Bible Passage: Matthew 27:27-31
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: November 26, 2023

Bulletin November 26, 2023

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

High above Rio de Janeiro is a famous statue.  It is a statue of Jesus called Christ the Redeemer.  It is situated on top of a 2300 foot high mountain.  The statue of Jesus  stretches another 98 feet into the sky.  The arms of the statue are stretched out wide, 92 feet wide.  It is beautiful and breathtaking when you see pictures of it high above Rio.

A little over a week ago, a message was projected onto this statue of Jesus.  It was a projection that was meant to make it look like Jesus was wearing a shirt.  Across the front of Jesus it said, “Welcome to Brazil.”  It was done to welcome Taylor Swift to Brazil for her concert tour.

Hearing things like that makes us cringe a little bit.  Seems a bit silly and casual for a statue of the Savior.  But that is not the most disrespectful treatment of Jesus.  People have done far worse!  Such is the case in our text for today.  In our text this morning, we get to see the disrespect, the abuse, that was heaped upon Jesus on Good Friday.  We hear the soldiers say to Jesus, “Hail, King of the Jews!”  But those words give us pause today.  Those soldiers meant those words as mockery and insult.  But knowing what we know about Jesus, we can read our text today – on this Christ the King Sunday – and say with faith and adoration, “Hail, King Jesus!”

The scene before us in our text is all about humiliation.  It is Good Friday morning.  The hearing before Pontius Pilate is over.  The verdict is in.  Pilate has given permission for Jesus to be crucified.  But before taking Jesus out to Calvary, the Roman guards have a little fun with Jesus.  We are told the whole cohort participated in the ordeal.  A Roman cohort was 600 men.

Right here we might pause and think about what happened the night before in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus had reminded Peter that if he wanted, he could immediately have at his disposal more than 12 legions of angels.  That’s 72,000+ angels who would appear and take their orders from the one who is called in Scripture the Commander of the armies of heaven.  And now 600 Roman goons dare to abuse him!

The first thing they do is play “dress up” with Jesus.  They strip him and put on a purple robe.  The word used for this robe is the word for the short robe worn by a Roman officer or official.   They wanted to make Jesus look silly and stupid.  We shudder.  We shudder because we think about the vision the prophet Isaiah had of the Lord.  He saw the Lord seated on a high throne. And the train of his kingly robe cascaded down the throne and filled the entire Temple!  This is the kind of robe Jesus should be wearing, not this short, little robe!

Next, the soldiers twist together some thorns into a little wreath and put it on Jesus’ head.  “Look, Lucius!  It’s a crown of thorns!”  Funny stuff.  We cringe.  We cringe because we know how Jesus is pictured in the book of Revelation.  In chapter 19 John sees Jesus.  And on his head are many crowns. (19:12)  That is why we are going to end our service today by singing “Crown Him with Many Crowns.”  One crown doesn’t cut it with this King!  And they dare to mock and pierce that kingly head with their cruel crown of thorns!

No king would be complete without his scepter, that symbol of sovereign authority.  They give King Jesus a stick.  But they keep taking it out of his hand and smacking him on the head to drive the thorns deeper and deeper.  What are they doing?  We think of the way Psalm 2 describes the Son of God.  There the Father tells the Son what he will do to his enemies.  You will rule them with an iron scepter, you will dash them to pieces like pottery. (Psalm 2:9)  They mock Jesus with a little scepter-stick and he is the one who holds an iron scepter!

Finally, we are told these soldiers spit on Jesus.  It’s repulsive.  It’s disgusting.  It’s demoralizing.  It’s just plain gross.  Again, we cannot hardly believe what we see.   We think again of Isaiah’s vision of the Lord.  In that vision Isaiah saw the holy angels flying around the Lord’s throne.  And they had three pairs of wings.  With two wings they were flying.  With two wings they covered their feet.  With two wings they covered their faces.  Even the holy angels veil their faces before this King!  Yet these foul-mouthed, foul-breathed soldiers cover King Jesus in spit.  “Hail, king of the Jews!”

Where is the respect due to Jesus?  Indeed.  Where is the respect due to King Jesus?  I suppose we can call out the obvious examples of disrespect in our day.  Projecting “Welcome to Brazil” onto Christ the Redeemer because Taylor Swift is coming to town “feels” disrespectful .  When Jesus is written into episodes of the Simpsons and does things like turn water into a Bloody Mary for Rodney Dangerfield, our “blasphemy alarm” should go off.  It’s the “softer” forms of disrespect that can be more difficult to spot.  Do we always realize that when we blurt out “Jesus Christ!” in surprise or anger, that dishonors the King?  When we make the day-to-day operation of “my” kingdom a higher priority than his Kingdom, I do not honor him as a great King.

So where is the respect due to Jesus?  It is here, today.  It is here today on this Christ, the King Sunday.  It is here because of the last words in our text.  Then they led him away to crucify him. (v. 31)  To “cross-ify” him.  To pin this King up on a cross.  The ultimate humiliation!  The strong message from Rome, “All you would-be kings, beware!  This is what Rome does to would-be kings!”  Yet, the ultimate sacrifice!  The ultimate love!  All our sin projected onto Jesus with his arms open wide! Here is Christ the Redeemer!  Not a statue, but in real flesh and blood!  Here is forgiveness, full and free!  Here, Christ crucified and Christ risen!  Whose Kingdom will have no end!  So we say with love and thanks, from our hearts, “Hail, King Jesus!”

Amen.