Luke 23:35-43 [Welcome Home 5 Christ the King] Pastor Ron Koehler Grace—BENSON/VAIL November 24, 2019
Welcome Home: To Christ's Glorious Kingdom In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our King, dear friends, There is a certain protocol, a certain propriety, that is expected when addressing world leaders and royalty. It doesn’t matter if you like those politicians or figureheads either! There are appropriate things to say. The Queen of England is addressed as “Your Majesty.” The President of the United States is addressed, “Mr. President.” We even address all the former presidents this way. All of this shows respect for the offices these people hold. In the days of the Roman Empire and the time of persecution of Christians, it wasn’t even as simple as showing respect; emperor worship was required! Christians were even searched out and killed if they did not burn incense in worship to the Roman ruler. On the day that Jesus, your Savior and King, died, there were people who addressed him as he hung dying on the cross for your sins and mine. As we consider those who addressed the King of Creation and the King of Salvation on Good Friday, we are urged to… WORSHIP THE KING! This is something that, By Nature, We Refuse to Do, but By Faith, We Do. He had lived a life of 33 years. 33 years of never sinning, but keeping God’s holy law— his holy law—perfectly. Jesus, true God, had taken on human form but was now at the end of his earthly life and nearing the completion of his work of redeeming sinners. He was almost dead now. He’d been unfairly accused, unfairly tried, tortured and mocked. Now he hung on the middle cross of three on a hill called “the Skull.” What an interesting scene to look in on. There were lots of people there and a handful of different reactions to Jesus. Two criminals were hanging on the other crosses. Soldiers were overseeing the crucifixion. There were religious leaders and a crowd of common people. Jesus’ mother was there, along with some other ladies who had followed Jesus, and at least one disciple, John. If you and I were in that crowd—what do you think our reaction to Jesus would have been? Honestly, it’s a little disturbing to consider what I’m going to suggest to you right now. Left by ourselves with no help from the Holy Spirit—in other words if we were simply left to our natural selves—we would have joined some despicable characters in this scene. We would have been like the religious leaders who flat-out refused to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They said, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!” We would have been like the soldiers who mocked and taunted him with disbelieving hearts, saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”
We would have been like the first criminal crucified next to Jesus who didn’t believe that Jesus was the one appointed to be the King of salvation. He insulted Jesus: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” In pain and desperation, he rejected the idea that Jesus was the Savior because otherwise, he would have put an end to their suffering. We would have been like the spectators who ignorantly thought they were just watching a torture show—simply watching the public execution of criminals, people who had it coming. To them, the man made “king” by a crown of thorns was a criminal, not the Christ. Why? Why do I say that? Because as human beings, what we are by nature, is rotten to the core with sin! The sinful nature in every person hates God, rebels against God, wants nothing to do with God, and can even convince itself that there is no God! It’s pretty scary to think that deep down this is what we’re like. If you have any thought that there was something wrong with those people and you would never have done that, you need to relook at what God says about how corrupt we all are. And what’s incredible and awful at the same time is that we sometimes still act like those unsavory characters crowding around Christ’s cross! Even though we trust Jesus as our Savior, even though we believe in his death on the cross for forgiveness and salvation, even though we want Christ to be the King ruling our hearts—we still don’t always respect him as our King. We don’t worship him as we ought to. We don’t listen with perfect attention when he speaks to us through his Word. We don’t obey our King’s commands. We don’t bring pure and proper gifts for our King. We often act like enemies of the King instead of his friends! We are not perfect subjects. For acts of treason like those and failure to show proper respect to the King of all creation and Savior of mankind and Judge of all people, we deserve to be thrown out of his kingdom. Because we have broken the King’s laws, we shouldn’t get the privilege of living in his kingdom and the blessings and freedoms that come from being under his rule. We deserve hell—suffering and separation from him for all eternity. Though he hung on the cross, it is we who are rebellious criminals! By nature, we are no better than those we witness at the cross of Jesus. By nature, we refuse to WORSHIP THE KING. But did you see the amazing, loving things that went on during Jesus’ dying moments? What incredible grace was there! Even though people proved they didn’t want him, Jesus wanted them and all people. As they behaved like crazed animals, intent on destroying him, Jesus acted in love. As all this went on, Jesus prayed for their souls. He prayed, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. He took their abuse when he could have called fiery judgment down on them. And he looked for those whom God had led to trust him as their King and Savior. To the criminal who defended Jesus and asked the Savior to lead him into his kingdom of heaven, Jesus promised: Amen I tell you: today you will be with me in paradise. Love in the extreme!
It may not have appeared that Jesus was the King in control that day, but he was. He was doing what needed to be done in spite of sinful people around him and the influence of Satan trying to stop him from completing his sacrifice of salvation. It didn’t look like it, but Jesus, the King, was in charge that day as he patiently endured and made the perfect sacrifice required to pay for the world’s sin. The King’s resurrection from death on Easter and his ascension back into heaven assure us of a few things: One, that he truly defeated sin, the devil, and death itself. Two, that the Father accepted his sacrifice as payment for sin. And three, that he continues to rule over everything on earth and in each believer’s heart from his throne in heaven at the right hand of God the Father. What a beautiful—and true—story of love! And you and I are the object of that story. Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to do all of that. That makes a tremendous difference to us, doesn’t it? It changes the way we look at the world and what happens in it. It changes the way we view our lives. It changes our behaviors and attitudes. It leads us to WORSHIP THE KING! When you look in on this scene, you do see some who reacted to Jesus in faith. Perhaps if we had been there, we would have responded in similar ways. Perhaps we would have been the believing lawbreaker hanging next to Jesus, who looked to him for salvation. Perhaps we would have been those in the crowd who read the sign they put on top of Jesus’ cross: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. They meant it as a big joke, but maybe we would have taken it seriously and recognized the truth in it. Perhaps we wouldn’t have been there simply to take in an afternoon execution, but to follow our Lord to the end, like those faithful women and John did. The fact is, by faith we do WORSHIP THE KING. The Holy Spirit at our baptism—or when we first heard the Word of God—gave us the gift of faith. By God’s grace and the Spirit’s work in our hearts, we do know him as our Savior. We want him to be our King. We understand that Jesus is the King of all creation. We know that he is the King who rules in our hearts. We believe that he is the King who rules over all things from heaven. We trust that he is still interceding for us with the Father from his throne in the glorious kingdom of heaven, where he is surrounded by all the saints who have gone before us. And by faith in Jesus, we know that we will be with him there eventually. Whether Judgment Day comes first or we die first, the day will come when the King who judges perfectly will look into our believing hearts and say to us, “Come now into my eternal kingdom and enjoy my blessings forever and ever!” On that day, we will begin eternity in the presence of our Savior and King. We will see that criminal who believed in Jesus, because he will be there too. We will see those who stood at the foot of the cross and trusted in him despite what they saw happening…or because of it if they knew the Scriptures! We will be welcomed by friends and family who have died in faith. What a glorious reunion it will be around the King’s throne in his glorious kingdom!
I really don’t know, so I can’t tell you how long it will be until that day arrives for you or me. But I do know this—we’ve got some amount of time. We don’t know whether God will give us five more decades or five more minutes of earthly life. But we are confident that we will be brought to the judgment seat of Christ at that moment, and the King will declare us “not guilty” of sin because he paid for it on the cross. Since the price has been paid and our debt of sin forgiven, we will be free to live with him eternally. When we put our hope of salvation squarely on what Jesus has done for us, then certain things naturally follow: we make every effort to live each day as the King’s loyal people, honoring him with our lives, listening to and living by his Word, serving him with our gifts, and sharing the good news of his love and salvation. All of this is how we daily WORSHIP THE KING! I appreciate the way Martin Luther explained this in his explanation to the 2nd Article of the Apostles’ Creed: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord. He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. All this he did that I should be his own, and live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as he has risen from death and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true. As God’s people, we WORSHIP THE KING with our entire lives and with full confidence that we will WORSHIP THE KING for all eternity when we are welcomed into his glorious kingdom. Jesus, our King, has accomplished this so we know that this is most certainly true! Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. Luke 23:35-43 people stood watching. The rulers were ridiculing him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also made fun of him. Coming up to him, they offered him sour wine, 37 saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription written above him: “This is the King of the Jews.” 39 One of the criminals hanging there was blaspheming him, saying, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same condemnation? 41 We are punished justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 Jesus said to him, “Amen I tell you: Today you will be with me in paradise.” 35 The