11-22-2020
Pastor Daniel Slaughter
Christ the King Sunday
Text: Matthew 27:27-31
Theme: What did you expect?
Here it is…the moment of truth. My first sermon here at Trinity! What do you expect as I stand here before you today? What kind of preacher do you expect that I am? Unless you went to my former congregation’s Facebook page or YouTube Chanel you are probably sitting on the edge of your seats wondering that very thing. As you look at me or briefly had the opportunity talk to me, do you expect something articulate and refined? Something that is touching and emotional? Do you expect me to be boring and lame?
After the sermon is all done then you will know right? Maybe I should have passed a piece of paper out that you can give a letter grade or ranking of 1-10 of how my sermon went. Pastor Warneke gave a wonderful sermon at my installation that mentioned expectations I may have for Trinity and that you all may have for me. I recommend going online and watching it if you haven’t had a chance. Maybe you have an expectation of the kind of pastor I will be. Maybe I will exceed your expectations or maybe I can’t live up or simply don’t meet those expectations. However, it’s kinda nice when something is better than what you expected right? (So let’s set the bar low, so that it can be better then you expected!)
All joking aside, today we celebrate Christ the King. What would you expect to hear as we celebrate Christ the King? Do you expect to hear about Christ’s power and reign and rule over everything? Do you think you would hear about how every knee would bow at his glory? Now…what do you expect that Christ would do as a King? Would you expect him to exercise his authority and might? Would you expect him to change the way things are in this world? What do you expect from Christ the King?
Did you expect to hear a lesson like Matthew 27:17-31 on this special Sunday? Out of all the other passages in Scripture that talk about Christ as a king, this one just seems a little unexpected. Yes we hear how Jesus was dressed in a scarlet robe, given a crown and a staff. People shouted to Jesus, “Hail, King of the Jews.” But this was wasn’t done in praise and proclamation, but done in ridicule and mockery.
Is this what you would expect from Christ the king? Jesus who before our lesson began was sentenced to crucifixion. Jesus, who by Pilate’s orders, was flogged. And Roman floggings where known to be terribly brutal. They would use a whip of braided leather thongs with metal balls woven into them. It had pieces of sharp bone mixed in with it that would tear away flesh. It was not just once or twice that they would beat their victim. Roman floggings usually consisted of thirty-nine lashes. Thirty-nine lashes that would tear flesh from bone leaving the person in excruciating pain.
Beaten and battered and bruised, sentenced to execution by crucifixion, Pilate hands Jesus over to his soldiers. They had a little fun at Jesus’ expense to liven things up in their tour of Jerusalem. They took Jesus to the Praetorium and then gathered the whole cohort which was usually around 600 soldiers. The soldiers quickly picked up on the idea of kingship and now they were going to show him what they thought of his kingship.
They took off his clothes and placed a scarlet robe on him. Can you imagine the pain he felt as the robe touched his bloody back. Is this how you would expect a king to dress? They twisted that famous crown of thorns and placed it on Jesus’s head. Is this the kind of crown you would expect a king to wear? They put a staff in his hand, and knelt in front of him, mocked him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Is this the kind of praise that you would expect to be given to a king? And they spit on him, took the staff and hit him on the head driving that crown of thorns deeper into his head. Is this the way you would expect people to treat a king?
Is this what you would expect as we celebrate Christ the King? The ridicule and mockery. Is this the kind of king that other people would expect and want? The riddle and mockery…it continues to this very day, doesn’t? Shouts from the Bible Skeptic, “How can you believe in such an old outdated book?” Shouts of people who have been hurt by the Church, “How can you believe in a God who would let terrible things happen?” Shouts by those who want to remain in their sin, “How can you believe in a God that would teach that?” Is this Jesus the kind of king that people would expect?
Is this the kind of King that you would expect and want? Do you expect a king to be ridiculed and mocked? Or Triumphant and victorious? Do you expect Jesus as a king to come right now and stop all violence and rioting so that we can always feel safe and secure? Do we expect him to tear down corrupt governments around the World? Do we expect him to appear triumphant or suffering? And do our exceptions that we have lead us to question and ask “Can this Jesus really be a king?
If Jesus isn’t the kind of king we expect, does that lead us to treat him like the soldiers in our lesson? If we expect Jesus to be a king like a great conquer or to rule with an iron scepter and we see he is forgiving and merciful, do we heap insult on him by using grace as a license to sin? And so we think “If Jesus is just going to forgive me then I can get away with what I want.” If we expect Jesus to change things in this world right here and now, do we then question his goodness, love, and mercy? When we do that, do we question if this is the king we want to serve? Is Jesus deserving of my praise, of my service? If Jesus truly is the King of kings and Lord of lords, does what we say or think or do show and give honor that is ascribed to him?
Expectations. If I am not quite what you expect, you might be tempted to treat me differently. Things like what you would say or not say to me, or how comfortable you may feel around me. Our sinful nature tempts us to want Jesus to be a different kind of king, a king that we want him to be. And if Jesus isn’t what we want or expect then we are tempted to treat him differently.
But you know something? Jesus is greater than our expectations! It blows my mind the kind of king we have. When I think about my sin, when I think about all the ways I have failed to serve my King and honor him by what I say think and do… when I think how I time and time again failed to keep his law… it blows my mind to think about the length to which my King would go for me!
Christ the King is greater than our expectations because who would have thought that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the one through whom everything was made, the eternal God born into this world would be willing to suffer. The one who commands legions of angels didn’t even call upon them when he was whipped and beaten. The one who deserved all praise and adoration, didn’t even raise his voice as he was being mocked and ridiculed. What kind of king would allow all that to happen to him if he had the power to do something about it? What kind of king would allow that? A king that is greater than our expectations!
Our king “didn’t come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” His love is seen in this: That as the King of the universe he allowed himself to be mocked and tortured by a handful of ignorant unbelieving soldiers. In love he allowed himself to suffer the physical agony of the cross. In love he willingly suffered the punishment of sin in our place. It was love for me. It was love for you. It was love for your neighbor. It was love for the person who hasn’t heard about Jesus yet that Christ allowed all of this to happen to him so that he could give you his perfect life, so that you can be with him for all eternity! What an amazing king we have!
This whole scene is kind of unexpected. Jesus was ridiculed, mocked, and abused. He was nailed to a cross and died. To most this would seem like Christ the King was defeated and that would have been true if it was not for what happened next. He arose from the grave! He ascended into heaven “far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion, and above every name that is given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. God also placed all things under his feet and made him head over everything for the church.” (Eph. 1:21-22). This scripture lesson for today is joyful because we know how it ends. We rejoice in Christ the King who came as our sacrifice.
Expectations… Hopefully I didn’t disappoint you today with the sermon. I didn’t see anyone looking at their clocks or throwing tomatoes at me or falling from the balcony because they fell asleep. Today we celebrate Christ the King…a king that exceeds our expectations…a King who loved his subjects so much to endure physical agony of a crucifixion and the spiritual agony of hell. We can rejoice in all that Christ endured because it ends in the resurrection. We rejoice that Christ is far better than our expectations.