April 1,
2020
Text: John 18:33-38; Mark 15:1-20
“My
kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36; ESV). That is something even we Christians have
trouble remembering. King Jesus is not
like earthly kings, and His Kingdom is not like earthly kingdoms. The kingdoms of the world value power and
might and glory. The kings of the earth
and the leaders of the nations bear a certain obvious majesty. Jesus stands before Pilate bound and
humiliated, accused of treason, delivered up to death by His own people. The King of the universe stands before the Roman
governor, and it appears to all concerned as though Pilate holds all the
power. “Are you the King of the Jews?”
(Mark 15:2). “You have said so,”
answers Jesus. But, “My kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of
this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered
over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not
from the world” (John 18:36).
Worldly eyes will never see a King in this despised man from
Nazareth. But the eyes of faith know
that this man is God, the eternal Son of the Father, and this is how He wins
for Himself a Kingdom and brings us into it: By submitting Himself in humility
to the Jews, the Romans, sinners, us. By
suffering the scorn and the blows. By
dying our death, the death of a criminal, the death of sinners, on the cross.
Pontius
Pilate has worldly eyes. He can see that
the Jews only delivered Jesus over out of envy.
He can see that this is all a gross miscarriage of justice. But he can also see the threat of riot and
revolt and his own downfall in the eyes of Caesar. So Jesus, this no-account man from Nazareth,
is just the sacrifice he’s going to have to make to keep the peace, keep his
office, keep his life.
The
elders and scribes, the chief priests and Sanhedrin, have worldly eyes. Jesus is not the kind of Messiah they are
expecting, a political and military leader who would lead the Jews out from
under Roman tyranny, defeat the emperor’s armies, and restore the Kingdom to
Israel. And even if He is that kind of
Messiah, better to kill Him before He gets started, because, while no one likes
Roman control of the Holy Land and the people of God, we’ve come to an
acceptable balance of power. The Romans
do their thing, get their money, and generally ensure regional peace and
stability. Otherwise, they leave us
alone to do our religion. It is
ultimately we, the Jewish religious leaders, who are in charge of the
people. A Messiah at this point would
simply take away our place and our nation.
The
soldiers have worldly eyes. The pitiful
man before them is, for them, an effigy of despised humanity. In fact, once the sentence has been
pronounced and Jesus is condemned, He is, by Roman law, less than human. He’s a dead man walking. So with no apparent qualm of conscience, the
soldiers unleash their bitterness and sadistic rage on the flesh of their
victim. You call Yourself a King?! It is they who clothe Him in royal purple and
crown Him with thorns, but it is all a farce.
“Hail, King of the Jews!” they cry, as they salute Him, strike
His head with a reed and spit on Him, kneeling down in worship. Then they strip Him, put His own clothes on
Him, and lead Him out to be crucified.
Now,
this may bring the more pious eyes among us to tears for the great suffering
our Lord bears for us. But before our
eyes furrow in righteous indignation against Pilate, the Jews, and the Roman
soldiers, we must confess… We have worldly eyes. We’re born with them. They are a feature of humanity since Adam’s
fall. The reality is, there are things
we’d like to be different about Jesus, too.
We’d like a King who stops the coronavirus before it gets started, who
doesn’t allow anyone to suffer from it, doesn’t allow anyone to die. We’d like a King who builds His Kingdom on
earth… the United States, for example; that would be great… who gives us
success in every endeavor and keeps always healthy, wealthy, and
prosperous. We’d like a King who mostly
leaves us alone when it comes to our favorite sins, especially the ones that
give us pleasure, boost our pride, and tickle our fleshly fancies. We want a King who wants us to be true to our
fallen selves, and is not so insistent we be unfalteringly true to Him.
And
the last thing we want is a King who thinks engaging an enemy in battle means
submitting to that enemy, giving Himself over, suffering the worst humiliation
and physical torture, and finally, dying at the hands of the enemy. And the last thing we want is a King who bids
us do the same, take up our cross, and follow Him. See, we have worldly eyes, and each one of us
would like to design our own Jesus, because we’re disappointed with the One
we’ve been given. The first thing to
note when we observe Pilate trying to wash his hands of the guilt, the upraised
hands of the Jewish people calling for crucifixion, the hands of the soldiers
as they beat Jesus and scourge Him and nail Him to the wood of the cross… is
that those are our hands. Repent.
And
then know that Jesus suffers all of this, all the abuse, all the torture, all
the humiliation and shame, willingly… for you. You can’t believe your eyes, but this is how
He is winning His Kingdom. This is how
He is winning you. By giving
Himself over into suffering and death, bearing your sins and suffering your
hell, Jesus is robbing all of these enemies of their power over you. He is crushing the serpent’s head. He is paying your debt. He is opening the way out of the tomb. He is leading you in exodus out from under
Satan’s tyranny. He is redeeming
you. He is making atonement for
you. He is reconciling you to the
Father, leading you into the Mighty Fortress of God, His Kingdom, His Church,
life, and salvation.
Jesus
does not have worldly eyes. He has eyes
of faith in His Father, obedience to His Father’s will, eyes for you and for
your salvation. His sights are set. He will not blink. He will have you for Himself if it
means the death of Him, and that is precisely what it means. His Kingdom is not of this world. His Kingdom is not anything this world
understands. It is not won by fighting,
but by dying. It is not won in a blaze
of glory, but in suffering and the cross.
And then, and only then… resurrection and life. Real life.
Free life. Abundant life.
The
risen Jesus gives you new eyes by His Spirit in His Word and gifts. The Spirit gives you eyes for Jesus. He gives you Jesus’ eyes. Which is to say, He gives you eyes of faith. Your eyes and your whole person, body and
soul, are re-created by the Spirit in the new birth of your Baptism into
Christ. So now you repent of looking for
other Jesuses of your own making, and you gaze instead with all your trust and
hope at the one true Jesus who imparts Himself in His Word. The One who suffered and died. The One who is risen and lives. You know, now, not to love the unbelieving
and fallen world and all that is worldly.
For you love the Father, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. And you know it is true, what St. John writes
in our Epistle, that “all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and
the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is
from the world” (1 John 2:16). These
are false saviors concocted by those with worldly eyes. But “the world is passing away along with
its desires,” writes St. John (v. 17).
We’re seeing some of this with this virus and the economic and political
fallout. The things and the people we
trusted in for salvation and abundant life are failing us! We should have known. It is written right here in the
Scriptures. But “whoever does the
will of God abides forever.” And
this will of God is that you believe in Him, and in Jesus Christ, the Savior,
and so live with Him in His Kingdom forever.
Don’t
be fooled! (It is April 1st.) Don’t look to anything or anyone but Jesus
Christ for salvation from sin and death, from the devil and hell, from sickness
and isolation, from economic hardships… and especially from the idols of
prosperity. Don’t look to anything or
anyone else but Jesus for life. He died
for you. He lives for you. He forgives your sins. He loves you.
He cares for you. He provides for
you. Do not fear. Set your eyes on Him. He is certainly not the Savior you
expected. But He is most certainly the
Savior you need. And He is all for
you. In the Name of the Father, and
of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
[1] The theme and many of the ideas in
this sermon are taken from Eyes on Jesus (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019).
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