Church Sermon - April 9, 2006

BEHOLD, YOUR KING!

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Zechariah 9:9-10
Epistle Lesson: Philippians 2:5-11
Gospel Lesson; Mark 15:1-39
Sermon Text; Mark 15:1-39

Zechariah had prophesied many years earlier, "Behold, Jerusalem, your King comes to you, meek, lowly, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." What could have been more obvious to the city of Jerusalem, as their King fulfilled that prophesy, rode into the city of Jerusalem, meek and lowly, on a donkey, and on a colt the foal of the donkey, as the crowds proclaimed Him "King?" "Hosanna to the Son of David." The King had come to His city - a meek and lowly King.

As we consider what kind of a king Jesus is, let us look at the illustration pictured here, and then consider the words, which are the words of Pontius Pilate, as he says, "Behold, your King."

These are your words, Heavenly Father; lead us in the way of truth. Your Word is truth.

Amen.

Graffiti is not a recent invention. Graffiti has been around for several thousand years. In fact, the word graffiti comes from a Greek word that means ‘writing.’ Even back in Jesus’ day, people used to do graffiti. Some archeologists were digging in the city of Rome, and discovered some graffiti on a wall that had been put there, shortly after Jesus had ascended into Heaven. The graffiti on this wall in Rome is a charcoal drawing of a man. He has his head bowed down in worship. Underneath, written in charcoal, is the name of Alexamonos. (You can imagine maybe some high school age kids decided to make a little graffiti about somebody named Alexamonous.) Alexamonous has his head bowed down in worship. In this charcoal drawing, the man is standing in front of a cross. On the cross hangs the body of man. That person hanging on the cross, while he has the body of a man, has the head of a mule. It says in graffiti, "Alexamonous worships his god."

There is a mockery of Christ. It was saying that Christ is a fool. And anyone who worships Christ is a fool.

Keep that picture in mind and then consider this. In Bible times, if there was a rival to the throne, if somebody was a rival to the kingship, that rival to the throne had to be dealt with very severely. The people had to be shown that you do not want to follow that other king. It would be dangerous. It would not be wise. Sometimes, other kings, who threatened a kingdom, would be captured and killed. On occasion, in the Bible, we discover that kings would be captured, their thumbs would be cut off, and their big toes would be cut off. And then, they would be sent back out among their people. Why did that happen? Well, a king with no thumbs could not carry a sword, and he was no threat. He could not lead his people into battle. And a king missing his big toe, at the most, could just limp around. He was no threat to anybody. It was a message to all the people, "This king is no longer a threat to us. He is harmless. He is harmless and it would do no good to follow him. He cannot lead you. He cannot be your king."

Keep that in mind also, and again look at the picture of Jesus, and consider the words Pilate said, "Behold your King."

The Jews had brought Jesus before Pilate with an accusation. The accusation was, "He claims to be a king." In other words, he is a king who is attempting to threaten the king of Rome. He is attempting to threaten Caesar. Therefore, they were urging Pilate to get rid of Jesus, because a king would not want some other king to threaten his kingdom.

So, what did Pilate do? Pilate made a mockery out of Jesus, as a king. In his own mind, he made a sheer donkey out of Jesus. Pilate had Jesus flogged severely. And then, Pilate’s soldiers took a purple robe, and in sheer mockery, put it on Jesus’ shoulders. (That robe was drenched with the blood of our King.) Then they took a crown of thorns, and said, "You’re a king, we’ll give you a crown." They made the crown of thorns and pressed it on His head. It was not a crown of glory. It was a crown of humility and shame. And then they took a staff, a rod, and they put it in His hands. (A staff was what the king used to judge people. He would hold it out to those who were not guilty. And he didn’t hold it out to those who were guilty.) They took that staff and put it in Jesus’ hands. Then they pulled it out and began to beat Him with it. It was not a rod of glory. It was a rod of humility, shame, and weakness.

Having done that, Pilate leads Jesus out. You can imagine them standing over a platform, as the crowd looks up and they see this mockery of a king, this King who appeared as though He could not lead anybody in any rebellion, this King who had been made a fool of, and Pilate says to the people, "Behold your King."

If we use our eyes and we look at the picture, He appears to be a fool. He appears to be nothing but weak, powerless, harmless, and nobody that anyone would want to follow. And yet, what does scripture teach us? Scripture teaches us that we do not go by appearances. We do not go by what our eyes tell us. If we go by our eyes, we see nothing but weakness. But, what does scripture tell us? Scripture tells us to go by the Word of God, not by what appearance tells us, but what our ears hear. Scripture tells us something very different than what our eyes behold. As we look at that picture of Jesus, mocked, with a crown of thorns on His head, a staff of mockery in His hands, and a robe of ridicule on His shoulders, by the Word of God we see something very different than what our eyes tell us. There we see, hidden under that weakness, hidden underneath that shame, we see, by the eyes of faith, a mighty, powerful King. We see a King who has come, not to make war against sinners and to fight against sinners, but we see a mighty, powerful King who has come to fight on behalf of sinners, on behalf of you and me! As we look at that picture, we do not go by appearances, but we go by the Word of God. In this picture, we see a King who is in the process of defeating enemies that no king in this world has ever been able to even come close to defeating. As we look at this picture, (not going by what our eyes tells us, but what the Word of God tells us), we see a King who is so powerful that He is in the process, here, of kicking the teeth of out of sin. As He bears our sin, our guilt, our shame, so completely, so thoroughly does He take our punishment, that He totally, in His might and power, kicks the teeth out of sin, so that sin cannot bite you and kill you, anymore. The Bible tells us,

"There is now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Our sin is forgiven, by this mighty King, who appears weak and foolish!

Here we see by faith, through the words of scripture, a mighty King who has won the victory over the worst of enemies - sin, death, and Satan. And He shares the spoils of the victory with those who are in His Kingdom. As we look at this picture, Jesus teaches us not to go by what our eyes tell us, but what our ears hear in the words of scripture. Anyone who believes in Him has the mightiest King in the world!

How does our King come to us, today? (This is so important for us to understand.) How does this mighty King come to us today? The world would expect a king to come in majesty, power, glory, and might, so that with appearance we could tell that he is a mighty king. But our Savior has taught us not to go by what our eyes see, not to go by appearances, but to go by the Word of God. What is the way our King comes to us today? Well, what does scripture say?

"Behold, your King comes to you

meek and lowly."

Still today, He comes to us meek and lowly. The way He comes today parallels the way He came in this picture. How does our King come to us today? He does come meek and lowly. Our Savior, our King, promises to come to us connected with ordinary bread and wine, and connected with simple water in baptism. He promises to come to us through a man, who stands in a pulpit and hot air comes out of his mouth. The world looks at that and sees weakness. The world looks at that and says, "You mean your King comes to you through some bread and wine, though a little water, and through some man whose so lacking in skill he can barely put his robe on? That is how your King comes to you?"

But our King has trained us through this to see that we do not go by appearances. We go by what our ears hear, and what the Word of God tells us. Our King did not come to establish an earthly kingdom of might, glory, and power. And so, our King tells us, as the world laughs, and scorns, and sees it as foolish, He comes to us through bread and wine. We have been trained in scripture, not to go by what our eyes tell us. To the world it does look like just bread and wine. But what does Christ say? Christ says,

"This is my body.

This is my blood."

We have been trained to go by what our ears hear in the Word of God. If this picture of weakness could be a mighty King, in the process of destroying our mightiest enemies, then certainly in humility, He can come to His Kingdom in hidden ways through bread and wine, connected with the Word of God. And there He distributes to us the spoils of His victory. He distributes to you personally, the very body that died on the cross, the very blood that was shed on the cross, assuring you that what happened on the cross, happened for you. The victory belongs to you! He gives it to you, as your personal possession.

He assures us that in baptism, (which the world looks at as foolish, silly, and weak), that Christ would come to you, your King would come to you, through a little water, a little sprinkling of water on the head. We have been taught from scripture, from our humble and lowly King, to believe that He comes to us in humble and lowly ways. What does scripture say? Scripture says,

"Be baptized and wash away your sins."

Scripture says,

"Baptism also now saves you."

Scripture says,

"Don’t you know that

all of us who have been baptized in Christ

have been clothed with Christ?"

There, scripture makes those clear promises that through the Word in baptism the King comes to His people. He comes into their hearts and He distributes to them all the spoils of the victory He has won for them – the forgiveness of sins, and faith, itself, in Christ, our Savior.

The Bible promises that the King comes to us through the preached Word. Again, the world would look and say, "You mean that man who can barely put his robe on, and seems to be talking hot air from the front pulpit? Christ comes through the preached Word? That seems weak, lowly, and powerless."

What does the Bible say?

"Faith,

faith comes from hearing the message.

The message is heard through the Word of Christ."

Our Savior has taught us not to go by appearances, but by His promises, by His Word. Thank God our King came meek and lowly, not to fight against sinners but to fight for sinners and to win the victory. Thank God our King still comes to us today, meek and lowly, and distributes Himself to us through the Word, through Baptism, and through the Lord’s Supper.

Why has our King come? I love the explanation to the Second Article, of the Apostle’s Creed, in our Catechism. It says, "I believe that Jesus Christ is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true Man, born of the Virgin Mary and that He is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sin, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy and precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. (Why?) In order that I might be His own, and live under Him in His Kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness forever."

That is why our King has come, in order that we might be His own and serve Him.

There is a story of a Spanish Conquistador. I cannot remember his name, but he was to do battle, he and his men to do battle, with a huge number of ferocious enemies. And, he was outnumbered.

He lined up for battle, as the enemy lined up for battle. This Conquistador had his soldiers all line up in rows.

He then ordered them to march. And they began to march. They marched right toward a cliff, as the enemies watched. He ordered them to continue marching. The first line of men walked right off the cliff and fell to their death. The second line of men walked right off the cliff and fell to their death. The third line of men walked right off the cliff and fell to their death. And then, the Conquistador ordered them to stop.

Then, he ordered them to turn around and he ordered them to raise their weapons. And when the enemy saw the loyalty those men had for their leader, they all laid down their weapons and surrendered.

We have a King of far, far greater degree than that. And look at what He has done for us! Let us follow Him in absolute loyalty, absolute loyalty, (as our Epistle Lesson tells us). Christ humbled Himself for you. He humbled Himself for you. Therefore, it tells us, we should humble ourselves, and treat others better than ourselves. Let us follow Him in loyalty, in our homes, at work, at school, and let us follow Him wherever He leads, because He has made us members of His Kingdom!

Amen.

Top of Page || Church Sermons || Return to Home Page