JESUS IS OUR KING ON THE CROSS
Luke 23:35-43 - November 24, 2003
LUKE 23:35-43
35The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."
36The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."
38There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don’t you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
43Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Where would you look to find a king? It would be quite easy, wouldn’t it? We would try to find a palace. We would try to find a royal throne, and there we possibly would at least find where a king had been or would be from time to time. This morning as believers by God’s grace we look once again to the cross of Christ. There we see on that cross which was the greatest throne of all even though the world would look at it solely as an instrument of torture and death. We know that the cross is more than an instrument of torture and death. It is also a throne of God’s abundant grace.
Pilate came close to the truth when we heard that account in our Gospel lesson (JOHN 18:33-37) this morning. He was worried, of course, that Jesus was a king. Like any other king, Jesus just might come and kick Pilate out of his office. After questioning Him and listening to Jesus describe that He cared little about the kingdom of this world because His kingdom was not of this world. "’You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ’You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me’"(JOHN 18:37). This morning we once again get to listen to the truth of Christ and His Words. We get to realize that, yes as we look at the cross, we see and hear once again:
JESUS IS OUR KING ON THE CROSS
I. Jesus is mocked by unbelievers.
II. Jesus is confessed by believers.
I. Jesus is mocked by unbelievers
We know what happened. Jesus was innocent and yet He was put on that cross because the believers did not have backbone to say they were right and the crowd was wrong. They put Him there. Of course, everybody, since Jesus was on the cross and put to death, assumed He was guilty. The people assumed that Jesus was just as bad as the criminals hung on His right and on His left. So we have the reaction of the crowd: 35The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. Those in authority came by and sneered at Jesus. As the leaders sneered at Him or mocked Him, the rest of the people did the same thing. We hear the talk of the crowd, of the soldiers and of the criminals over and over again. What do they say to Jesus? They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." "Christ" was the same word as the Old Testament title - - Messiah which meant "Anointed One."
The crowd looked at Jesus; and as they looked up at the cross, they said, "If the Anointed One was the Messiah, let Him save Himself." We hear that taunt was not uttered just once but many times until finally even the soldiers who were to remain neutral started to chime also. 36The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar. They offered Him cheap wine. It was a wine that they would drink, but not fit for a king. They thought that Jesus was not a king anyway. Then we hear their taunt: "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." The taunt sounds the same. There is a reason it does, because we are told in the next verse of our text: 38There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Remember Pilate had put that above the head of Jesus to let everybody know who was there. Pilate called Jesus the king of the Jews. It was written in different languages so everyone could read it.
Pilate had heard Jesus say He was the King of the Jews. Pilate had come to that conclusion that Jesus was the King of the Jews whether the Jews wanted to believe it, whether the crowd wanted to believe it, whether the believers wanted to believe it, whether the soldiers wanted to believe, this was the truth. They still mocked Him and made fun of Him, because they could not see on this instrument of torture and death that there would be any king there. As if that were not bad enough, what happens? We are told: 39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" The criminal adds a little bit more, doesn’t he? He says to Jesus, "If you are the Christ, save yourself; and if you are going to save yourself, why not save us?" In other words, "Save me. Get me down from this cross."
The testimony was written there in bold letters: This is the King of the Jews. Many in the crowd did not want to believe it. Many of the Jewish leaders did not want to believe it. The soldiers did not want to believe it. Even the criminal did not want to believe it.
For us it seems strange that people do not want to believe in the message of the cross. We realize once again God’s abundant grace for each one of us. It is only by God’s grace and His love and concern for us that you and I believe and understand that the cross is not just death. It is life. It is a throne of God’s great power. The Apostle Paul wrote in Corinthians: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God"(1 CORINTHIANS 1:18). We see all around us that many do not want to believe in the cross. They don’t want to look at it as part of their redemption. They would rather try to earn their way into heaven. They would rather buy their way into heaven forgetting that Christ has paid the price. It is foolishness to them, but you and I who are being saved it is the power of God.
There is encouragement in those words for us. There is also a warning. Because we live in this world, we can be tempted to question our faith. Sometimes Satan comes in and says, "Is that all there is? We don’t have to do a thing? God has saved us even though we don’t deserve it?" Yes, that really is the correct answer - - everything has been done for our salvation. Sometimes we try to feel better if we could believe a little bit harder. Once we have saving faith, we have saving faith. The Lord encourages us: "Fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith"(1 TIMOTHY 1:18b, 19). How sad it is when some give up on the cross of Christ. How sad it is when some turning to their own path and say, "That’s not for me." What a beautiful description here when he says, "They have shipwrecked their faith." They have given up. He says to us to fight the good fight of faith.
It is really hard to say what each one of us if we had been by that cross when Jesus was there, how we would have reacted. Would we also have been like the crowd? It is pretty easy to go along with the opinions of the day. It is more difficult to stand up for what Christ has told us to stand up for, much more difficult to stand up for those things which we truly believe and know in our heart what is right and true. It is hard when the world looks at those things and scoffs at the righteousness of Christ. The Lord tells us that it is not going to be easy all the time, especially in our day and age. The Lord says to us: "They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good"(TITUS 1:16). Let that never be said of anyone of us. We may never feel that it is more important to fit in with the crowd than fit in with what Jesus wants us to do. We don’t want to be one of those who mock Jesus in a moment of unfaithfulness or unbelief. Rather we want to realize as we look at the cross, yes, we are saddened by the fact that it was an instrument of death, but we find joy and rejoice in the fact that it is also God’s throne of grace.
Today, you and I as believers can confess that very fact. That is what our text continues with. We know it was a sad day. We know that it seemed like as if no one would believe, because it was the end of an innocent man’s ministry. It was the end of Jesus’ purpose in life because He was here to save mankind by His death. That is all many people saw.
II. Jesus is confessed by believers
Then we are told about the other criminal. Remember the first criminal when he said, "Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" 40But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don’t you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? The first criminal was making fun of Jesus. But the second criminal realized that all three of them are there. All three of them are going to be taken down from the cross dead. They weren’t going to miraculously come down. It would do no good to make fun of Jesus. That criminal goes on to say: 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. They were there because they were criminals. They were there because in a court of law evidence stood against them and condemned them. Jesus was there because the crowd said, "Crucify Him." Jesus was there because He had done nothing wrong ever. The second criminal was astonished at the first one.
But then we see his miraculous confession. He said: 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." He probably had heard the crowd say, "Crucify Him." He probably had heard the crowd say, "We’ll take Barrabas who is a murderer and insurrectionist. Listen to these words: 42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." This is the first time that He is called "Jesus” in this portion of Scripture. The rest of the time they called Him "Christ." "You are the Christ. Save yourself. If you are the Christ, save yourself and us." Now this criminal as He looks upon the cross that Jesus is hanging upon realizes He is a king. He is Jesus, which means, "to save people from their sins."
Of course, Jesus replied those beautiful words which give everyone the blessed of assurance of everlasting life. 43Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Two things--first of all the criminal is going to die, isn’t he? Secondly, on that day he was going to be with Jesus in paradise, not a hundred years, not a thousand years, not going to languish anywhere, in between, not in purgatory or anywhere else. He is not going to have to atone for his sins. Christ has paid for them. He says, "Today when you die, you will be in paradise. You will be in heaven."
That’s the message of the cross which has power for us to believe, power to remind us that no matter what we face in this life that the Lord has prepared for us the next life. Jesus has done it upon the throne of the cross as our King. He is more than just Jesus of Nazareth. He is more than just the son of Mary and Joseph. He is more than just the carpenter’s son which was only what the crowd could see, which was only what the crowd sees today. He is the Lamb of God, and He is our King. We are told in Scripture: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God"(2 CORINTHIANS 5:21). What an astounding statement that is that we come before the Lord’s throne of grace everyday loaded with sins of thought; word and deed are now called the righteousness of God! By God’s grace He has covered up all those sins with the precious blood of the Lamb.
This King who could have easily avoided the cross. Jesus could have easily overthrown Pilate and Herod and the whole Roman government that was there. But Jesus hung on the cross for us. He didn’t do it for His glory, but that we might be glorified. Paul writes in Philippians: "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name" (PHILIPPIANS 2:8,9). We believe that. It was part of Jesus’ purpose in life that in humility and obedience He obeyed because we cannot and do not obey. Christ obeyed for us. But it doesn’t stop there. He became obedient to death on a cross. God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name. God has Jesus at His right hand pleading our case day in and day out for each and every one of us.
Why is it so important to know that and believe that? Eternity is important. We probably don’t think about eternity very often. We do at certain times in our life, and that is true. But most of the time in our life, life goes on with a few bumps here and there. We are busy with the things of this world. Life goes on and we think of all the things that we have yet to do, all the accomplishments that we might do in our life. We put eternity behind us and forget from time to time the importance that Christ is our King. The world around us tries to scare us about everything: scared of the weather and wonder what will happen scared of the future and of wars and economy and everything else. At times we might forget that Christ is our King. He is going to take care of all those things for our good.
From Romans: "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ’Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame’"(ROMANS 10:10,11). That is our confidence! That is our boldness! Day after day in this troubled life, he says that everyday the Lord our God is our King. Everyday we will never be put to shame when we trust in Him. We don’t trust in ourselves. We don’t trust in someone else or the world around us, but we trust in Christ the King. Then and only then are never put to shame. It is good to remind ourselves of that as we get up each day especially when we think we will face another day of troubles. We remind ourselves that the Lord God is our King. He died on the throne--the cross. Even though the world might not find confidence in Him, even though there are many around who make fun of Him and say, "How can He help me,” even though there are some today that are just like that criminal who only in time of stress and danger say, "If you are important, then save us," you and I have the boldness and confidence everyday to realize God not only can save us but does save us.
All by grace! There is not one of us here who deserves to be saved at all. God does it by His grace, and we rejoice that Christ is our King, that Christ is our King on the cross and we confess His Name. From Revelation Scripture tells us: "They will make war against the Lamb (the enemies that stand opposed to the Lamb and our enemies make war against us), but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers"(REVELATION 17:14). Thank God everyday that by His grace, He has called you to follow Him, and He has overcome so that in the end we too will overcome. The world and unbelievers may mock Him and may make fun of Him, but we as believers stand firm in our Christian faith confessing that Christ is our King on His throne of grace--the cross. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
