Matthew 27:27-37 "This Is Our King"

          Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,  and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
          As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.  They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).  There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.  When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.  Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 

          Whenever I read the story of Christ's death, I get a kind of knot in my stomach.  Then I actually begin to numb out emotionally.  This is difficult for me to read and accept.

         Jesus is my Savior and my friend.  I believe in Him.  I pray, and He hears -and He answers.  We talk.  We commune.  I love Him.  He loves me.  I know that He loves others, of course, but I sometimes think that I am His favorite.  Is that arrogant?  Maybe, but I still feel that way.  He is also my Master and my King -I gladly and willingly submit to Him.  I place my life and will and hopes and dreams and all that I am under His authority.  He is not a concept or an ideal or simply an historical figure.  I love Him.  Apart from Him I have no life -and just as importantly, apart from Him I want no life.  I am glad and content to be His friend and servant.  All of this is why it is hard for me to accept the brutality and disrespect He endured.


         After two thousand years of church history to put this into a correct theological perspective that it had to happen like this -that ultimately, Father was glorified and we have been redeemed and sin and death were conquered forever and Satan was stripped of all authority -even understanding all of that, it still seems inconceivable that Jesus my Friend, my Savior, my King was so mistreated and so disrespected and so brutalized.  I must force myself to read the words, to contemplate on what actually happened, to realize the the truth of the situation.

          And even as I contemplate this, I can't stay here.  My mind not only races ahead to that moment when Jesus arose from the dead, but it also races even further ahead.  Jesus told us clearly that He was coming again.  And the description He gives is glorious.  He will return, not brutalized, disrespected, and silent.  He will return glorified in Kingly splendor for all the world to see -and everyone will bow down and worship Him.  Those who doubt will cease to doubt.  Those who mock will cease to mock.  My Savior, my Friend, my Master, my King will be worshiped.  Come King Jesus!