Killing a King

He did some nice things for the people of Iraq. He pushed for free compulsory education. He made hospital access free. He gave land to farmers and helped to mechanize farming. He increased industrialization and improved the living standards of the average Iraqi.

However, this didn’t make him a good king, because at the same time that he was doing these nice things he was also killing his political colleagues, carrying out massacres, arresting anybody who opposed him, rigging elections and invading other countries for profit.

Lots of people didn’t like him. Eventually he was falsely accused of manufacturing and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, that is, weapons that could harm a lot of people at once.

So his country was invaded, his government torn down and Saddam was captured, hiding in a hole in the ground after 9 months of searching. He was imprisoned.

Eventually he was brought before trial, and three years after he was arrested he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.

A few days later he was brought to the gallows where a rope was prepared for his execution.

Many of his countrymen looked on an shouted at him. They mocked him. They taunted him.

All the while Saddam called for his people to fight back against foreign invaders and then he began to recite his Islamic creed.

Falsely accused

tried

While reciting the words of his religious faith, the trapdoor underneath his feet opened, and he spoke no more.

mocked and executed.

His body was entombed. He has no more power. He has no more influence. His kingdom has fallen and even now his country is in disarray.

People celebrated this man’s death, he was an evil dictator, who’s good deeds did not overcome the million people who were killed by his own actions or as a result of his choices. He was a bad king, who had a bad track record and who deserved every moment of his humiliation and death.

He is an awful historic figure, compared to the likes of Stalin and Hitler, but you know what, he’s kind of old news now. He’s done and dusted. He’s been and gone. Got his just desserts. Sure his actions will have ramifications for many years to come, but even now his memory is fading. For most of us here today on the other side of the planet the man is irrelevant. In years to come you may even forget what he’s famous for, and you’ll have to look up Wikipedia to be reminded.

This self-made king Hussein was tried, mocked, executed and buried in the Middle East and we will forget him, and yet today, we are gathered on a public holiday dedicated to remembering a king who was tried, mocked, executed and buried in the Middle East 2000 years ago.

We are gathered here to be told again about his trial, to relive his torture and to be reminded of his death. And we celebrate. We commemorate. We venerate. Not because he was an evil king who got his comeuppance, but because he is an innocent and good king whose death establishes his reign over our lives as Saviour and Redeemer.

That King is Jesus.

That King is our King.

Jesus our King was killed on that Good Friday.

Brothers and Sisters In Christ, join me as we look once again at the drama of our King’s death.

There are four things to see this morning in Mark’s account of Jesus death and burial.

Who is our King?

1. A King Mocked

Prophesied Event

The author of this text that we read just before Mark. He tells us in a rather matter-of-fact fashion how Jesus death went down. Even though this passage is soaked with references to the Old Testament and begging for some explanation, Mark just lays it all out and hits us with blow after blow of the deepening story.

On Sunday we heard about how Jesus had been mis-tried in a Jewish court, and then interrogated by Pilate who found no real evidence deserving of death. Nevertheless, in order to keep the locals happy, Pilate gave in and handed over Jesus to be executed by crucifixion.

We heard about the way that they had mistreated Jesus: beating him, mocking him, humiliating him with taunts and assaulting his body. Having bashed him thoroughly they took him out to crucify him.

You might be tempted to think that Jesus had suffered enough, having been beaten at the the high-priest's house and then whipped and caned at the palace, but the mocking will continue.

They roped in a fellow named Simon off the street to help the physically weakened Jesus carry the cross bar to the place of execution.

The soldiers claim his clothes splitting them amongst themselves. They’re not expecting that Jesus will need his clothes again.

Jesus, stripped and beaten, without even the clothes on his back, is nailed to a cross, crucified between two criminals at 9am.

They put a sign up: that said “King of the Jews” so that everyone would know why he was being killed. They were executing him because he dared to be king.

What did the sign say at Jesus Crucifixion?

And then mocking continued.

Passers-by mocked a defenseless dying man. Such bravery right? With the tables now turned even the religious leaders joined in the fun, hurling taunts:

MArk

Nobody there really thought of him as a king, but it sits there as

Mark 15:29–32 ESV

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

MArk 15:29-

Here an innocent man continued to suffer. Jesus who had already suffered the physical pain, his friends deserting him and the political leaders abusing their power to have him killed is now hanging naked on a cross while people insult him.

What makes it worse is that Jesus is God’s son, he is the creator of the people who are mocking him. He could call a thousand angles to cast those snide taunters into oblivion. Yet he remains, bearing the insults, even from the men who are being executed with him.

He does not call out against his abusers, he does not come down from the cross in swift judgment, he does not call down fire from heaven. Our gentle saviour hung there. He stayed the course. He would finish his mission even while his own creation mocked him.

Would you have mocked him if you were there? Would you have called out insults in the weak seemingly powerless man who hung there?

Jesus our King was killed on that Good Friday.

2. A King’s Darkest hour

Historical Event

King

At about midday on that fateful Friday, everything got dark. How? Dunno. Could of been thick cloud, who knows. But that darkness was ominous. Creation itself reflected the dark time that was approaching.

Miraculous Event

At 3pm, Jesus calls out in Hebrew: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus calls out in anguish. He is suffering. He is bearing the sin of man. He is weighed down by the guilt of mankind. He is being crushed for our iniquities. He has become a curse for us.

As he suffers, he calls out in anguish to his Father. He calls out with the first line of , a Psalm of David when he is in despair. Jesus, claims that psalm as his own, as a king in despair and calls out to God. Jesus continues to trust God, as the psalm tells, but that will not take away the separation and desertion that he feels in that moment.

As Jesus calls out that first line of , it would be as if I said “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.” It is a well known song, and even though I only said the first line, it conjures up in our minds a whole song rich in meaning. You probably started to think about the next line of the song even though I only said a little. Jesus, when he calls out may have only said the first line, but it carries the weight of a whole Psalm.

What Psalm did Jesus quote when he was on the cross?

This Psalm as we read earlier is on of confidence and trust in God, while feeling desperately far way from him in the darkest hour.

Jesus is facing his final moments of life, on the doorstep of death with the sins of the world on his shoulders. The ominous dark creeping in and he feels forsaken by God.

And the onlookers continue to taunt. Jesus had cried out, and the people mock him sarcastically:“Oh he’s calling Elijah, lets see if he comes to help!”

In those moments of mans contempt and Jesus suffering under the weight of his task, he called out once more and breathed his last.

Jesus our King was killed on that Good Friday.

3. A King for All

AT that moment, across the city, the curtain in the Jewish temple tore in two, from top to bottom. The curtain symbolized the separation between mankind and God! In the jewish religious system only a very holy priest could go behind the curtain once a year to make an offering to God on behalf of God's people. They were separated, and could only be joined through sacrifice.

Yet, At the moment of Jesus death it was torn asunder.

No more separation between God and man! The way has been opened! Jesus is the one sacrifice that does away with all sacrifices. His death has opened the way to God.

What was torn in half at the temple?

Interestingly, in those first moments after Jesus death, when the way is opened, the man who has overseen Jesus execution recognizes that Jesus is indeed the Son of God:

Mark 15:39 ESV

And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

MArk 15:

This man was a gentile, he was not part of God’s people, he was the bad guy, and yet as soon as the way is opened to God, he recognizes Jesus for who he really was.

We’re also reminded in those moments, that amongst Jesus travelling entourage there was a group of committed women, so committed that they are there at the end even while many of his 12 disciples are nowhere to be found. These devout ladies supported Jesus, and were accepted by him.

What Mark has done in telling us about these two, the roman confessing Jesus divinity, and the supporting women, immediately after the tearing of the curtain, is that the way to God is open to all. There’s no ranking or priority about who gets to be in God’s kingdom. Male or female, slave or free, Jew or Gentile are all one in Christ. All may confess Christ’s name, and join him as disciples.

Do you feel like Jesus could never accept you? Like you’ve done too much wrong?

Our King is a King for all who will come to him!

Taunted, Mocked, and abused

4. A King Entombed

Jesus our King was killed on that Good Friday.

After all that Jesus had gone through, both the physical torture, and bearing the sins of the world, it was no wonder that he died after only 6 hours.

A bloke called Joseph asks Pilate for Jesus body, and Pilate agrees, after checking with the centurion that Jesus was really dead. This guy was a professional killer, he knew that Jesus was really dead.

Joseph was a well off man, who was a dissenting member of the Jewish council that sought Jesus death. He was showing his true colors by publicly arranging Jesus burial.

They’re pretty keen to get Jesus body dealt with before the Sabbath.

Now Joseph wraps Jesus body in linen, and places him in a tomb, rolling the stone door into place. They fully intend to come back after the Sabbath and prepare Jesus body for a proper burial. They didn’t have refrigerated morgue or anything like that, so temporarily placing his body in the tomb is the next best thing. They’ll be back soon.

What did they do with Jesus body?

So Jesus our King was killed on that Good Friday.

What does it mean?

Jesus our King was killed on that Good Friday.

He was a King mocked

He was a King in his darkest hour

He was a King for all

He was a King entombed.

So what does it mean? We’ve briefly surveyed the story and picked up some interesting information, but what does it have to do with anything? We need to draw the dots and bring the picture together:

Jesus was on a Mission from God

He always intended to go to the cross, and predicted it multiple times.

He suffered greatly

He fulfilled the scripture, like , and

He took the weight of the world - our guilt, your guilt. (what is sin, guilt?)

He suffered greatly and dies in our place for our misdeeds

We need him to die in our place because without Jesus there’s still a barrier between us and God.

Through Jesus all may come to God

You can come to God.

Here is a king who’s death we will celebrate continually till the end of time.

Here’s a good king who was tried, mocked, executed and buried in the Middle East 2000 years ago. One who’s death we celebrate, not because it ends and evil reign, but because it establishes an everlasting good kingdom.

Here’s our Killed King who saves his people rather than killing them, who brings life rather by his own death.

Jesus our King was killed on that Good Friday.

Thank him, and honour him, and call on him, even if he seems really far away.

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