“King Jesus Paid it All” John 12:12-16
1. ” King Richard I of England earned that name because of his courage in battle. He was a fearsome warrior and led a crusading army to the Holy Land to try to recapture Jerusalem.
• King Richard the lionheart While Passing through Germany in disguise, his identity was uncovered.
• The German Emperor Henry VI threw him into prison.
• Henry declared he wouldn’t let Richard go until the people of England had raised the staggering sum of 150,000 marks. At today’s price of silver, that would be around $17 million.It was, literally, a king’s ransom.
• When the king is in prison, the people pay the price. All over England, money was collected to buy King Richard out of prison. Taxes were increased by 25%. Gold and silver treasures from cathedrals and abbeys were melted down.
• Finally, there was enough. King Richard went free
1. Today’s text shares with us another king King Jesus is coming to Jerusalem
• This King is meek and lowly other Kings were mostly filled with great egos and displayed great prestigious attire followed by great displays of power
• King Jesus He wore no olive wreath of victory on his brow.
• King Jesus was not riding a mighty war-horse, nor steering a chariot as you might expect a conquering hero to do.
• King Jesus enters Jerusalem not on a war horse like Pilate did but on a donkey
• Like king Richard, Jesus is in prison as well soon he will arrested on trial
• King Jesus will have no ransom for his release but he will die
2. Roman Governors and Kings entered town the message was for Rome : “All the world is Rome’s.” Timothy Merrill’s shares the following
• It is said, that Pilate himself climbed into a chariot at regular intervals and showed off the power of his army Romans liked to brag after vanquishing their enemies.
• Those parades were famous for their pageantry.
• There were thousands of soldiers, marching rank-on-rank. You could hear them coming a long way off, with the beat of drums, the blare of trumpets, and the thunderous footfalls of legions marching row upon row.
• Each unit of men marched there would be a symbol perched high atop a pole. Often, that symbol was a brass or Roman Eagle
• Bringing up the end of the procession, there were huge war horses — snorting, stamping wild-eyed beasts bred for the battlefield.
• Prisoners of war mean-looking soldiers prodded them onward at spear-point. The prisoners were dressed in rags. They had the wild look of a hunted animal in their eyes. They knew they were not long for this world, for moments after the parade ended, their purpose for living would be ended, too. Then, it would be a sword slashed across their throats, a rope twisted tight about their necks, or maybe a swift, hard blow to the back of the head — and after that, oblivion.
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3. There will be no Ransom No Ransom for This King
• Jesus stood before the chief priests and the scribes, and eventually before the Roman governor, Pilate.
• King Jesus They had stripped him and beat him. The only crown he wore was woven from thorns. Pilate, didn’t treat Jesus as a visiting head of state,
• But Pilate probably thought Jesus was just a troublemaker and insurrectionist.
4. Pilate Probably had to deal with others like Jesus
• Pilate had learned to stop revolutionary movements in the bud.
• King Jesus was offered to the crowd release him or Barabbas
• The Crowd chose Barabbas to go free. King Jesus went to the cross.
5. King Jesus becomes The Suffering Servant
• For Richard the Lionheart, the people pay the king’s ransom.
• For Jesus, they do not. Quite the opposite.
• When he needs someone to step up and help him, no one does.
• Jesus the king, is a Suffering Servant king, Pilate even said “I find no fault in him”
• An Innocent Man Convicted
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6. Finally king’s ransom is being paid, but it’s being paid by King Jesus not for himself but for us
• The ones who are ransomed are you and me. And the price is the king’s own blood.
• So let us wave our palms. Let us sing our hymns of victory.
• Let us cheer his triumphal entry. But let us be aware that, between the hosannas of Palm Sunday and the alleluias of Easter there is an arrest, and a flogging, and a trial — and a cross.
• Let us remember and be grateful.
