5th Wednesday in Lent

March 13, 2013

Christ, the King

Luke 23:1-5

Grace, Mercy and Peace are yours from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!

John 19:18-22

    There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. [19] Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." [20] Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. [21] So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but rather, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.' " [22] Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

            Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Was written in several languages, one of those was Latin, “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum abbreviated here on our cross, INRI.

            That is what Pilate wrote. And it’s the truth. But from what we hear from Pilate in the reading of the passion tonight (Luke 23:1-25) it seems that, sadly, he really didn’t get it. He caved into the demands of the Jewish people, and delivered Jesus over to their will. Perhaps his inscription here and his unwillingness to tone it down a bit to appease the Jews was a feeble attempt to stand up to the mob he was supposed to be governing.

            Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed One. He was anointed and appointed King of the Jews, King of the Universe, King of you and me.  All authority on heaven and earth has been given to Him – that’s His Kingdom of Power. By His word and sacrament He extends His rule over us when we believe in Him – that’s His Kingdom of Grace. In hope we look forward to what is yet to come, as it says in 2 Timothy 4:18

    The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

            We pray for His Kingdom to come. It is coming, sure enough. But we pray for all those who aren’t in His kingdom, because, like Pontius Pilate, they can’t bring themselves to call Him King.

            We pray that Jesus shall reign wheree’er the sun Does its successive journeys run; His Kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Till moons shall wax and wane no more.”

            We pray that He would send His Spirit to enlighten those still in darkness, and to break the hard hearts of those who stubbornly refuse Him.

            And we pray that He would, in His grace, make us a part of His Kingdom also.

For we must repent of any time and any way in which we are, like Pilate, slow to believe in Jesus, our King. If you fear for what might come next, and the dangers that the future might hold and the inflictions that might befall you, are you forgetting that Jesus is King over the Universe, a good King that tends His Kingdom carefully, wisely and perfectly?

            If you get annoyed or angry with the people in your life, are you forgetting that the Lord Jesus is King, and that He alone judges you and them?

            If you refuse to love others, going out of the way to help and serve others, when you fail to love your neighbor as yourself, are you thinking that King Jesus makes up optional rules that you can choose to follow when you feel like it?

            We sing with Psalm 95:

    For the Lord is a great God,

        and a great King above all gods.

            Remember that Jesus is King. Remember that He is your King. By virtue of your baptism, you are His and He is yours. You who believe in Him, are a part of His eternal Kingdom.

            And it is not a kingdom of this earth. Earthly kings don’t have time for the commoners and the peasants. They have to spend all their time removed from the crowds. There are only a select few that can have access and enter into the royal presence.

            Consider what a wonderful privilege you have when the King says, “Come to me.”

            With that invitation you have a privilege and standing greater than any earthly rank or throne.

When you in faith, go before the throne of the King of the Universe with your prayer, that prayer is more royal, more powerful, more religious than anything the Pope can do.

            The Pope in Rome acts as though he doesn’t got what you got. I don’t know if you’ve heard but they chose a new today. The old pope got tired so now they’ve got a new guy to wear the hat. And the first thing this new guy did was pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus. There is this old superstition that Jesus might be happy, but he may be just as likely to be unhappy with you so you’d better pray to His mom for help. She’s always nice.

            Now it’s true that Mary was a nice lady, but the Lord has never said we should pray to her, in fact the Bible instructs us to only pray to the Lord and it warns against trying to communicate with the dead, which is a form of witchcraft. Sadly this new pope is going to continue to lead over a billion people into the false hopes of idolizing and invoking Mary and other dead saints.

            But you have a King who invites you, “Come to me! Cast all your cares upon me. Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you.”

            Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, King of all the Universe suffered and died for you, so that He would remove from you all sin and shame, clean you up so that you can march boldly into His throne room and address him with all your cares and all your needs.

            He now smiles down on you with a compassionate and loving attitude. You need no one else to intercede for you to Him.  Jesus Christ, the King is fully on your side, fully welcoming you into His presence and into His Kingdom, now and forever. Amen.