Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009
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LAETARE MIDWEEK

25 March Anno + Domini 2009

"Sacred Head, Now Wounded” Sermon Series

Part 6:  "The Wound of Mockery” (Matt. 27:27-31)

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

They thought that it was hysterical - this Galilean peasant pretending to be a king.  It cracked them up.  They decided to have some fun with His apparent delusion, so the soldiers began by taking away His clothes.  He had to stand there naked as they mocked Him.  Then they found a beautiful scarlet robe and put that around His shoulders.  "There.  Now He is beginning to look kingly,” they said.  But, something was missing.  "A king also needs a crown!” one of them chimed in.    

And so one of them fashions a crown for this peasant king from Galilee, a crown to teach Him a thing or two about His silly daydreams, a crown of entwining thorns.  They smash the crown down upon His head, and the thorns bite and the blood pours.  And still He stands there.  His response is not what they had hoped for.  He is silent to their taunt, their mockery, their jeers. 

Someone comes up with another missing item - a king needs a scepter.  They scrounge around and find a reed, and they make His right hand take it.  They step back to admire the finished product:  blood running down His face from the thorns cruelly piercing His head, His naked body barely covered with the red scarlet robe, and a flimsy reed that flops this way and that in His hand.  "Behold, the man who would be king,” they say. 

Laughing with scorn, they fall on their knees.  "Oh, Your majesty!” they cry.  "Hail!  King of the Jews!”  Still, He looks on in silence, as their mockery turns vicious.  He will not play along in their game, so He will pay.  They begin to spit on Him to show their utter contempt of this deluded would-be king.  They take His scepter and whip His head with the reed.  "Some scepter.  Some rule.  Some kingdom.  You are nothing, and You are about to die, and it will not be easy.  Wait and see, King of the Jews.”

And as He looks on them, what these men miss is the depth of His pity for them, for these who wound Him with mockery, who try to shame Him, and who are preparing to torture and murder Him.  Look into His eyes, though, and you will see it - a depth of pity and a fountain of love that will shake you to your core.  It is a mere human trait - common to all of fallen humanity - to love your friends and to seek to do them good.  But to love your enemies, to have nothing but pity and compassion for those who taunt and jeer at you and who are preparing to kill you - that is the mark of the heavenly Friend, of Jesus Christ.  And, so we sing:

What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
(LSB 450:5)

Limitless pity - no end to it.  The look of pity from the face of the mocked King extends not only to His torturers but also to the entire human race, which is complicit in His death.  "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” He would say a few hours later (Luke 23:34).

Of course, the truth beyond all truths is that Jesus actually is King; their mockery is actually true.  Jesus is the King promised to the Jews.  Yes, Jesus is the long-awaited Son of David.  But even more, He is the King for the Gentiles and their Ruler, too.  He is the One to whom the entire universe belongs.  Every one of us - including those who mocked and shamed Him - owe their existence only to His will that we exist.  You will never ponder the Passion aright until you remember that a single thought from Jesus could have undone all those who sought His death, a single thought could have destroyed all of us.  But in that highest provocation, all He returns is love, pity, mercy.  For that is what fills Him.  That is who Jesus is.  And this is how He reigns as King above all kings:  He rules in love unconquerable by hate. 

For you see, Jesus is determined to share fully in the lot we have chosen for ourselves.  We were destined to sit on thrones of glory and be robed in majestic garments and to wear crowns on our heads.  Such was what our God wanted for us, why He created us in the first place.  But we threw it all away and embraced instead the path of suffering and death, of loneliness and pain.  But, Jesus, the eternal Word of the Father, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, would not have that be our end.  He came to walk the path of suffering and death, of loneliness and pain, as our Lord and Savior, as our King, so that through His sufferings all that we lost might be restored to us again. 

Jesus is stripped, that our sinful nakedness might be clothed in the bright robe of His righteousness.  He is adorned in a scarlet robe, that He might be clothed with - more than that, that He might become -  our sins, which are like scarlet, so that He might make them white as snow.  He wears a crown of thorns, that we might wear a royal diadem.  He is beaten and mocked, that we might be welcomed and treasured.  Love Incarnate will overcome all hatred and mockery and remain Love, that a way would be opened for us to return from this misery of sin and death into the kingdom the Father planned for us from the beginning. 

Jesus walks that way - that suffering way - in kingly fashion.  None of the mockery can take from Him His majesty, His glory, His peace.  He does every act of His Passion in burning love for the fallen race of men, so that we might be restored.  He chooses to lay down His life, that we might live in Him. 

Dear friends, Jesus walks that suffering way in kingly fashion for you.  And, you need Him to walk that way for you.  For who among you has not been guilty of inflicting the wound of mockery upon Jesus?  Who among you has not belittled Him many times over in thought, word, and deed?  Who among you has not wondered if Jesus really is King; if His way really is the only way; if His Holy Word and Sacraments really are efficacious and enough; if His Church really is the ark of your salvation?  Search your hearts, as the Lenten call goes out to you - truly search them - and you will find mockery of your Lord done by you. 

And yet, He still goes that suffering way in kingly fashion for you.  He came for that purpose, to look into the eyes of all who mock and revile Him with genuine pity and compassion, taking it all upon Himself to put an end to it once and for all on the cross.  Was there ever love like this?  No, there wasn't, nor will there ever be. 

And, dear friends, such love on His part begets love on ours.  When we see what love He has for us; when we see what His love motivated Him to do for us, how can we do anything but love Him in return?  If people don't love Jesus, it's only because they have not plumbed the depths of their hearts, realized their sinfulness, and recognized their desperate need of a Savior.  But, all who do recognize their sinful condition can do nothing but love the One who has paid the full price for their sins and opened to them the way to everlasting life.  And, filled with His love, they seek to serve and love others with the love they've received from Him.  Filled with His love, they willingly endure the mockery and ridicule received from others who don't know Him as they do, for they know that nothing they experience in this life can separate them from His love, and that the glory that awaits them in His kingdom far outweighs all the trials and tribulations that come their way in this life.  Filled with His love, they sing:

O make me Thine forever! 
And should I fainting be,
Lord let me never, never,
Outlive my love for Thee.
(LSB 450:5)

Behold, your King, dear friends!  Behold Him who loves you no matter how unlovable you are.  Behold - beneath the spit, the blood, the blows, the mockery - the eyes that look upon you with tender compassion and cry out:  "For you, child.  For love of you.  That you might live with Me forever.”  Oh no, there was never love like this!  And yet, that love is yours.  Receive it, live it, and share it.  In Jesus' Holy and Precious Name.  Amen. 

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.