What Kind of King
Bethel UMC, Greenville, SC
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Luke 23:33-43
Recently in class I was reminded that Jesus as the Messiah didn't fit the image of those who longed for a Messiah. For centuries, those who knew the Hebrew Scripture longed for a Messiah – one anointed by God. The messiah was described in the books we know as the Prophets as a new king, a king who would bring about another time of relative peace and prosperity like they experienced when King David ruled. While the people were in exile, what they longed for was to be home under a strong King that united them. Yet that image changed under the persecution of Antiochus IV. Under such intense persecution, the longed for Messiah would also be a deliverer – one who would deliver the people and establish a new kingdom.
This royal image of one who would unite the people and establish an earthly kingdom was what the coming Messiah was supposed to be. Therefore, Jesus as the Messiah was a drastic contradiction. How could the one to be raised up in Jeremiah be the same one raised up on the cross in Luke? Those who read, or more likely heard Jeremiah's words would have thought of the shepherd King David and never imagined a crucified messiah.
When they envisioned the shepherd who became king, they could embrace Jeremiah's prophecy that God would send an anointed one to unite those who had been scattered during the Babylonian exile. They longed for the shepherd who would defend them from the threats from outside, safely gathering them into a keep. They remembered a king who had protected the flock with his sling and stones, who had used his shepherd's weapon to kill their foes, and who had fought for his people as their king.
Their image of the Messiah was one who would gather the people by force and by shows of force. The image of arms with flexed muscles and raised fists is an appropriate image for the beginning of the reign of this messiah, especially when the people live under cruel persecution.
They may long for the shepherd who will gather them safely together in the embrace of the keep and stand guard through the night. Even in the keep, they need the strong shepherd to protect them from what is beyond the walls of the keep. This is how they envisioned the promised shepherd uniting the people and bringing about a peaceful kingdom – a show of force and boundaries that would keep others out.
The reality is that this is still the way we envision attaining a peaceful kingdom. We believe that the biggest, strongest show of military force and clearly established, well patrolled boundaries will provide us safety and peace. Yet, even with all the power of our current military, and the devotion of soldiers who, like shepherds, will put their lives in danger to protect the flock, we still do not know the peaceful kingdom described in last week's passage from Isaiah. We do not sit and eat with our enemies in peace. We continue to seek to make ourselves stronger, to flex our muscle and to stand our ground. This is the way of the world – kingdoms are established and kept by force, by shows of strength.
Our worldly image of a kingdom peace is based on Pax Romana or the Roman Peace that existed at the height of the Roman Empire. The power of the Roman Empire brought relative peace to much of the world. The extent of the Roman Empire kept at bay threats from outside. Although, the people living under Roman rule gained from the stability of such a powerful kingdom, they didn't know true peace - for Rome ruled by fear and force.
Yet this peace established and kept by force is what those who longed for a Messiah wanted when they read Jeremiah and under the persecution of Antiocus IV and what we often want ourselves. We want to establish stability and to eliminate vulnerability. We want to establish a ring of safety and security by wielding flexed muscles and raised fists.
Yet the image of our king – Jesus, the Christ or the Messiah, doesn't fit this image. The image of our king is provided in Luke – with his arms outstretched and his body vulnerable on a cross. Our king did not show force or flex his muscle. He did not put up a defense, but went to a place called "the skull," and suffered humiliation and physical torture before dying a horrible death on the cross.
This certainly isn't the image of the Messiah held by those in Jesus' time. The last thing they would have thought would happen to the Messiah would have been to be crucified with common criminals. This isn't the image of a leader drawing together his people or establishing a new kingdom. This isn't a king who will provide for their safety. This is a dying man who is weak and cannot help them.
This man had been captured, taken away, tried unfairly, tortured, and was now dying on a cross between two common criminals while the crowds mocked him and the soldiers gambled for his clothes. The two criminals provide us the same contrast in attitudes. The first wanted Jesus to prove he was the Messiah by saving himself and them by some powerful miracle, essentially a show of God's power and might. The second criminal looks at Jesus and recognizes that he is the Messiah, the chosen one of God and asks for mercy. The second criminal is assured that he will enter into Christ's kingdom.
In this scene, Jesus doesn't live up to the expectations of the Messiah. He cannot be a king in the line of David who will, like David, rise up, lead the people in battle, establish a kingdom and build a walled city where the people will live in peace.
Yet, Jesus is the one we proclaim as King today. Not just "King of the Jews" but "King of Kings, and "Lord of Lords." As Easter people, we believe that Jesus is the anointed one of God who God raised up. God didn't raise him up as a king, but from the dead. God raised Jesus up to establish a new creation, a new kingdom that is not based on our worldly understanding. This new kingdom is a peaceful kingdom – not in the same way Rome established Pax Romana. This peaceful kingdom isn't built on strength and power but grace and mercy. It isn't about getting what you deserve, but the wonderful future that you are offered.
God raised up what was promised in Jeremiah, a shepherd who is righteous and brings forth justice - not justice according to worldly standards, but justice based on God's grace and mercy. This shepherd is not an earthly king who executes worldly judgment. This shepherd offers the guilty grace and mercy and a place in his kingdom.
He is the shepherd who gathers us into the fold, who goes out looking for us when we are lost, and who calls us by name. He is the one who welcomes us into his kingdom just as he did the criminal who hung on a cross beside him.
This shepherd king often defies the ways of the world. He chose vulnerability and compassion rather than force and power. He doesn't gather us in with flexed muscles and raised fists. He welcomes us into his kingdom with open arms – arms that are stretched out and nailed to a cross. Raised from the dead, those nail-marked hands and open arms stretch wide to welcome and embrace us into his fold.
Jesus welcomes us with open arms to be part of his kingdom, to live not according to the muscle flexing, fist pounding ways of this world, but to live with open arms willing to be vulnerable so that others might know of his glory as a risen Lord and Savior. It is difficult to go from flexing muscles and pounding fists to embracing others. Yet, we must begin with the embrace of others as they enter this kingdom, the same way Jesus welcomed us – with open arms.
Sometimes we miss opportunities to welcome others into the kingdom, because we try to flex our muscles and pound our fists. As a church we often forget how contradictory to this world the risen, crucified, king is. Today, many still stand at the foot of the cross and watch out of curiosity, some like the first criminal demand for Jesus to prove himself by helping them, others laugh and make fun of this king. And there are others who walk away shaking their heads that the symbol of death and torture is the symbol of our faith. They cannot reconcile the cross as the symbol of the king of glory or a loving, merciful God. The question is whether we will welcome others with open arms so we can and share this amazing story of how this crucified Messiah, was raised by God to be is the great shepherd who laid down his life on that cross to save the flock.
We need to remember that this is the king who from the cross offered not condemnation but welcome by grace into his kingdom. We need to offer that welcome to those who seek to resolve the conflict between a cross and a king. This king is not a king of this world. He does not rely on power and force, but welcome and grace.
This is the king of glory we proclaim today. We end the Christian calendar by proclaiming the glory of a king who is rejected by the world, who rejects the ways of the world, and who overcame the limited vision of this world. We proclaim a king who stood not on an earthly throne but on a cross.
Like the criminal, we stand before this same king knowing that we are guilty, but asking him to remember us in his kingdom. We proclaim that this king will not execute earthly judgment like the ones who waited on a messiah desired. He doesn't come crushing others or condemning us based on our merit. He executes justice from the depths of his love and grace.
At the end of the year, we proclaim that the babe born to poor parents, who was worshiped at his birth by shepherds, is the king. The one who was worshiped by those that polite society would have avoided is the great shepherd who has come to save his people. The one who the wise men came to worship is the one we proclaim as king of kings. Jesus has become our king not by flexing his muscles and meeting the world's expectations, but by stretching out his arms on a cross and welcoming us into his kingdom, by his grace.
Let us pray,
Gracious God, you sent us a shepherd king, who does not flex his muscle but opens his arms wide to receive us. His open arms on the cross are extended to embrace your beloved children just as sheep are held within the keep. Grant from this place of true peace that we might proclaim Jesus as the true King who welcomes us with open arms and grace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord and King who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen
