“Shall I Crucify Your King?”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. During Lent this year, for both our special evening and Sunday morning
services, we are considering “Questions at the Cross,” questions asked by Jesus
and others during the first Holy Week. The entire sermon series is listed
on the back of today’s bulletin. This morning we continue with the question Pontius Pilate asks the
bloodthirsty mob crying out for Jesus’ crucifixion: “Pilate brought Jesus out
and sat down on the judge’s seat . . . And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold
your King!’ But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’
‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the
chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be
crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went
out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they
crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side, and Jesus in the
middle.” Today’s “Question at the Cross”: “Shall I Crucify Your King?” The Roman poet Cicero wrote that crucifixion was, “the most cruel and
disgusting punishment. . . it is impossible to find the words for such an
abomination.” And the Jewish historian Josephus described crucifixion as, “the
most wretched of deaths.” That is why a Roman citizen couldn’t be
crucified. No matter how great a criminal they might be, death by
crucifixion was considered too shameful, too demeaning, beneath the dignity of
any Roman citizen. It was reserved only for the lowest scum, the worst
criminals, the most vile offenders. “Shall I Crucify Your King?” Pontius Pilate repeatedly declares
Jesus not guilty. “They shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify
him!’” “‘Why?,’ Pilate asked. ‘What crime has he committed? . . . I find
no basis for a charge against him. . . I have found in him no grounds for
the death penalty. . . As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.’” “Shall I Crucify Your King?” It was not Jesus who deserved this
horrible punishment, but you, and me, and all of humanity. Paul declares
in Galatians, “The whole world is a prisoner of sin,” and in Romans pronounces
the judgment we deserve: “For the wages of sin is death.” On account of
our sins we all deserve eternal death and damnation in hell. “Shall I Crucify Your King?” A Lenten hymn asks, “O, dearest
Jesus, what law hast Thou broken?” The Apostle John answers, “He appeared
to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.” Jesus had broken no law,
committed no sin. He suffered the most cruel, the most shameful, the most
painful, demeaning, and wretched of deaths not for his own sin, for in him is no
sin. “He appeared to take away our sins.” Paul puts it this way in
2nd Corinthians: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God.” That is God’s great exchange. Your sins were all placed upon
Jesus; he suffered and died in your place. “God made him who had no sin to
be sin for us.” God accepts his Son’s sacrifice for you. Because of
Jesus’ suffering and death, your sins are all forgiven, God does not count your
sins against you. Paul puts it this way in Colossians: “For God was
pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to
himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace
through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and
were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has
reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in
his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” That is the first part of God’s great exchange. “God made him who
had no sin to be sin for us.” Jesus wipes your slate clean of all your
sins. He wipes your slate clean with his own blood. But, just an absence
of sin isn’t enough for you to get into heaven. Admission into heaven
requires more than just a blank slate. Admission into heaven actually requires a
full slate, full of perfect good works, perfect holiness, perfect righteousness.
And that’s the second part of God’s great exchange. In exchange for your
sins taken away from you and borne by Jesus in his body on the cross, God
credits to you the perfect righteousness and holiness, the perfect life and good
works of his own Son. “So that in him we might become the righteousness of
God.” When God looks upon you, he sees a complete absence of sin, because all
your sins have been taken away and paid for by his Son. But, when God
looks upon you, he sees not only an absence of sin. He also sees in you
perfect righteousness and holiness, a perfect life full of perfect good works,
because in exchange for your sins the righteousness and holiness and perfect
life and good works of his own Son are all credited to you. “God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.” That’s what it’s all about. Christianity, the Bible, the Church,
Lent, Easter, our congregation, our worship here each week. It’s all about
God’s great exchange—for you. The Augsburg Confession of the Lutheran
Church puts it this way: “The Son of God . . . suffered, was crucified, died,
and was buried in order to be a sacrifice for all [our] sins . . . to
reconcile the Father to us . . . and to appease God’s wrath . . . we
receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God . . . when we believe
that Christ suffered for us, and that for his sake our sins are forgiven and
righteousness and eternal life are given to us.” “Shall I Crucify Your King?” It is one of the great ironies of
history that the cross should have become the foremost symbol of the Christian
faith. We are so accustomed to the cross representing an inspiring,
comforting, religious symbol, it is hard for us to get back into the mindset of
the first century. Because in the first century for most people the cross
was the total opposite of inspiring or comforting. It was a gruesome
method of torture and execution, “the most wretched of deaths.” As Paul
says in today’s Epistle Reading, “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look
for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and
foolishness to Gentiles.” To both Jews and Gentiles in Paul’s day, the idea of Christ crucified
made no sense at all. Because, the Jews were expecting the Messiah, the
Christ, to be a mighty warrior-king, who would overthrow the Romans and
establish on earth with military might the greatest earthly kingdom the world
had ever seen. “But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to
Jews.” They could never accept Christ crucified, who instead of
overthrowing the hated Romans suffered under Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor,
was crucified, died, and was buried. Such a miserable failure could not
possibly be their Messiah. “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”
In the pagan philosophy and mythology of the non-Jews, their gods would never
allow themselves to suffer so. The gods they worshipped were mighty and
powerful: Zeus, Apollo, the great gods of Mt. Olympus—not the dead God of Mt.
Calvary. They could never accept a God so weak, so powerless, that he
would allow himself to be crucified. For them the very thought of God
being put to death was ludicrous, nonsense, foolishness. And worst of all,
not to die in some glorious way, but to die upon a cross! It was
impossible, insane. As the Roman Governor Festus once said to Paul, “You
are out of your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you crazy.” “Shall I Crucify Your King?” An ancient citizen of the Roman
Empire transported over the centuries to a modern American city would find it
absolutely crazy to see the large number of impressive buildings that have
crosses prominently perched on top. Why would people put crosses, of all
things, on these great buildings? As traditional for a Christian church,
the cross atop our bell tower is the highest object towering over the
countryside. And in front of our sanctuary, we have a massive wooden
cross, and an altar cross depicting Christ’s crucifixion. Why would we
commemorate such a horrific event? Why would we so prominently display
this symbol? “Shall I Crucify Your King?” “Finally Pilate handed him over to
them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his
own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called
Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each
side, and Jesus in the middle.” “Jesus in the middle.” That describes how he was crucified between two
criminals, which is why we often depict three crosses on Calvary. But,
“Jesus in the middle” is also a way to help you understand the significance for
you of his death on the cross. Paul puts it this way in 1st Timothy:
“There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself as a ransom for all men.” Jesus is your mediator, your go-between with God. Just as he hung
on the cross between two others, his death on the cross stands between you and
God—“Jesus in the middle,” his suffering and death shielding you from God’s
wrath and earning you forgiveness, God’s favor, eternal life. “Shall I Crucify Your King?” “We preach Christ crucified: a
stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But, to those whom
God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God.” For us, the cross and Christ crucified have been transformed, into
symbols of hope, forgiveness, God’s love. As Paul says in Romans, “God
demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died
for us. . . we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son . . .
we have been justified by his blood.” “Jesus in the middle.” That is why the cross has become the cherished symbol of our Christian
faith: Because Jesus Christ’s death on the cross means your sins are all
forgiven. That is why the cross and Christ crucified are transformed for
us into inspiring, comforting symbols of hope, forgiveness, God’s love, love so
great that he gave up for us his own Son. “For the message of the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the
power of God.” Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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