King of the Jews

May 29

2 Samuel 3-4

Psalm 67:1-4

Proverbs 14:26-27

John 19

King of the Jews

“And when the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and put a purple robe on Him and they were coming to Him and saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and were giving Him slaps in the face….And Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross.  It was written, ‘Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.’  Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription…So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, ‘Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews;’ but that He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’ Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written.’”  John 19:2-3, 19, 21-22 LSB

There are two times in Jesus’ life when He was referred to as the “King of the Jews.”  The first time was by the wise men who came from afar at Jesus’ birth.  They were seeking who they thought was going to be a future political leader which is why King Herod felt threatened and ordered the death of all male children under the age of two.  Kings in Israel were anointed with oil as an indication of God’s selection of them to rule over His people.  The word Messiah comes from the Hebrew word, mashiach, which means “anointed one” or “chosen one.”  The Jewish people were looking for a mashiach who was going to defeat their enemies and become their king to rule and reign over Israel.   They wanted a military king.  Jesus did not fit what they wanted so most of them did not believe He was the Messiah.  They failed to recognize that He met every Old Testament prophecy regarding the Messiah. 

In today’s passage in John, we find the second time Jesus was referred to as the King of the Jews.  The soldiers who were going to crucify Jesus put a crown of thorns on His head and a purple robe mocking Him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”  Pilate heard their words and had an inscription put on the cross identifying Him, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”  The religious leaders saw this and became angry asking Pilate to say, “He said, I am King of the Jews,” but Pilate refused to change it.  He probably had no idea how true his words were.  Jesus was indeed the King of the Jews.  He came from the Davidic line and fulfilled the promise God made to David that his heir would sit on the throne of David forever.  (2 Samuel 7:12-16)  God’s plan was different from what the Jews were anticipating.  During Jesus’ first coming His purpose was to become the unblemished perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world.  His death on the cross would pay the penalty for sin and through His resurrection, He would defeat death and hell.  One day He will return again as a military leader who will defeat Satan and throw him into the fiery pit forever.   At that time, He will not just be the King of the Jews; He will rule and reign forever as King of kings and Lord of lords over the whole universe. The Jews rejected Him because He did not fit their expectation of what they thought He was going to be and do.  Jesus has to be taken as He is as revealed to us in His word.  We cannot base our expectations on tradition or our desires of what we want Him to be.  May we not miss Him because we have inaccurate expectations of who He is, His purpose or what He is going to do.