Coronation of the King

Within the Bible pages, the gospel accounts present Jesus Christ not only as a man worth following but someone worth worshiping. We see this clearly from the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, all starting with his baptism in which Jesus was filled with the Spirit and then tempted in the wilderness. He overcame the devil's schemes and eventually hand-selected twelve men to come to accompany him and his mission to spread his kingdom.

All during this time, people came to know that Jesus was a king. Even the twelve quarreled about who would be the greatest in Jesus' kingdom. Then at the last supper, Christ humbled himself as the king of the universe and washed the disciples' feet. He then Jesus instituted Lord's supper, giving himself as an offering to the disciples.

After feasting, Christ and the disciples depart from the upper room for the darkness of night, heading towards one of Jesus' favorite places of solitude - the garden of Gethsemane. It's in this moment that Jesus begins to weep, for he knows the pain and suffering that he must endure. Blood is dripping from the pores of his skin. He is grieving until he goes to his Father in prayer. Then not much longer, Judas Iscariot comes with a squad of Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus.

In John 18, the army surrounds Jesus. You would think you wouldn't need a large mob to take Jesus, but remember, many folks from the city revered Jesus, and they did this in the middle of the night to prevent a riot in the city. Then Judas identifies Christ with a kiss, and he willingly gives himself up, not before the rest of the men drew back and fell.

Jesus is then bound and arrested by sent over to the Jewish leaders, Annas and Caiaphas, the high priest. The men questioned him and were not amused with Christ's simplistic answers, so they sent him away to Pontius Pilate to be given over to death. The Jews had no authority to kill, and it was up to the Romans to determine anyone's fate in the nation.

In the darkness of night, he was bound and forced into Pilate's headquarters, where he would reveal who he is and what he is.

So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?" Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" (John 18:33-38)

Jesus, in subjection to Pilate, answers him flawlessly. Everything in the gospels is leading up to this point. Jesus is not only the saving king, but he is truth incarnate. Jesus's kingdom comes with boundaries, citizens, laws, and the king. At the same time, Pilate is confused and even taken back by Jesus' profound statement on being truth itself.

The sin in the text is the people's response to Jesus. Rather than accepting the truth. They exchange the king for a lie and demand Barabbas. They rejected the way, truth, and life for worship of king Ceasar of Rome. The Jews desired Jesus' death rather than having truth in and through them. Rather than living in truth, they sought out idolatry.

Yet, the sin of rejecting the truth and the king is found in our world too.

The very idea of truth seems almost to have disappeared. We live in a time of facts and "alternative facts." We too often focus on favorable information rather than verifiable data.

If you don't like what you hear on the news, simply dismiss it by labeling it "fake news." We don't affirm truth, it seems, but truthiness ("the quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true," according to dictionary.com). The Oxford Dictionary's word of the year in 2016 was post-truth ("denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief").

We have demoted truth from something knowable, absolute, and immutable to a circumstantial feeling, a matter for personal or public preference. All of this ultimately leads many people down a path of skepticism.

In essence, we are tempted to view our truth, not through the lens of Christ, which can lead us into the temptations of following our desires, sins, and vices. This path only leads to a path of suffering and destruction, and Satan and his spawns are rejoicing when we stand in place of Pilate and say to ourselves, "What is truth?"

We see this world's pain and brokenness when people follow their truth and set themselves up as their kings and queens. As a result, we have a world filled with people who are sick and hurting. Men and women who are shooting up to get their next fix, children who are crying in bed because of hunger pain, elderly folks are alone and mourning, brutal violence being carried on vulnerable families. This only happens when we exchange the truth for a lie. When the world removes its sights of the king and truth, the world falls apart. This exactly why Jesus comes. To give us something we don't deserve, restore what is broken, and give grace to the dying and broken-hearted.

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, "See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him." So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold the man!" When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him." The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God." When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin."

From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar." So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."

So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." 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. 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.' "Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." (John 19:1-22)

The gospels are painting us a clear picture of Jesus as king. Then he is hung on a tree to die. Yet, why Jesus is the righteous king, full of truth, he begins to give grace to everyone near him. From 9 am to noon, Christ drew his attention on those near him at the foot of his cross.

To his enemies who crucified him, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

To the repentant robber crucified next to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."

To his beloved disciple and his weeping mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Thinking about it, as Jesus is lifted, he releases forgiveness towards those who nailed him. He offers a place to a repentant stranger into his glorious kingdom, and he cares for the vulnerable mother. While the world was rejecting him as their king and truth, Christ took care of those around him. His grace was greater than the world's sin against him. In the final hour, Jesus speaks concerning himself.

With the cry of desolation, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

With the cry of physical anguish, "I thirst."

With the cry of victory, "It is finished."

With the cry of resignation, "Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.

His lifeless body left on the cross, what taken down. Wrapped up in linen cloth and sealed by a stone that rolled over the entrance of the tomb. Jesus, the king of the Jews, has passed.

While dying on that cross for us, Jesus's graced us with a life of forgiveness, a home within his kingdom, a church that will receive us. He gave us something we do not deserve. His victory can belong to you. We need to accept Jesus as our king and follow the truth, which is Jesus himself.

Jesus suffered so he can have you in a relationship with him. Jesus was lifted on the cross, so you can see him and worship him. Jesus died, so you never have to experience spiritual death. His grace is available, and when you believe and follow the truth, you'll be set free.

Remove your crown and rightly place back Christ's head, and you'll experience God's mercy, love, and peace forever.