We have a collection of newspaper
clippings at our place which report the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. There
are pictures of her with a crown on her head and holding a scepter. Her
coronation was blessed by both the political and religious leaders of England England
and Canada
Although I suspect that we have
never thought about the death of Jesus as a coronation, as we look at Mark 15:16-47 , we see that
it is entirely appropriate. Admittedly, it is the most unusual coronation that
has ever been seen. The story is loaded with irony, but it is exactly for this
reason that it becomes all the more meaningful. As we consider the death of
Jesus as the coronation of Jesus as King, we will come to appreciate deeply
what happened and be invited to worship.
I. Jesus Is Crowned As King
There are a number of things that
happen in this passage which point to it as a coronation. Particularly, we
notice that three times Jesus is declared to be king.
The first ones to declare that
Jesus is King are the soldiers. Jesus was handed over to them to be crucified. He
had already been flogged, but the soldiers thought they would have a little fun
with him before they crucified Him. They found an old purple rag and put it on
him mockingly as if it were a royal robe. They found some thorns and wove them
into a crown. Were the thorns pointing upwards to look like a crown or towards
his scalp to inflict pain? These actions mocked the accusation that He was
"King of the Jews."
They also declared that he was king
when they "began saluting him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!” Did they think he
was king of the Jews? No! Was He king of the Jews? Absolutely!
As they hailed him as king, we
notice that they hit him, they spit on him, but they also fell on their knees
before him. We read in Mark
15:19 , “falling on their knees, they worshipped him.” Falling on
your knees before a sovereign is an appropriate way of recognizing the
authority of a king and declaring your allegiance and obedience to that king.
It is something that happens as part of the ceremony at a coronation. As they
knelt down and worshipped, did their hearts bend in worship and obedience? Certainly
not! Was it appropriate to bow before this king? There is no doubt that it was!
We see a second declaration when
they brought Jesus to Golgotha and crucified
him and the charge against him was posted on the cross. What was His crime?
Once again we are surprised to see that the charge was “The King of the Jews.”
Did Pilate, who ordered this sign, acknowledge the truth of this statement?
What kind of a king did he suppose Jesus to be? We can guess, but we don’t
know. There is a lot we don’t know, but what we do know is that Jesus was and
is king of the Jews. What the sign declared was absolutely true.
To round out the presentation of
Jesus as king we see that the words of mockery by the Jewish leaders were, “this
king of Israel
As Jesus
was handed over for crucifixion, repeated allusions were made to a coronation,
each of them not believed by those who declared or enacted them. That is the
irony. If this happened once or twice, we might dismiss it as coincidental, but
because it kept happening and because three times Jesus was actually proclaimed
King, we cannot escape the fact that Mark is deliberately trying to tell us
something. This was a coronation.
II. A Crown of Thorns, His Throne A Cross
But the nature of this coronation
was utterly unusual and unexpected. It included a crown and a throne, but not
such as we would expect.
Most kings are pampered, but Jesus
suffered. The soldiers treated Jesus with great contempt and horrible abuse.
Geddert says, “Instead of handing him a scepter, they hit him with a reed.
Instead of kissing his feet, they spit in his face.”
Clothes are an important part of a
coronation. The gown and the cape which the queen wore at her coronation were
impressive. At the coronation of Jesus, as He hung naked on the cross, they
cast lots for his clothing. The message being communicated was, "When you
die you won’t need clothes any more."
Most kings
are hailed and honored, but Jesus was mocked. The Jewish leaders rejected the
idea that a king would be on a cross and the Roman soldiers also mocked the king
upon the cross. That is why Paul could say in I Corinthians 1:23 , "but
we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to
Gentiles…"
When a king is crowned, people flock
around to see him and want to meet him, but the suffering of Jesus was
heightened when we read that Jesus was abandoned. We have already noted the
abandonment of the disciples who ran away as soon as Jesus was arrested. In
this text, we also see another image of abandonment. The people had an
understanding that Elijah was the “patron saint” of hopeless causes, so when
Jesus cried out “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” they thought that he was calling
for the help of Elijah. But Elijah never showed up and so they would have
perceived this as abandonment. In fact, that is not what Jesus cried out. He cried
out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” which is a far worse abandonment
than that of Elijah.
One of the common phrases we use in
reference to kings is, “Long live the king” but the irony of this coronation is
that Jesus died. Contrary to what would be wished upon a king, Jesus was
actually crucified and actually died on that cross.
Most kings are seated on a throne
in a palace, but Jesus was placed in a tomb.
III. An Unlikely Coronation
Throughout the passage Jesus is
presented as king. But also, throughout the passage we see anything but a
coronation. Was the crucifixion a coronation or a defeat?
The irony of Jesus’ coronation on
the cross propels the meaning of His death into the stratosphere of significance.
He was actually crowned as a King on a cross and, because He was, He is king in
a much greater sense than any other king in history has ever been.
The phrase of the mockers actually explains
the irony and the meaning of it. They laughed at him when they said, “He saved
others, but he can’t save himself!” They were thinking, “Although he has
clearly done a lot of good and healed a lot of people, making us think that He
has a lot of power, it is obvious now as He hangs on this cross that He does
not. If He truly were the Son of God and the King, He would come off that cross
and show His power.”
But something much greater was
going on here. The problem was that they were thinking human thoughts, when
divine things were going on.
Yes, He had saved a lot of people. He
had cast an evil spirit out of a man, He had saved people from the bondage of
leprosy, fever and many other illnesses. He saved a girl from death and a
paralytic from his sins. Why then was He not able to save Himself?
It is absolutely true when it says
“He can’t save Himself” but why was it true? Was it true because he did not
have the power? Was it true because they had found his weakness? If you are
familiar with the superman stories you know that, although he is very strong,
superman can be made weak by using Kryptonite. Is that what was happening here?
Was Jesus defeated because they discovered that the cross was his weakness? By
no means! The reason Jesus could not save himself was that if he did, he would
not be able to save others. Once again we see the irony! He had to go to the
cross in order to bring about salvation. If He had come off the cross, there
would have been no forgiveness, there would have been no salvation and we would
not have eternal life. He actually saved others, by not saving Himself. That is
why the cross is the place where He was crowned as King. It was on the cross
that Jesus became king not only of the Jews, but king of all. The cross is not
a defeat, it is a coronation.
Conclusion
The death of Jesus looks like
defeat. It looks like the saddest day in human history. But it is not. It is
actually the day on which the king of the universe was crowned in a most
unexpected way, but in such a powerful and permanent way that we still live
under the victory gained in that coronation. That is what Good Friday is all
about.
How do we respond to it? In verse
32 the religious leaders suggested that if Jesus would come down from the
cross, they would recognize that He was who He said and they would believe.
They declared, “come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”
They thought that if they would see the power of Jesus, they would believe, but
it doesn’t work that way and so they walked away in unbelief.
It doesn't
work that way because Jesus invites seeing with eyes of faith. The right way to
respond to Jesus is to believe. If we do that, then we will see. So it must
always be. If we see the death of Jesus with human eyes, we will always miss
the point. We will see crucifixion and death and ending. But if we look at the
death of Jesus with eyes of faith, we will believe and understand that this
truly was a coronation. We will recognize that through the cross Jesus took His
place on the throne for all eternity. Seeing that, we will trust Him for
salvation and worship Him as our eternal King.
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