What Kind of King?

Remember our Lord Jesus cresting the Mount of Olives on the road from Bethany, the very route that Messiah was always projected to take...moving down the hill past the Garden of Gethsemane, toward the Golden Gate , acknowledging the greeting of the crowds while seated on his....borrowed donkey!?

Some conquering hero this is!

He rides a peaceful donkey instead of a proud stallion.

He has 12 rag-tag disciples with one sword among them, rather than an army.

He bests Pilate in conversation so that it almost seems like Pilate is on trial rather than Jesus.

He is the model for the Christians who will later follow him, as Paul describes the apparel of the Christian in the book of Ephesians, where he notes that the only offensive weapon in a Christian's armor is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

Armed only with the Word.

What kind of a king is this?

We've been getting indications all through his story:

The angel had promised Mary, “The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.

He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” [ Luke 1:32-33]

After David and Solomon, the kingdom had gone downhill in a hurry, and disappeared entirely in 587 BC. [see Jeremiah 52:1-11]

At last, there would be a real king for the house of David, and Israel would be back on top of the heap!

At least that was the common expectation. [see Isaiah 11:10-16]

Jesus wasn't prepared in a royal prep school, but by 40 days in the wilderness.

Then came all the signs which we have been hearing over the past few weeks from the gospel of John.

...the healings [Matthew 8:14], the teaching [Matthew 4:23], exercising power over sickness [John 9], evil [Matthew 4], and death [John 11]; all of the things which the Messiah was to do, according to the old scriptures. [Isaiah 61:1]

Jesus operates completely outside the usual governmental and religious rules.

He eats with whomever will give him an invitation, and sometimes invites himself where he especially needs to visit. [Luke 19:5]

And there is conflict wherever he goes.

He says what is right and true despite the objections of the Pharisees. [Mark 12]

He wades into whatever question is presented.

And in the Gospel of John, he is always serenely in charge of the situation, proceeding to do what is right and true. [John 6:35-40]

Let's think about several people across the centuries who understood this.

Several weeks back in Crossways we were viewing the story of Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador in the early 1980s.

He gradually came to understand that his people could not hear the good news of the Gospel over the growling of their stomachs.

They were hungry and politically repressed.

Thousands of persons were disappearing, and his priests were also being killed.

When he spoke for peace and for conversation to improve the situation, he became a marked man.

But in the face of great personal danger, he went on with his proper work.

He continued to preach and to offer the Body and Blood of Christ, until a man was sent into his church one day to shoot and kill him at the altar in the midst of Communion.

Some years back the chaplain of Duke University invited Billy Graham to address the chapel.

A week before the visit, the head of University security called the chaplain and asked for an urgent meeting.

He had all sorts of questions.

How many security men will Dr. Graham bring?

The chapel needed to be cleared 3 hrs. in advance of the visit so that a thorough security sweep could be done.

And so on....

The chaplain relayed the questions and arrangements to Dr. Graham, who responded:

“I'll fly into Raleigh-Durham airport, rent a car, and drive myself to a hotel. It will just be me.”

No retinue, no gaggle of reporters, no guards, carrying only the Word of God to present to the university audience.

Francis of Assisi walked in the same path.

In 1219-1220, Francis went to the Holy Land in the midst of the crusades and walked unarmed into the camp of the Sultan of Egypt and presented the gospel to an astonished ruler.

Carrying only the Word of God .... and speaking what is right and true.

These are people understood the kind of King that Jesus is and how he intends to entice us to follow rather than force us.

There will always be resistance to the message, and it may lead to the death of the messenger just as it led to the death of Jesus, but there are things worse than death.

We are so easily enamored with power.

Again and again it seems that those who go to Washington to work with noble intentions succumb to the thirst for power, prestige, and money... and we would fail in the same way.

Let us remember in this Holy Week the one who understood a different kind of power, who became a different kind of king.

Let us walk in his way, praise his Name, do his will, and use his power, since in the end he will be victorious.

The poet of our next hymn says it well:

The cross and all its pains

And chose a servant's form to take,

The King of glory reigns.

Hosanna to the Savior's name

Till heaven's rafters ring,

And all the ransomed host proclaim

“Behold, behold your King!”

[HS98,#826.4]

Amen

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.