King

WHAT A LAUGH!

What a laugh it must have been!

To stand on the streets of Jerusalem and watch the procession go by on the first Good Friday.

First came the soldiers pushing the crowds back to make room. Next came the bearer of the placard indicating the nature of the offence. Finally came the prisoner on his way to execution, carrying his heavy cross.

And what was it that the placard said?

"This is the King of the Jews."

What a laugh. To think that such a person could have seriously expected people to believe that he was a king. After all, when you or I think about kingship, our image is very different from the picture of this helpless and impotent victim.

True our picture is often a mixture of fantasy and reality, reinforced by Hollywood and the imagination; nevertheless, it is very different from the picture we have in the Gospels.

We picture a person sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, surrounded by courtiers, graciously permitting his subjects to approach in hushed whispers, as they acknowledge his presence with a polite curtsy or bow.

We picture a person leading his army out to battle upon a horse to defend his kingdom or to lay claim upon other lands.

We picture a person of great power and authority demanding loyalty and obedience from his subjects and rewarding such faithfulness with favours of property and titles.

We picture a person of immense wealth, living a life surrounded by servants carrying out his slightest whim or fancies.

Even in our modern democratic time, when kings have been stripped of their former power and glory, we still see the monarch as a focus of national life, and ceremonial figurehead for state occasions whom we dress up and protect from the common herd.

In his book Majesty, Robert Lacey reminds us that, "You call (the Queen) 'Ma'am'. You bow slightly or curtsy and you are not supposed to shake hands with her. She shakes hands with you. Etiquette prescribes a special way of extending your fingers limply to be grasped by her. And it is not polite for you to grasp her back".

Such an image of kingship is very far removed from that portrayed in the Gospels. Little wonder the politicians and church leaders in Jerusalem could not take his claim to kingship seriously. No wonder the crowds laughed at him. No wonder they poked fun at him, hanging helplessly upon the cross. No wonder even his immediate family thought that he was out of his mind.

So they crucified him, and placed an inscription above him which read, 'This is the King of the Jews'.

His place of birth was not a palace, but a stable in the backyard of an inn.

He never advocated the use of force, and even when one of his disciples drew a sword in order to defend him, he was told to put it back.

He never expected to be waited upon, but rather suggested that true greatness was to be found in serving others.

He never sought to force his views upon others, but rather encouraged them to make up their own minds.

He never demanded obedience but rather gave people the freedom to respond voluntarily to his love for them.

He never lived in isolated splendour, but rather chose to live as an itinerant preacher with his friends.

The image of kingship as revealed through Jesus, was far away from that commonly held by his contemporaries, and indeed by us today.

Reflecting upon this contradiction, St Paul wrote to the early Christians at Corinth in these words: "God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise. and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful. He chose what the world looks down on despises and thinks nothing of in order to destroy what the world thinks important". (1 Cor. 27-28)

In short, Jesus turned the popular idea of kingship upside down and, I would suggest, finished up having a much greater and lasting impact upon the lives of humankind than any former or subsequent king.

As Philip Brook once observed: "All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this planet as powerfully as that one solitary life".

Now such an image of God as revealed through Jesus Christ in the pages of the New Testament, does not sit comfortably with us as a role model to follow in our daily life.

You and I are much happier with a God of power and strength than with the apparent weakness and impotency. You and I prefer to retaliate against those who would criticise us; to defend ourselves against those who would challenge us, and to browbeat those who would argue with us.

You and I prefer to win arguments; to have the upper hand; to remain in control and to protect ourselves by status.

But such attitudes are completely alien to the God whose kingship is revealed through Jesus upon the Cross.

Upon the cross we see a God who allows himself to be misunderstood, to be rejected, to be abused, to be spat upon and ultimately to be destroyed by death.

Upon the cross we see a God of gentleness, of meekness, of compassion, of patience, of humility, and ultimately, of unconditional love.

Upon the cross we see an image of kingship where apparent weakness proves more powerful than strength.

So let us recall that God reigns as King from a cross and not a throne, and invites you and me to share that cross with him. After all, this is the real "King of the Jews" and it is no laughing matter for those who believe.