This morning I want to tell you a story of four kings. And I know that you think I’ve lost it, that the account belongs in the Christmas story, not the Easter story, and it’s three kings, not four.
Well, even that isn’t completely true. Even though the story of the three kings comes alive each year in Christmas carols and on Christmas cards, it’s founded more in tradition than in the biblical account.
That story is found in the second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, and we are told that wise men from eastern lands sought out the newborn Christ child in Bethlehem. Part of the story tells us that they brought gifts, and the gifts are even described for us.
These visitors brought three gifts, which has led to the traditional number of three visitors. After all, who would show up to visit a newborn and not bring a gift? I mean other than me.
But maybe some of them went in together on the gifts. After all, they were pretty pricey gifts. But all we are doing is guessing and speculating.
And while the story this morning isn’t about the Magi and the Christmas story, that’s where we are going to begin.
Let’s pick the story up in Matthew 2:1–2 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”
Let’s start with the fact that Jesus was A King Who Was Worshipped.
We don’t know a lot about the magi. But from these two verses, we know that they came from the east. I often tell folks from the rest of Canada that the biblical precedent is for wise men to come from the east. And most scholars feel that this means that the magi began their journey in Persia.
And we know that they followed a star. And we know that they only had one purpose for their journey: to worship the newborn king of the Jews.
Today, if we talk about worship, we think of what happens on Sunday morning, and all that entails. The music, the sermon, the offering, the announcements.
But listen to the account of what happened when the Magi found Jesus, Matthew 2:9–11 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
They were filled with joy. This wasn’t something they were forced to do; it was something they did with a happy heart.
Then we are told they bowed down and worshipped him. But more than simply bowing down, this was an acknowledgement that the child was worthy of their worship. There was a physical element to their worship, an intentionality about what they were doing. Not only did they say they were going to worship Jesus, but they also demonstrated it by bowing down to Jesus.
The Collins English Dictionary defines worship as wor·ship (wûr sh p) n.
1. Reverence or devotion to a deity 2. Intense love or admiration
To be honest, there are times that I am in a worship service, but I’m not worshipping. My body is there, but my mind is somewhere else. Sometimes if it’s on a Sunday morning, I end up thinking about my message. Or analyzing what is happening in the service.
Is the music too loud or not loud enough? Is the room too warm or not warm enough? Do I need to close the doors to the lobby? Maybe I see someone come in, and they can’t find a seat, and I wonder if I should get up and show them where there is one available? Or I’m wondering why someone just got up and left partway through the service.
And those probably aren’t things that you think about on Sunday morning. Maybe things didn’t go smoothly getting the family here. Or there are problems at work. Or you are wondering how you will pay the bill that’s due tomorrow. Or you are wondering what the funny sound was that your car was making as you were driving to church.
Or maybe you think the music is too loud, or not loud enough, or the room is too warm or not warm enough.
Regardless, instead of entering into worship, you slip out of worship.
David tells us in Psalm 86:12 With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God. I will give glory to your name forever.
When I find myself drifting in worship, whether at Cornerstone or elsewhere, I intentionally pull myself back in. Not by consciously not thinking of the distractions. But by deliberately entering into worship.
And then, as a part of their worship, we are told they gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
It would have been easy for them to say, well, it cost us a lot to get here, what with feeding the camels and our hotels and meals. Even using booking.com and eating at fast-food restaurants would have been expensive. But, regardless of what it had cost them just to be there to worship Jesus, they brought gifts.
We’ve discussed this before, but each of the gifts was significant to who Jesus was and whom he would become. Gold was traditionally the gift for a King. We are told that in Persia, it was customary that no one could approach the King without first presenting him with a gift of gold, good work if you can find it. And so we need to remember that the child in the cradle was also the King of Kings.
The second gift was frankincense, a type of incense used in temple worship; as a matter of fact, it’s mentioned in the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament as a type of sacrifice. And so, this was a gift for a priest, one who would open the way to God for the people.
The third gift was Myrrh, and it was mixed with aloes by the Jews to embalm their dead. So, this was a gift for the one who would die for us.
And those gifts were presented to Jesus as an act of worship because that’s what Worship is.
There are three things that we know.
In order for them to worship Jesus as King, it first required a choice.
I don’t know for sure, but I would suspect that the wise men were not the only ones who saw the star. There is nothing to indicate that the star was hidden or obscure. And perhaps they weren’t even the only ones to realize the significance of the star. But they were the only ones who chose to follow it.
And it required a commitment. We don’t know how long it took them to make the trip or how much it cost them. But they were committed to worshipping Jesus.
And ultimately, there was a price to be paid. When the Wisemen decided to defy Herod by not returning to tell him where they had found Jesus, they put their lives in danger. And on a practical note, we are told they took a different route home to avoid the King. Probably a route that cost them more in time and resources.
We don’t see Jesus referred to as a king again until the last week of his life. This happened on the day that we now refer to as Palm Sunday.
John 12:12–15 The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.”
Here we discover that Jesus was A King Who was Acknowledged.
The apostles must have been so excited that day. It looked like all they had waited for and dreamed of was now coming to fruition.
We are told that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day, it was a fulfilment of a prophecy made hundreds of years before in Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.
And the crowd got caught up in the excitement and we are told they laid palm branches and cloaks down in front of the donkey Jesus was riding.
My first thought here was to call this point Jesus was a king who was embraced, but what happened that day really was a flash in the pan event. It wouldn’t appear that the lives of those in the crowd weren’t radically changed.
Jesus’ followers saw this as a pivotal event. They thought it would be a turning point in Jesus’ ministry and mission. But it really wasn’t. We didn’t see lives changed. Those who cheered Jesus on that day were conspicuously absent a week later when Jesus was arrested and crucified.
We don’t know all that went on in the minds of those who gathered to welcome Jesus that day, but we do know three things.
In order to acknowledge Jesus, it required a choice. Nobody forced them to praise Jesus. Perhaps they were caught up in the moment, but ultimately it was their choice.
And not everybody that day was impressed with what happened. When the religious leaders told Jesus he needed to quiet the people down, we find his response in Luke 19:39–40 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
We all know people who have acknowledged Jesus. They might even say they love Jesus, but like those along the road that day it doesn’t lead to the next step.
If the Wisemen could be defined by their commitment, these folks could be defined by their lack of commitment. It seemed like they were in the story, and then they weren’t. That after the excitement died down, they went home and didn’t think any more about Jesus.
Jesus warned his followers about that when he told one man, Luke 9:62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
Billy Sunday was a pro baseball player who became a world-renowned preacher and evangelist, and he said, "Stopping at third adds no more to the score than striking out. It doesn't matter how well you start if you fail to finish."
And ultimately there was a price to be paid. The price for them was an eternity lost.
The next time we see Jesus referred to as king was just a week after the triumphant entry.
I always wonder how many who were in the crowd on Palm Sunday were in the crowd on Good Friday. Let’s pick up John’s account in, John 19:14–15 It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!” “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!” “What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back.
It's here we discover that Jesus was A King who was Rejected
If you know the story of Good Friday, then you know how Jesus ended up being tried by the Roman Governor, a man named Pilate.
And he wanted nothing to do with the farce. It even appears that he tried to release Jesus. At one point he ordered that Jesus be flogged to appease the crowd. That didn’t work. Then he offered to release Jesus because it was Passover.
We read in Luke 23:13–16 Then Pilate called together the leading priests and other religious leaders, along with the people, and he announced his verdict. “You brought this man to me, accusing him of leading a revolt. I have examined him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him innocent. Herod came to the same conclusion and sent him back to us. Nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty. So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.”
We know that not everyone in the crowd rejected Jesus that day. We are told that there was a group of his followers who had gathered with his mother at the foot of the cross. We know that Judas, the one who betrayed him, was so filled with remorse over what he had done, that he took his own life. At least one of the centurions that afternoon proclaimed Jesus’ innocence.
But the majority of those who had gathered on Golgotha that day rejected Jesus as King.
And while we don't know what all was going through their minds that day, we do know that in order to Reject Jesus, it required a choice. Nobody forced them to reject Jesus. And we know that ultimately that choice had a cost.
Jesus warned the crowds in Matthew 10:32–33 Jesus said, “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.”
And that price is the same today, as it was 2000 years ago. “But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.”
And so, it all came down to Pilate, he was the one who had the final authority. He could have released Jesus, the scripture indicate that he was looking for a way out
John 19:16–19 Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
And so, the story of Good Friday ends with A King who was killed
This was not the first time that someone wanted to kill Jesus. If we go back to where we began, in the Christmas story, we discover what happened after the wise men chose to bypass Jerusalem on their way home.
Matthew 2:16 Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance.
And so, the story ends with Herod getting his wish. The Wisemen asked the question, “Where can we find the King of the Jews?” And Pilate answered it with the sign he had nailed to the cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews.”
You don’t have to read very far in the various gospel accounts to discover that Pilate wasn’t convinced of Jesus’ guilt, and he was reluctant to order his death. But ultimately, he did what he knew was wrong.
There have been many theories put forward as to why Pilate gave in to the demands of the crowd, but we really won’t know the truth this side of eternity.
What we do know for sure is that in order to kill Jesus, it required a choice. Regardless of what Pilate thought, nobody forced him to kill Jesus. He was the ultimate authority in Palestine, he acknowledged that himself when he told Jesus in John 19:10 “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”
And at his word, Jesus was crucified. He may not have been the one who nailed Jesus to the Cross, but Jesus was crucified at the command of Pilate. And while he tried to absolve himself of any guilt, there was a price to be paid. And that price was that Pilate would always be known as the one responsible for Jesus’ death. And he couldn’t wash that guilt away.
On this Good Friday morning, we need to understand that it wasn’t just Pilate who was guilty. The religious leaders charged Jesus; it was the crowd who demanded his death, it was Judas who betrayed him, and Peter who denied him.
And it was for the sins of each one of us that Jesus allowed himself to be crucified. Jesus’ response to the guilt of each person responsible was summed up with his words from the cross when he cried out from the cross; Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”
But he could only offer forgiveness. It’s up to each person to accept it.
Free PowerPoint may be available for this message, contact me at denn@hfx.church
