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33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

 

“In this life we are either kings or pawns, emperors or fools." - Napoleon Bonaparte

Today is Christ the King day. As we spectate on this scene of the crucifixion, we might ask ourselves--in this situation, who is the king, and who is the pawn; who is the emperor, and who is the fool? In the scene, of course, the soldiers were sure that Jesus was the fool. They were sure that he was one of the pawns, hanging on a cross among the other losers.

Was Jesus the fool, the pawn? Of course, we know that he was not. Jesus was (is) the King. The soldiers were blind to it. But Jesus knew who he was and what he was about, and for what he needed to do to accomplish God's work on the cross, that was enough.

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where others around you are acting like heartless, mindless fools? Are they making fun of you and putting you down, or are they doing or saying things you know are wrong and you feel pressured to act the same?

We don't have to act like fools just because others around us are. As Napoleon said, we are either kings or pawns. The devil would love us to be pawns. But Jesus has welcomed us as fellow royal heirs to God's kingdom. No matter what is going on around us or what situation we are in, we always have a choice to act as Jesus did on the cross and behave as kings.

No matter how things look on the outside, we always have a choice to act with dignity and honor. Jesus did not look on the outside like a person with dignity and honor, hanging naked and dying on a cross, but his behavior and words were ones of a King.

No matter our worldly situation, and no matter how things look on the outside, we have every reason to speak and behave as though we belong to God. The truth is, we belong to a higher calling. We belong to a higher kingdom. We belong to Jesus, our King on the cross.

Let our lives give glory to the Son. Amen.

Pastor Bev

pastorbev@livinglord.org