (Psalm 72:17b, 19)

The King of Israel is now the King of the World! And so we can now understand Revelation 1:4-5, where the greeting is given: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Jesus is not merely a king, but he is the ruler of all the kings of the earth, the King of kings. This is why we read this in Revelation 19:16: On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.

And so, in Jesus’ crucifixion, he not only takes our sin upon himself, but he is also crowned King of Kings – Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

So here on Good Friday, you have an opportunity to bow your knee and confess that Jesus is Lord. Will you join in His Kingdom for God’s glory?

*NOTE: most of the inspiration and even information for this sermon came from a lecture that Dr. Joseph Dongell of Asbury Theological Seminary brought to a pastors' day apart (in the Shawnee Valley District of the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church) on December 8, 2012. I am grateful to Dr. Dongell for his scholarship and for the important lecture. When he stated that Jesus accepted the mocking "coronation" ceremony, I was in tears.