Christ the King?
Lk 23:33-43[1]
On this day when we remind ourselves of our faith that Christ reigns
over us all, I can think of no more ironic way to do that than with a Gospel
lesson that describes his death on the cross!
Kings don’t get dragged before their subjects, who throw all kinds of
false accusations at them. Kings don’t
allow themselves to be spat upon and mocked and beaten. Kings don’t wind up being executed by means
of one of the cruelest punishments ever devised by humankind. They are the ones who are usually doling out that
kind of thing. And on the rare occasion
when a King or any other powerful person is publicly humiliated, that’s pretty
much the end of it. But here we are, on
this Sunday when we celebrate our faith that Christ is reigning over us all,
reading the “good news” of his death on the cross.
The irony in this has raised questions since the day Jesus faced that
ultimate test--especially for people who look at Jesus’ life and ask what he
actually accomplished. He gathered some
disciples. He stirred up the Jewish
leadership. And he got himself killed in
the end. And while he’s hanging there on
that cross, vulnerable, showing all the weakness of humanity, some in the crowd
ask the question that has been asked throughout the centuries: “He saved
others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” (Lk
23:35).[2] In the light of Jesus’ humiliating death,
many have asked what a Jewish reformer from the First Century can do to make my
life any better in the Twenty-First Century?
And many have concluded that a man who was executed as a common criminal
may have had some fine ideals, but he really can’t do anything for us in this
day and time.
But that would be to miss some important signs that point us to the
reign of Christ, even in this passage that apparently presents Jesus at his
weakest. One thing we need to notice is
that in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus seems to know exactly what he’s doing and how it’s
going to turn out. Hanging on the cross,
he has the presence of mind to respond to his hecklers by saying, “Father,
forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34). And when
Jesus dies, he simply says, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk.
23:46). Jesus gives up his life calmly and intentionally.[3]
But there’s another detail in this text that is easy to miss. While Jesus is hanging on the cross,
seemingly undergoing the ultimate humiliation, even one of the criminals who
was hanging there with him cursed him for not being able to climb down from the
cross and save them all. But the other one saw something that many of those who
witnessed this event missed. He saw that
Jesus was who he had claimed to be, and that there truly was something about
this man that set him apart. And so he took
an amazing step of faith: hanging there on a cross, he looked at Jesus and
asked, “remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk 23:42). How or why he had the faith to see Jesus
hanging on the cross and to believe that one day Jesus would indeed come into
his reign, we may never know. And Jesus’
response was astonishing, if you think about the circumstances. There he was, having been beaten, having been
humiliated by some of the Jewish leaders, having been strung up to die by the
Roman empire. And he said, “Truly I tell
you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43)![4]
If you think about it, there was nothing about the situation that would
have made anybody believe such an incredible claim. And yet Jesus made that claim: today you will
be with me in Paradise. The unnamed
criminal leaves his request open: “when you come into your kingdom, remember
me.” He expresses faith, but he’s not
pinning Jesus down to anything specific.
But Jesus makes that astonishing claim any way: “Today,” not at some
indistinct point in the future. “Today you
will be with me in Paradise.”[5]
Despite the irony, I think it is ultimately fitting to remind ourselves
that Christ reigns over us all with this story, because his death on the cross
defined the way in which he exercises that reign. As one of our confessions puts it, “He was the Lord
who took the form of a servant; he perfected royal power in weakness. With no
sword but the sword of righteousness, and no power but the power of love,
Christ defeated sin, evil and death by reigning from the cross.”[6] The reality is that the only way for Christ’s
reign of true justice to be established in this world that is so filled with
injustice was through the path of the cross.[7]
But his cross also led to his resurrection and ascension to the right
hand of God, where he was exalted, as St. Paul puts it, “far above all rule
and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not
only in this age but also in the age to come” (Eph. 1:21).
[1] ©
2013 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by
Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 11/24/2013 at First Presbyterian Church of Dickinson, TX.
[2]
Cf. Paul D. Duke, “Calling Forth the Kingdom” The Christian Century (Nov. 8, 1995): 1043, “To be sure, the word
‘king’ flies all around him, but only as the punchline of a joke.”
[3]
Eugene C. Kreider, “The Politics of God: The Way to the Cross,” Word & World 6 (Fall 1986): 461: “So the Messiah
dies, but not an ignominious death. Jesus the Messiah of God, the Chosen One,
dies as king whose way to the cross was the way of God's freedom and
determination set in the world.”
[4]
Cf. Fred Craddock, Luke, 274: “Three
times he has been mocked with , ‘Save yourself,’ ... . Here Jesus does save
someone, and that the one who is saved is a dying criminal” is consistent with
the way Jesus carried out his whole ministry. “In his own dying hour, Jesus
continues his ministry: ‘For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’
(19:10).” Cf. also Duke, “Calling Forth
the Kingom,” 1043: “With that utterance, the Sovereignty suddenly grows
visible. It's as if the air around the naked Jesus trembles, revealing him
wrapped in brilliant, regal light.”
[5]
Cf. Duke, “Calling Forth The Kingdom,” 1043: “As requests go, ‘Remember me when
. . .’ is modest; but Jesus replies with extravagant majesty. Sovereign of more
than his petitioner can dream, he grants him the whole green garden of God.”
[6] The Study Catechism, question 41. Cf. also Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit,
102, where he says that when we celebrate Christ as “king” it represents “the
most radical reversal of the ideal of rule that can be conceived.”
[7]
Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus
Christ, 110: “There are no miracles on the road of his passion. On the
cross he dies in forsakenness by God and man. Or is this the greatest of all
the miracles, the all-embracing healing? ‘He bore our sicknesses and took upon
himself our pains … and through his wounds we are healed’ (Isa. 53:4, 5). This
was how the gospels saw it. So Jesus heals not only through ‘power’ and
‘authority’ but also through his suffering and helplessness.”
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