The Cross: King of the Jews

Welcome

Good morning once again everyone, and to anyone watching or listening online, it is good to have you join us as well. Today we move to the third scene of the passion of Jesus. Last week we read how Jesus was betrayed and arrested in the garden, and then how he was taken before Annas to be questioned. Jesus’ interrogations have not ended yet though. This morning we are going to read a fairly lengthy passage of scripture that details Jesus’ interrogation by Pilate. As usual though, let’s spend a moment in prayer together and ask that God would teach us through this passage.

Prayer

Engage

As we start this morning, I want us to consider the topic of what a King should be like and the purpose of a king. Living in a monarchy is foreign to all of us because of where we live, but monarchies used to be the dominant form of government. You had a king who rule over his kingdom and typically, based on what the king was like determined how good or bad the kingdom did. As you look throughout history though, I think it would be fair to say that a majority of kings had some real problems. Whether it was selfishness, pride, lack of knowledge, a lot of kings didn’t do a very good job. We see that even in the kings of Israel. Most notably we think about David and Saul probably, but Israel’s history is full of kings that were either good, or really bad. Two kings that I read about in history caught my attention this week though.

Caligula — Roman Emperor (12–41)

First we have a Roman Emperor by the name of Caligula from about 37-41 CE.

Caligula built an entire palace for his horse and even made the horse a senator. Someone had told him that his chances of being emperor was equivalent to crossing the Bay of Bailiae on horseback. Because of this it’s said that he had a floating bridge built across the entire bay and rode across it on his horse. He declared himself a god and expected people to worship him. This even went so far as to order statues of himself being set up in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. When his army was was on expedition he had them collect seashells for himself. And one last tiny bit of information, Caligula was apparently extremely hairy and was self conscious about it to the point that he forbade anyone from mentioning goats around him.

Charles VI — King of France (1380–1422)

The second king, is King Charles the 6th. In the beginning, everything was going well. He fixed the economy and the public loved him.

After a while, his advisor, Olivier de Clisson, was assassinated. To take revenge, Charles prepared an army and set off. With the slow advance of the army, he fell into the paranoia of betrayal. He took his sword and attacked the nobles and knights. He probably killed several knights before he was overpowered. Charles claimed that he was made of glass and could be broken. Once, at a party held, the king, who danced together with four nobles, tied together in clothes made of oily fabrics, was in danger of being burned by the flame leaping from the torch. While the four nobles next to him were burned to death, he was saved from being burned by a robe thrown over him

Tension

These two are just our representative of what a bad king can look like. In John’s portrayal of Jesus’ trail before Pilate, he wants us to see that even though these terrible things happen to him, even though he is mocked by soldiers, rejected by the Jews, and finally condemned to death by Pilate, Jesus is still the King and he is so much different from any earthly king that could and would ever exist.

My hope this morning then, is to help us see Jesus as king, just as Nathanael saw way back in John 1,

John 1:47–49 NIV

47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

and for us to reflect on how our lives are changed when Jesus is our king.

John 18:28–40 NIV

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.” Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” “But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die. Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

In the first part of Jesus’ trial with Pilate, we see the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders. Here they are, trying to get Jesus condemned to death by Pilate because they couldn’t execute him themselves, yet they are unwilling to enter into Pilate’s palace because by doing so it would make them unclean according to the law. And what makes this even more ironic, is that the Jewish leaders have seen what Jesus has done throughout his ministry. He has not led a rebellion, but instead he has healed people, taught with authority, and overall demonstrate time and time again that he is the messiah that was talked about for hundreds of years.

So why would they reject Jesus as their king, as their Messiah. Well, for one, he didn’t fit the image that they had of a Messiah. They wanted a mighty warrior who would lead Israel in battle to defeat their enemies. They didn’t want Jesus as their king and messiah because he didn’t fit their expectations.

This is still a response that we can have with Jesus to this day. We want Jesus to fit inside our nice little box of what we believe he should be like. Maybe we expect him to just fix all of our problems in life and make things better. But when that doesn’t happen, when Jesus says something difficult to us, or when he doesn’t fix our problems, we can end up rejecting him. Why should we follow Jesus if he is going to ask hard things of me? Why should I follow him if he isn’t going to take away the problems that I have in life?

My response to this would be to look at the person and character of Jesus. Yes, Jesus says difficult things about how to live our lives. To care for the least of these, to love our enemies, to run away from sin, but he also says and does amazing things. Throughout this passage and the following one, we see the depth of love that Christ has for people.

As we look at the Jewish leaders then in particular, it is good for us to make sure we aren’t in the same position. These leaders had a hard time with Jesus because he wasn’t what they expected, but also because they wouldn’t acknowledge their own wrongdoing. We talked about this just a few weeks ago, about having that “better than others” kind of mindset. But throughout the Bible we see that all of us, every single one of us, is lost without the grace of God. Pride and self-righteousness is going to keep you from Jesus, not draw you closer.

What is Truth?

The conversation between Pilate and Jesus then switches to the concept of truth. Jesus says that he was born and came into the world to testify to the truth, to which Pilate asks, “what is truth?” The truth we see in Jesus is that God’s kingdom is relational. God wants to have a relationship with his creation and because sin became a barrier in that relationship, God the Father sent Jesus to fix it. In the beginning of John’s gospel the author writes, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (1:14).

Truth is found in a relationship with a person who is himself the truth. The truth is not laws or religious doctrines. The truth is that God is a God of love and that God loves you and me. All of us have felt unlovable or have been told that we are unlovable. The truth is that God loves us with a steadfast love, forgives us unconditionally and acts with overwhelming grace in our lives.

The truth is that Jesus is the resurrection and the life (11:25). Loss and death are a part of life. During those times of pain, suffering and grief we have believed the lie that life has ended and can never be brought back. Jesus comes and proclaims to us the truth that he is the resurrection and the life. Death is not the end. In fact, death has already been swallowed up in the truth of the resurrection.

After this initial round, Pilate goes back to the crowd and tells them that he has no charge against Jesus and we see just how far people are from realizing who Jesus really is. Instead of having Jesus released, the man who healed many people, they opt to have Barabbas released, someone who had previously led an uprising. As a result of this, the trial and punishment of Jesus keeps going on.

John 19:1–16 NIV

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

The idea of Jesus as a king adds to his punishment. The soldiers twist a crown of thorns together, they put him in a purple robe, all the while mocking him about being the king of the Jews. Pilate once again says he has no charge against Jesus but still the people want him to be killed, specifically to be crucified. The reasoning behind it, they tell Pilate, is because Jesus claimed to be the son of God. This sparks something within Pilate. He is scared and starts to wonder more about Jesus. And in that interaction, we see Jesus as the king who is really in charge. Pilate thinks he holds the power in this situation, but really he does not. But despite trying to free Jesus, the Jewish leaders continue to want him crucified. And the way they ultimately convince Pilate to hand him over to be killed is by pointing out who is Pilate’s king. If Pilate let’s him go, they say, then he is going against Caesar. Pilate kind of tries to turn the situation around by presenting Jesus to them as their king and asking them specifically if they want their “king” to be killed. The chief priests response is that they have no king but Caesar and Pilate finally hands Jesus over to be crucified.

Conclusion

From the first section we hopefully see why Jesus should be king, he is truth, he is light, love, he is all of these good things that we desire in a king. And from this second half, I want us to see that, like the Jewish leaders, we don’t get to have two kings in our lives. The Jewish leaders could not claim Jesus as a king while also claiming that Caesar was king. The same is true for Pilate. While we may not have a king that we follow literally, we all have things that we attempt to make king in our lives. And what I mean by king, is the ultimate authority, who do you look to for your value, your identity. We can try to make our family king in our lives, our jobs, our relationships, our pride, our power, but ultimately if we have those things as kings in our lives, then we cannot have Jesus as our king.

Matthew 6:24 NIV

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Even though some of those things might be good, they cannot be the ultimate thing in our life. Compared to Jesus, those things are like the kings I mentioned at the beginning. We would be crazy to choose to make those things king in our lives over Jesus and we see the reason why is who Jesus is. That he is a loving, merciful, savior who died on the cross for your sins. That is the truth of the Gospel. That God loves you so fiercely that he would send his son so that we might have redemption and forgiveness of sins. That is a king worth following, that is a king that is worth giving your all to.

Prayer

Communion