The King Of The Cross: A Sermon For Christ The King Sunday

The King of the Cross: An Exposition of Luke 23:33-43

We live today in a world mostly without monarchs. And the ones we have, like Queen Elizabeth II, have mostly ceremonial roles. Yet in the deep recesses of the mind we have the image of them in our historical consciousness. Many children dream of being a prince or princess, and many adults desire the power of being king or queen. So the term “king” here is still relevant. We can all think of the power and privilege of the king, whether we agree with monarchies or not. We imagine great palaces, fine clothes, courtesans, sycophants fawning for power, jesters and the like.

But it is very hard to imagine a king on a cross. This is an ultimate oxymoron. But this is the picture that is painted of the crucifixion of Jesus. The Romans would not have crucified Jesus for some infraction of the Jewish Law. But treason was another thing. The Jewish authorities knew that they had to fasten this charge to Jesus in order to get Jesus crucified. Pilate may have been told about this beforehand, but when he actually saw Jesus, he did not perceive him as being a threat to him or to Rome. But the uprising of the crowd shouting for the crucifixion of Jesus was a threat. He was there to keep the peace as a representative of Rome. To allow things to get out of control would put him in severe jeopardy before the Emperor. Reposts of Pilate’s previous issues with the Jewish people already made his grip on power shaky. When the Jews finally confessed that Caesar was their only king and that Pilate would be an enemy of Caesar by letting Jesus live, he relented and condemned Jesus to be crucified.

See Jesus given mock homage as a king, beaten and scourged, and led out to crucifixion, a king so weak that Simon has to finish carrying the cross to Calvary. Observe the sight of The daughters of Jerusalem celebrating Jesus the king’s coronation with loud wails as he goes by wearing the glorious crown especially made for Him out of thorns. Come see Him fastened to His throne where Jesus is crucified between two robbers, who were probably the accomplices of Barabbas, who would have been the occupant of the cross in the center, the cross of honor, as the ringleader of the attempted overthrow of Rome. He would have had the honors of being a king that day were it not for the fact the crowd rejected Barabbas of such an honor and instead asked for King Jesus. This Emperor has no clothes! O what glorious mockery!

All of the Gospels record the title which Pilate put over the cross. Luke records it: “This is the King of the Jews.” The Jews did not like this, for they knew that it was as much a mockery of them as it was Jesus. They tried to get it changed, but they could not. Whether they knew it or not, this was the King of the Jews hanging on the cross, and much more. See how they pay homage to their king! They sneer at Him and mock Him by telling Him to come down from the cross. The soldiers also Him. Little do they know that in 300 years, Rome would at least in appearance bow the knee before Jesus Christ. The Roman Emperor would bow before the cross. Crosses show up in coats-of-arms all remembering the King's Cross. But now they mocked this miserable king on a cross. And even before the day was spent, one of them, a Centurion, would acknowledge Jesus as truly being the Son of God and not Caesar. Jesus was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and not Caesar.

As if the physical pain of the cross was not enough, and neither was the hateful scorn of the Jews and Romans, the robbers on the cross mocked Him. What a macabre spectacle! It was not unusual for crucified victims to cry out curses from their pain. They would curse anybody and everybody. The people would curse back and spit at them. The very fact the victims acted as animals was proof that they were malefactors who deserved such punishment. In the case of a conspiracy, they would especially curse their leader who led them to such torture. Did they think they were cursing Barabbas?

Strangely enough, one of them saw something amiss. Why did the King of the Cross not curse those who were cursing Him back like they were? This was indeed odd behavior. Not only this, but He forgave them for what they did. Outlandish! Jesus was not following the devilish script. Even though He was in the same awful pain as they were, as only someone who is being crucified can understand. By the grace of God, one of them put two and two together. Surely this King of the Jews must be innocent as He was not acting the part of a wounded beast. Perhaps he looked at the King of the Cross and realized it wasn’t Barabbas. Even in His ordeal, He maintained His composure. He was ruling from the cross as much as He is now ruling in Heaven. When the other robber mocked Him by saying that if Jesus was truly the Messiah that He would save himself and them, the other responded by rebuking him. “Don’t you know we stand condemned with Him.” He then added that the two had indeed committed the crime for which they were being executed. But this man was innocent. He knew that it was not Barabbas hanging there. Someone had taken his place. He then calls out to Jesus in faith to properly save Him. He makes the well-known statement: “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom!” He knew there was a kingdom beyond the cross. This man was truly the Messiah! And Jesus affirms the faith of the thief on the cross. “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”