A sermon preached by the Reverend Scott D. Nowack
on Sunday, November 25, 2007
at Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania. 

Who Is This King of Glory?

Jeremiah 23:1-6
    Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. ²Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. ³Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
    5 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’*

Luke 23:33-43
    ³³When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus  there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[ ³⁴Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. ³⁵And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ ³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, ³⁷and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ ³⁸There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
    ³⁹ One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ ⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ ⁴²Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ ⁴³He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’*

 
When we hear the word, “king”, different images come to mind. There are stately kings, warrior kings, kings with absolute power and kings for ceremonial purposes. There are kings in the Bible, such as King David and King Solomon, who were strong, brave, honest and true and the kings of Judah before the exile to Babylon, who were corrupt, selfish and concerned for their own selves more than their own people.   luck

These are the kings Jeremiah describes so well. They are to be like shepherds to the flocks of God’s people and be obedient to God. However, these “shepherds” through their own selfishness have “scattered the flock, and driven them away, and don’t attend to them”. (Jer. 23:2) Theses kings put their own interest ahead of the lives and interests of others. From their greed and selfishness, they consolidate power to themselves so they can maintain control and fill their pockets with wealth and fortune.

The Gospel of Luke describes a different kind of king. A king who is more concerned with the well being of others than himself. Instead of retaliating he forgives. Instead of taking revenge, he brings salvation. Who is this king nailed and hanging on a cross, stained in blood, sweat and tears, and with the ability to put the well being of others ahead of his own? Who is this king of glory who worries and cares more about the needs and concerns of others than his very own?

It is Jesus the Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And Christ the king has come to meet us where we are, he accepts us just as we are, and he offers salvation to anyone who will call upon His name.

Jesus Christ, the son of God, became a human being while still remaining fully divine. Jesus did this so he could be like us in every way, so we could identify with him, understand him, and relate to him; for we are separated from God because of sin and God wants to connect with us in a real, authentic way becoming like one of us. Jesus Christ, God in human form, meets us where we are.

And as we read in the Gospel of Luke, Christ is the king who goes to bat for us, goes the distance giving us everything he has for our sake not holding anything back. To put it another way: if he is here on earth to save us, he cannot save himself at the same time. What king worries and cares more about the well-being of others than their own?

It’s ironic that the people gathered around Jesus hanging on the cross between the two criminals are commanding him to save HIMSELF from his predicament. The leaders yell out, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah, the chosen one!” (Luke 23:35) The soldiers mocked him offering sour wine saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” (Luke 23:37) One of the criminals also being crucified kept blaspheming Jesus saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39) As the soldiers, the leaders, and the criminal mock and scoff Jesus, they don’t realize they are speaking truth of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, the chosen one of God, our savior who has come to save us and reconnect us with the living God. He is a king who saves others only by NOT saving himself. The appearance of powerlessness on the cross demonstrates the authority that defines what kind of king he is. He is a king who forgives those who rebuke and ridicule him. He is a king who loves us no matter what. He is a king who meets us where we are.

Not everyone that day at The Skull or Golgotha mocked and jeered Jesus in his suffering on the cross. While the first criminal was blaspheming Jesus, the second criminal stood by Jesus rebuking the first criminal. He cried out, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?...for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” This dialogue shows us that the criminal longed for God’s grace and forgiveness. The saving grace that makes a person willingly leave their lusts just as a slave is willing to leave his fields, or a prisoner his dungeon, or a beggar his rags. It is a grace that meets and accepts us as we are. It is not something we can earn or acquire on our own. We are saved by grace and grace alone.

I read a story about gem dealer who, while strolling the aisles at a Gem and Mineral Show, noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato. He looked it over, then as calmly as possible, asked the vendor, “You want $15 for this?” The seller, realizing the rock wasn’t as pretty as others in the bin, lowered the price to $10.

The stone has since been certified as a 1,905-carat natural star sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. It was appraised at $2.28 million.

 It took a lover of stones to recognize the sapphire’s worth. It took the lover of souls, Christ the king, to recognize the true value of ordinary people like us; a diamond in the rough; a hurting soul longing for home.

When the repentant criminal asks for forgiveness and salvation from Jesus, the criminal understands who Jesus is and the mystery of the Gospel message. He sees that Jesus will enter into his kingdom not by saving himself from death, as the soldiers and leaders tempted him to do, but by his own death and dying on the cross.

And even on the cross, suffering from the pain and embarrassment of crucifixion, Jesus meets the repentant criminal right where he is and accepts him for who he is: a sinner seeking forgiveness from a forgiving God. (Jesus says) “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) God will save anyone who will call upon him for love and forgiveness. By doing so, we serve and live under his authority by trusting and obeying God’s will, the same will that took Jesus to the cross and beyond. Through trust and obedience, we are made new and transformed to live a life of grace and freedom in God’s love through Christ Jesus.

Christ the king is the one who meets us where we are, accepts us just as we are, and will save and forgive anyone who seeks Him.

Practicing forgiveness is what we are called to do as Christians. It was E. H. Chapin who said, “Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble, as when it forgoes and dares to forgive an injury.” As God in Christ has forgiven us, so we are called to forgive one another. This raises us up to a new, exciting, invigorating level of living. We see the world and others in a new way. We see ourselves in a new way. We see God in a new way.

Someone once said to Abraham Lincoln, “Mr. President. I cannot understand you. You treat your enemies with such kindness. It seems that you should want to destroy them.” Lincoln’s answer was, “I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend.”  Through the power of Christ the king to forgive, our enemies become our friends, the needs of others trump our own, our trust and obedience belong to God, and we are able to change the world in Jesus’ name.

Jesus Christ is not a king like those in Jeremiah. The kings of Judah had led the people away from God and were more concerned with their own well-being than the well-being of their people. Jesus Christ forgave those who mocked, persecuted and crucified him. In His kingdom, the centerpiece is forgiveness, transformation and restoration for all who cry out His holy name. As Christians, this centerpiece becomes the centerpiece of our lives. We wear the garments of forgiveness and grace, transformation and restoration in our work, play and fellowship. Christ meets us where we are, accepts us for who we are and will save us when we call upon Him. We must not be afraid. We must not fear. Christ has already taken the first step. We are a part of the kingdom of God on earth and we who are baptized in His name are marked as Christ’s own forever.

I would like to close with a poem written by the contemporary hymn writer Brian Wren. It reads,

“Dying love has been my birth
undeserved and undisguised;
Christ declares me full of worth,
Valued, loved, accepted, prized!
Love that bore and understood
All my emptiness and sin,
Recreates me new and good,
Healed, and beautiful within.
Let this love my love release,
Hopeful through defeat or loss,
Peaceful, as I work for peace,
Faithful, though I bear the cross.
All are worthy, full of worth,
Loved, whoever would despise.
Tell and show it here on earth!
Shout hosanna to the skies!^**

Amen.

*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

 **Brian Wren, Piece Together Praise: A Theological Journey (London: Stainer & Bell; Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1996), no. 43.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org