The Jews of Jesus’ time had been expecting a
Messiah for centuries. They were a people downtrodden by generations of foreign
occupation, but they were confident that Yahweh would inevitably intervene on their
behalf. A Messiah, one anointed by Yahweh himself, would appear, and the Messiah would
rescue them. He would come like old King David, a mighty warrior who would return Israel
to independence and glory through military conquest. They dreamed of a restored Jerusalem
– palaces of white and streets of gold, political power for the men, jewels for the
women, and figs for all.
Jesus was born into this society. He was born in humble circumstances
to parents of limited means. Nothing about the family or surroundings of his childhood
suggested royalty. There were few outward clues in those early days, but the eyes of some
were opened to the coming of a King.
Shepherds in the lonely fields near Bethlehem found reason to rejoice
at his birth. Some sages from the East were inspired to bring gifts befitting royalty.
Simeon and Anna saw redemption in his face. John, a cousin of Jesus, proclaimed him
Messiah and anointed him with water and the Spirit. Jesus was on the Road to Coronation.
It was a rocky road.
Nobody would have mistaken Jesus for a King during his years as an itinerant preacher
in the Galilee. He walked the dusty paths from village to village with a ragtag group of
fishermen and outcasts. He was homeless and apparently depended on the charity of others
to sustain his basic needs. Yet, he could accomplish amazing things. He could turn water
into wine and a few loaves and fishes into a feast for thousands. He could heal the sick
and bring the dead to life. He had power of some kind; many witnessed it. But they
didn’t understand it. They asked questions. They found few answers, for their eyes
could not see and their ears could not hear.
If he was the Messiah, as some suspected, why
didn’t he overcome the Romans and assume the throne of a newly free and independent
Israel? Why didn’t he use that mysterious power to do some real good? Why did he
speak of love and kindness, of mercy and forgiveness? This was not King talk. Kings spoke
of conquest and victory and revenge. People were confused. Some thought Jesus was a
weakling; others thought he was a rabble-rousing threat to the established order. The
questions persisted everywhere he went.
The Road to Coronation inevitably led back to Jerusalem, the place
where Yahweh lived in the Holy of Holies, the place where all the good Kings of Israel had
worshipped the one true God. It was in Jerusalem that the Road would come to an end.
One day in Jerusalem, crowds of common people greeted Jesus as they
would have greeted a mighty King. They cheered him and sang songs in his honor. How
quickly they forgot their joy. In the face of official opposition, they soon turned from
him and rejected him. He was betrayed, not only by the political powers that reviled him,
not only by the bedeviled Judas, but also by his best friends.
The last mile on the Road to Coronation wound uphill through tiny
little lanes and alleys scarcely wide enough for two men to walk abreast. What kind of
King would walk this path, whipped, bleeding, and weak, carrying the instrument of his own
destruction?
We are told that when Jesus died, the earth rebelled. Day became night
and the earth shook. The curtain in the temple was torn in half, and God no longer lived
in the Holy of Holies but was loose in the world. Jesus was buried in a new tomb, an honor
reserved for royalty. And then he left the tomb behind.
What kind of King is that?
