That’s My King!

Luke 23:35-43

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he’s God’s Messiah, the chosen one.” The chosen one was a technical term for the Messiah. The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him which read, “This is the king of the Jews.” One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God?” he said, “since you are under the same sentence. We are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” The gospel of the Lord. Praise be to you, Lord. You may be seated. Is that what you expected for a sermon text for today? I mean, why not one of the readings from the book of Revelation where Jesus is pictured as a conqueror on a white horse coming in to conquer and rule everything? Or why not Jesus’ ascension account, where he is powerfully going up into the sky or one of Jesus’ many miracles or even that Colossians account or that Colossians text that we read as our second reading? Crucifixion? Really? That doesn’t look kingly at all, does it? I mean, he’s being sneered at, he’s being mocked, he’s being ridiculed. This doesn’t look kingly. This looks anything but kingly. Perhaps even in saying that, you and I are kind of admitting something about ourselves, something about our sinful human nature. What’s that? It’s that we expect people who have power to use it for themselves. Not for others. I’m thankful we’re not in a political season. Let’s wait. But one of the phrases in the political season that always makes me just laugh, really, is when politicians say, “Oh, I’m not in this for me. I’m in this for you.” And I hope that there are a few who really are in it for us. But oh my. After watching politician after politician go to Washington fairly normal and walking out with their pockets filled with cash. Are you really in it for me? Or are you really in it for me? I’m in it for you. And of course, what we see in politics is no different than what we see in commerce and industry and economics and science and athletics, you name it. It spills over into the home, family, church. Church. Because by nature, what’s our problem? By nature, our problem is that we are selfish human beings who want to look out for who? Me, myself, and I. First and maybe only. And then I look at Jesus. And it is just the opposite, isn’t it? Just before our text, we have the account of them actually crucifying Jesus. And how does Jesus react? He says, “Father, forgive them.” Is that the way I would have reacted if I was an innocent man and was being executed? I don’t know. And I’m guessing that’s not the way most people would react, but Jesus, looking out for them. The ruler sneering at him. And Jesus answers what? Not a word. No defense. Nothing. Nothing. And what’s so odd about the ruler’s sneering is that they know Jesus has power, and they know he has significant power. Just a few days before this, probably not more than about eight, ten days before this, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead in the city of Bethany. Bethany was only a couple of miles away from Jerusalem. And it was a huge miracle that caught the attention of everybody. In fact, it was kind of the miracle that broke the straw or broke the camel’s back, if you will. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There we go. That was the miracle that did that. Because the religious leaders said, “If this guy keeps on doing this, we’re in trouble. We’re going to lose our power. We’re going to lose our position. So we’ve got to put this Jesus guy to death.” Are you kidding? Even from a logical perspective, does that make any sense that the guy who could raise people from the dead, we got to kill that guy? That just makes no sense. But why? Because Jesus wasn’t working with the religious leaders or for the religious leaders. Well, actually, he was, but not in the way they expect. And so because of that, they saw him as a threat to their own power, as a threat to their own rulership. And because of that, we’ve got to get rid of this guy because those religious leaders were in it for whom? For themselves. Not for the people. And now let’s even think through that logically. Save yourself. If you are the Christ, he was able to save others, but he can’t save himself. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. If this guy had the power to heal blind people and the power to feed the masses, oh, and even the power to raise somebody from the dead, you think maybe, just maybe, just maybe he might have the ability to get down off the cross. Yeah. So even in their mockery, it’s just so foolish. But they were blind because they were in it for themselves. And of course, I look at myself, and if you look at yourselves honestly, we really aren’t any different, are we? Unfortunately, we approach life with that me, myself, and I attitude, oh, so often. I deserve to be on that cross. I deserve God’s punishment. I deserve to be sent to hell. Jesus couldn’t possibly have come for me, could he? And that’s where the second part of our text becomes so beautiful. The thief on the cross. As the account starts off, Luke doesn’t record it, but one of the other gospels does. Both of the thieves are mocking Jesus. But then somewhere during those six hours, and we don’t know exactly when, it seems like it was maybe earlier rather than later, but sometime in those six hours, God did the miracle of faith. By the way, Luther points at this account as one of the proofs that faith has to be a miracle that only God can do. It cannot be something that we do for ourselves. Because humanly speaking, there’s no way the thief on the cross becomes a believer in Jesus. Just none. But he did. Because faith is a miracle of God’s grace. How did the Holy Spirit do it? How did it happen? Did this guy know something about Jesus from before? Had he been somehow acquainted with who Jesus was? And now there on the cross, things clicked, maybe? Was it him seeing the way Jesus so graciously dealt with the crucifiers that he’s praying that they’d be forgiven? Maybe? Is it the written sign above him? This is the king of the Jews? And then seeing how Jesus dealt so patiently with the people who were mocking, sneering, making fun of him? Maybe? Was there more conversation that happened between Jesus and this thief, and it’s just not recorded for us? Put it on your bucket list. When you get to heaven, you can find out. Regardless, God worked faith in his heart. And he begins to rebuke the other thief. Man, what’s wrong with you? We’re going to stand in front of God in a few minutes. And what we’re getting, we deserve. But not him. He’s done nothing wrong. In fact, the Greek word’s a little stronger. The Greek word has the idea he’s done nothing improper. Like he didn’t chew with his mouth open. It’s kind of the thought of that Greek word. Wow. Jesus. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And this week, when we studied our text, Professor Souk over at Luther Prep School opened my eyes to something I’d never even thought of. He didn’t specifically ask that Jesus would take him to heaven, did he? He just said, “Remember me.” And maybe his thought process was, “I’m way too bad for Jesus to take me to heaven, but maybe if Jesus remembers me, maybe my sufferings will be a little less.” Is that what he was thinking? I don’t know. Or was he in a more subtle way asking Jesus to take him to heaven? Maybe. Maybe. Either way, Jesus’ answer is going to be absolutely astounding because Jesus is going to say, “Truly I tell you,” in the Greek it’s an ole form, “I swear to you today,” which is really cool that he says today because crucifixions could stretch out for days. The Romans had made it into an art form. And sometimes people would be up there suffering for five, six, seven days. It was awful. And so the fact that Jesus says to him, “Today is this wonderful little promise that this suffering is not going to go on all that long. Today what? You will be with me in paradise.” Whoa! Are you kidding? This guy, who has led such a horrible life that he has to be crucified? What right does he have to go to heaven? That’s not fair! Thank God doesn’t rule things according to fairness. Instead, he rules things for the good of his people. Yeah, in a sense, it’s totally unfair that the thief on the cross gets to go to heaven, but it’s just as unfair that you or I get to go to heaven because we are no better than that thief on the cross and no worse either. But thank God Jesus doesn’t rule according to fairness. He rules according to grace. And so what he does is for the sake of his people, he doesn’t get off the cross. If the religious leaders had understood what was happening, they would never have said, “Come down from the cross.” Because what was Jesus doing? By being up there on the cross, he was saving them and saving us. If he had looked out for himself, if he had ruled for his own good, if he had come down from this cross, the result would have been no salvation for you, no salvation for you. No salvation for me. And Jesus said, “No way. I will not rule for my own good. I will rule for the good of my people. And because I rule for the good of my people, I will stay on the cross. And I will win forgiveness for my people.” And so yes, even the thief on the cross can have a place in heaven because our place in heaven is opened up for us, not because God is fair, but because God is gracious and merciful and loves to give forgiveness and eternal life to sinful people like you and sinful people like me. What a king! This is a king like no other. And so we come back to that question we asked at the very beginning. Was this a surprising text to choose for Christ the King Sunday? Or maybe, just maybe, might it have been one of the best choices that could have been made? Because this shows you and me that we have the ultimate king who rules in our best interest. That’s your king. Amen? And amen.