5^th Midweek Lenten Service – March 17^th, 2010

Matthew 27:27-31, 39-44 – Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set 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. ³⁰ They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹ 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…³⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴² “He saved others,” they said, “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. ⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” ⁴⁴ In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

"He is Your King"

"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform" – so wrote the hymnist. And although he was writing more specifically about the mysterious ways God brings blessing out of trouble, his words are appropriate in another area as well – the way God worked out our salvation. No human mind could ever have devised such a plan as this. Human wisdom is turned completely upside down as it seems so improbable, so unlikely of success.

Tonight in our lesson, we see the mysterious workings of God as he brings his pure and perfect Son into contact with some of the coarsest, most foul-mouthed and belligerent heathen. Here, in the courtyard of mocking soldiers, Jesus of Nazareth is Passing By in his grace. He gives them an opportunity to meet Jesus, to learn of him, to come to faith in him. And while it does not surprise us that they scorned and rejected the opportunity, it does amaze us that God would bother to give them such an opportunity at all, just like it amazes us that he gives us the opportunity today. Still, in the end, we know that what the soldiers say in mockery is truer than they will ever know. Jesus really is the King, not just of the Jews, but of the entire world – their King, too.

The soldiers, no doubt, like everyone else in Jerusalem, had heard at least something about Jesus. Since the sun had come up, Jesus had been the talk of the town in some sort of way. Pontius Pilate had met with Jesus, talked to him about his kingdom that was not of this world. He had concluded that Jesus posed no threat to the Roman government. But then in a remarkable display of cowardice he washed his hands of the whole matter and handed Jesus over to the soldiers for crucifixion. Now, like a cat morbidly playing with a mouse before striking the death blow, the soldiers decide to have some fun with the condemned prisoner.

Yet, as we read through the Gospel account, we begin to sense a strange twist to the events that are unfolding. The soldiers mock Jesus as the “King of the Jews.” They dress him up in royal robes. They place a crown on his head, not of jewels, but of thorns. They place a scepter in his hand and then use it to beat him on the head. They spit in his face showing their utter disgust and daring him to do something about it, if he really is a king. But through it all Jesus just stands there majestically. Even though they treat him with disdain, he appears to be the one in charge. Nothing fazes him. There is no anger; no threats of revenge. Jesus does not raise his hands against them, even in his own defense.

He does not shrink from the title, “King of the Jews.” He rejoices in it. They say it only in jest. He knows it is true. He is the King of the Jews. He didn't have to take it. He could have done away with the whole Roman army by summoning 12 legions of angels, another army more powerful than they. But he doesn’t. Instead he becomes “obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

These soldiers, who thought of Jesus as nothing but another prisoner on death row don't think much about what they're doing. Theirs is a case of great ignorance, of course – but is that all? Isn’t there also every evidence that they were aware of the claims Jesus made about himself! That is why they mock him – shoving the crown of thorns on his head, throwing a purple robe over his bloody shoulders, bowing down in insincere homage, saying "Hail King of the Jews!" Yes, ignorance is part of it, but it’s not all of it. The plain fact is they don't take the claims of Jesus seriously. They aren't vicious heretics; they're simply not interested. They are among those who pass by the suffering Savior and simply don't think it's all that important.

But then, is that all that much different than those who pass by today? You know, the ones who don't think it's all that important, or who simply don't think at all. There is, somehow, this terrible short-circuit when it comes to things of the soul. There is a senseless emptiness to their lives, a rushing through life without any thought of where they came from, why they're here or where they're going. Oh, they may pass by on some Good Friday or Easter or Christmas. They may show up for some marrying and burying – imagining that a few pious words are in order before rushing out into the so-called "real world" again. But they're merely passing by – and in the process they've made as much fun of Jesus and his message as these Roman soldiers of Pilate. They have with their mouth and their lives given the message to the outside world that what happens here in church simply isn't all that important. They've simply passed by. And the point of all this isn’t to point the finger out there, but to point it right here (point at yourself) and ask, do I see myself in any of this?

Of course, this is an account we've all heard before. In fact, it would be difficult to find a man or woman even in the streets of Yale who doesn't know of Jesus’ suffering and death. But there is a big difference between knowing that Jesus died on a cross - and knowing what that means for ones dull and dreary life. And so it is that countless people over the years – is it possible that at times even us – have passed by the cross of the Savior with barely an interested glance, with little more than a religious tingle, with its effects lasting no longer than a flu bug or a head cold as one fails to understand that Jesus really is King. But if there is one thing that the faith can never be, it is for it to be treated as only moderately important. If Jesus is who he says he is, then that truth is worth my every breath of support, devotion and faith.

Perhaps it’s Jesus’ lowliness that rubs people the wrong way. The soldiers, after all, didn’t think that Jesus looked much like a king. Perhaps people are troubled by his meekness, by his apparent lack of control of what is happening to him. A king should be in charge, we think. A king should rule and control the outcome, we say. Well, that is exactly what Jesus does.

He came to conquer. He came to utterly defeat sin, death and hell, but not with might or superior strength. He came to conquer in the least likely way of all. He came to conquer by giving up his life, by becoming a servant and suffering for us. It seems like such a strange way to win a battle, a strange way to overcome your enemies. But it's God's way, and the only way it can be accomplished.

The soldiers, of course, aren’t the only ones to question Jesus’ kingship. They aren’t the only ones to mock and taunt him. So do the religious leaders of the Jews who pass by the cross. For all their religious training, for all their value systems and high morality, for all of their talk about believing the Bible and guarding the commandments of Moses – they all missed the boat as they pass by. Yet ironically, they come out with words which are startlingly true: "He saved others but he can't save himself!" And as a fellow once said, "It's precisely because He did not come down from the cross that we believe in Him as our Savior."

As true God He could have come down, blasted them with one ray of His transfiguration glory, but in the plan of salvation determined from eternity, Jesus could not step down and still save us from ourselves. The grand truth is, "He saved others, but he can't save himself." It is true that he saved others - from hunger and disease, from demons and storms, from death itself. It's true that with a touch he banished the fears of men's hearts and the plagues of their bodies. But now he whom wind and wave obey cannot – rather will not – save himself.

It's this very truth that the Jewish leaders unwittingly speak – that he will not save himself – which makes it possible for you and me to pass by the cross in another way, in a good way. We don't have to suffer the torment of the damned on the cross as he did. We don't have to pay for our sin as he did, because the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, because the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, because by his wounds we are healed.

It's a blessed thing for us today that we can pass by while he absorbs for us the penalty of our rebellion. What a tragic thing if we should pass by and take no note of it, or call it unimportant. Ultimately everyone must take sides – either with the soldiers who mock and abuse him, or with this one who is our King. We all know the fact that Jesus died on the cross. But does it matter to us? Do we know what he did for us there? Do we believe it?

Jesus was speaking the truth when he told Pilate, “I am a King” (John 18:37), although he quickly added, “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Indeed, what earthly king would ever do what Jesus has done for us? What earthly king would leave behind his glory and majesty and suffer and die for his people? "God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform." Jesus stoops to conquer. It's the Father's way. It's Jesus' way. It's the only way – the way of our King! Don’t let it pass you by that he made it possible for you to pass by. Amen.