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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, the text for this morning, this last Sunday of the church year, Christ the King Sunday, comes from the Gospel reading. Be seated. When the angel Gabriel stood by the side of Mary and told her that she was to have the Son of God within her womb, he also made this very important point to Mary that He said to her, He would not look, act, or be received as an earthly king.
So then why of all texts chosen for the last Sunday of the church year, would there be chosen this text of Christ crucified? If we’re going to emphasize him being the king of the world and the king of heaven and earth and the king of all things, would he not be better served to have a text like him walking on the water? Or feeding the 5,000? Or raising Lazarus from the dead? Now there would be a great text showing his power and glory. But that’s not the text that we’re looking at. The text that we’re looking at is Christ crucified on the cross.
And it’s very interesting because the gracious power of God to save you and to save me. This gracious power of God to save us is hidden in the very suffering of Christ on the cross itself and hidden in the very weakness of Christ on the cross. Jesus speaks to the people there gathered around him. Some mock, some scoff, some just watch. Some like you and me read the text and have it read to us. And Jesus proclaims something from the throne of the cross when he says, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
This is said by a man who is God in the flesh, who has died. These words are said to people around him who ridicule him, who have mocked him, who have beaten him, spat upon him. He says these words of forgiveness. It is very, very important in this morning’s text to see the two responses to this absolution. These two responses are shown forth in this text. Both emphasize who he is, albeit they do it two different ways. But they do emphasize who he is. And it is not just a response of the people of that time or that era or that culture.
It is the response of all humanity in the world to this gospel message of forgiveness found in a crucified king. Consider it. Had this decree, Father forgive them for they know not what they do, had that decree been proclaimed from a golden chair with a golden scepter in his hand and a golden crown upon his head, would it have been received more heartily than how it was received today? Your and my mind of what a king is, is not how Christ reveals himself to us.
Now in the back of the church, above the choir and the choir loft there, in the center window is Christ the King. Picture. It’s got him with a huge crown and a gold orb and he’s glorified in the robes. But that’s after the fact. That’s him in heaven. It was revealed just briefly on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was revealed along his life with the miracles that he performed, but it was never revealed to be bound to this world, to this time frame, without the destruction of that which binds you and me to this world and this time frame. The destruction of sin and death and the power of the devil.
The two responses of the thieves that were crucified by him, one at his right and one at his left, are really the two responses that typify all of humanity’s response to the God-man who is king, ruling and proclaiming things not from a golden chair, but from a bloodstained cross. Not as one who is shown to be the king and recognized as such, but as one who is seen as a false king. A mocker of that which represents kingship. One thief responds as a mocker of this king. One thief responds as a confessor of this king.
And Jesus reveals himself to them in that phrase, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. But the “they” is not just the two thieves. The “they” is not just the soldiers who were casting lots for his clothing. Because mind you, he’s king, he’s crucified in the nude. He’s not crucified like that with the loincloth covering him. He was crucified in the nude, for they were casting lots for that very cloth. In great humiliation. Naked as all of us come from our mother’s wombs, and naked as we all return to dust, is the king reigning from his throne of the cross, hidden behind the weakness and the suffering.
Having declared that to not only the soldiers who are casting lots for him, but also the people who are just watching, the text says. Some possibly will believe in him, others curious, no more than curious. Yes. He speaks these words of forgiveness to the very rulers, it says, the very rulers whose influence changes the demeanor of this scene.
Prior to them scoffing and saying such words like, “If you are the Christ, save yourself, come on down from there,” you saved others, mocking the miracles that revealed him as God in the flesh, and yet still referring to him as the Messiah, right? So these rulers stir it up a little bit more. And the soldiers, having heard this, now they jump on the bandwagon and begin not scoffing but mocking, the text says, mocking him as being anybody of any importance. Even the inscription above his head is Pilate’s jab at the Jews and at Jesus, the King of the Jews. Wow, look at the King.
And that’s where God hides himself. Your life in Christ, from the moment of your baptism, is hidden. Your life does not appear to be one of the sons and daughters of the King because your life doesn’t always seem to go wonderfully and marvelously good. In fact, if anything, if you look at your life, you see the sin marks of your own sin, and how it has caused all kinds of scars in your mind and heart. You’ve seen the scars inflicted upon you by others, which you still bear and will bear till you die. And you see a world that’s damned and going to hell, continually telling you that this is all that matters.
And you’re a son and daughter of the king, who stands not on his feet, but hangs in front of you. And me, as our king, reigning, reigning not with earthly power, but with something far more glorious. Yes. “‘Reigning with the power of that word, which brings faith to infants and aged.'” “‘Reigning with power from that cross, bringing power through that water, which brings faith to infants and aged.'” “‘Reigning with power from that cross for the sons and daughters of the King to be knit together in this communion, where we see our life have its meaning.'”
In something beyond what we see with our eyes, and what we feel with our flesh, and what we hear with our ears. An experience. Isn’t it ironic? He’s mocked for being the Christ, and yet he is the Messiah, is he not? He’s scoffed at for saving others, but can’t save himself, and yet he has saved others. And he will save himself because remember what he said? He said, “And he does.” How ironic that they don’t believe it, and yet they speak it.
And isn’t it amazing that here he is, the king of the Jews, the king of all. And they accuse him and mock him of being such, putting the crown of thorns upon his head as a crown of some sort. And yet he is their king, and they reject him. This text is very poignant at this time of the church year. The last two weeks we’ve been hearing about that which is ahead of us, that which is happening presently around us, the wars and rumors of wars, the famines, the earthquakes, the people who are itching ears listening to some other preaching out there and not to Christ crucified and risen, forgiveness not found in the blood of Christ shed, but forgiveness found in some mental gymnastics of justifying our life and justifying our existence.
These people only view Christ in this pericope as someone who can do something for them here and now. The thief that mocks him says, “You’ve saved others, save yourself and us.” Because he’s only seeing Jesus as someone who can fix his little predicament that he’s got himself into and can’t get out of. And when he’s done using Jesus, he’ll wash his hands of Jesus and ride on. And the world still views this Lord in the same way because you and I, who are his children, still struggle with believing the same thing in our own life.
“Save me, Lord, from this earthly predicament and I will do something great for you. Save me, Lord, from that which I’ve gotten myself into so that I can honor you.” Rather than… Rather than what the thief said, “Jesus, remember me.” Jesus, remember me. That thief didn’t look at anything he had done in the past that was praiseworthy. In fact, that thief didn’t even look at what was being done to him other than acknowledging that what he is getting in his own person was due his sin, but he didn’t lift it up to Jesus as if it was more than Jesus could handle. He just proclaimed, “Jesus, remember me.”
Which is all you and I can proclaim. “Jesus, remember me.” It’s the same words as, “Lord, have mercy upon me. Christ, have mercy upon me. Lord, have mercy upon me.” It matters not really that he said this other than it is a beautiful proclamation of who Jesus is. A king who’s going to come with his kingdom.
What matters is really what Jesus says back to the thief. He does not check him for sincerity. He does not try to explain how can a man who’s dying say these words and truly be sincere when he’s being crucified with his compadre next to him who has no faith in those words. All Jesus does is proclaim to this man something for his faith to cling. “Today, not someday. Today.” Not now, as in, I’m going to fix your predicament and you don’t have to die. But “Today, after you die, you will be with me in paradise. You will be with me. You’re not going to go there alone. And you’re not going to die alone. You die with me, always holding you in my hand. You die with me, always clinging to you. So that I don’t lose you from my hand. And you will be with me in paradise.”
Not some abstract nirvana. And not some ethereal thought. You will be with me in a concrete paradise. Real. As real as the very nails that you feel in your hands. And the very nails you feel in your feet. And the very smell of your own blood as it drips. As real as that will you be in paradise. That’s what matters. Jesus’ acknowledgment is, Of this feeble flicker of faith. You will be with me. That’s what the sons and daughters of the king hear.
From a naked, crucified king, he speaks, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” And in spite of what they see, and in spite of what they hear, they believe as you believe. This is he who says to you. Today, whether that day is today. Today. Whether that day is years ahead, you will be with me in paradise.
In the name of the King of your souls and your body, Jesus himself. Amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
