The King's Bloody Throne

Mike Brown, pastor of Christ United Reformed Church in Santee, CA, writes:

And so, this king was lifted up. He was not lifted up on a castle balcony to be adored by cheering crowds. He was not lifted up on a throne of gold. Instead, he was lifted up on a bloodstained throne of wood. He was nailed through the wrists and the feet by Roman regulation, so that this method of execution would have its course. Jesus, along with the criminals crucified on either side of him, would die in the way crucified people were meant to die: slowly and painfully in suffocation, dehydration, and blood-loss.

This was NOT what the disciples were expecting. Jesus once said “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself,” but at the time they could not imagine this meant a Roman crucifixion. They were familiar with crosses. The Romans used this horrible method throughout their Empire to evoke fear in the hearts of their subjects. They could not imagine their King enthroned on one. Yet, there he was: beaten, naked, and dying, in this terrible place of shame. This was the place that the Law of Moses said was a curse, for “cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”

Nevertheless, this king was EXACTLY where he was supposed to be. Everything was according to plan. This was no failure. This was victory.

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