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Good Friday 2025
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
April 18, 2025
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Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Just a few months ago we celebrated Epiphany and the Magi’s trek from the East to find the baby Jesus. The magi come to Jerusalem and ask, Matthew 2:2 (ESV) 2 … “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
At that time, Herod the Great was king over Israel under the authority of Caesar Augustus, the King in Rome. The Magi are asking about a new King. Matthew 2:3 (ESV) 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him…”
Herod the Great tries to trick the magi into locating the newborn King and reporting back to him so he could also come and “worship” Him. Of course by “worship” Herod means kill Him. The magi are warned in a dream and depart by another route. Jesus’ stepfather Joseph is also warned in a dream and the family escapes the sword of Herod by fleeing to Egypt.
Fast forward 33 years and the King of the Jews is again causing turmoil in Jerusalem. Jesus of Nazareth rides a donkey colt down the Mount of Olives to shouts of Luke 19:38 (ESV) 38 … “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” The King has returned to Jerusalem. The local religious leaders are not pleased. They beg Jesus, Luke 19:39–40 (ESV) 39 …“Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
The King of the Jews is back and the Jewish religious leaders are furious. They plot and scheme to arrest Jesus away from the crowds so they can put Him to death for claiming to be the Christ and the King.
For 30 pieces of silver, Judas Iscariot leads Jesus’ enemies right to Him at Gethsemane late Thursday night and betrays Jesus with a kiss. Friday morning the chief priests and scribes take Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.
But why is there a Roman governor instead of one of Herod’s sons? After the death of Herod the Great, his son, Archelaus, ruled Judea for only two years before Caesar Augustus sent him into exile in France and replaced him with a Roman governor. Now the “King of the Jews” trouble that Herod the Great had with the newborn King comes before the fifth Roman prefect of Judea.
Luke 23:2 (ESV) 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
John 18:33–38 (ESV) 33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.”
Jesus is King, but He is not king of this world. Jesus’ kingdom far exceeds the kingdoms of this world. He is the eternal King of all.
Earthly kings come and go. Tiberius Caesar is king of the Roman Empire when Jesus is crucified. He dies in March of 37 AD, and his ashes are interred at the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome where they remain to this day. In this world, kings come and go, prime ministers and presidents come and go. Jesus is still King. Jesus is King forever.
The people of Jerusalem that day, the Jewish leaders and the Romans are agitated and amused by the idea that this pitiable teacher from Galilee, tied-up, beaten, bloody and bruised is a king of anything. How quickly they dismiss all that they have heard about Jesus of Nazareth. Everybody has heard about His great miracles; how Jesus healed the sick and crippled, how He drove out demons, how He fed thousands, how He raised the dead. They are all especially aware of how Jesus recently raised Lazarus from the dead in Bethany just east of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. This Jesus raised a man from the dead after four days by telling him to “come out,” and all they can do is be angry, and abuse Him.
The soldiers, who have heard about all that Jesus has done, flog Him and afterwards mock Him; crowning Him with thorns and dressing Him up in a royal robe. They call out, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and then slap him in the face.
John 19:12–16 (ESV) 12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.…” The Jewish leaders choose Caesar over God. They abandon the King of the universe to follow an earthly king.
What Herod the Great failed to do 33 years earlier, Pilate will reluctantly accomplish. The King of the Jews will be killed. The author of life will be executed for the crime of telling the truth about who He is. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God has come to be one of us. God the Father, out of love, sent His Son to give His life to pay for the sins of the world. John 3:16–17 (ESV) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Pilate does not want to execute Jesus. He believes the Jewish leaders are jealous of Jesus. Pilate, however, is not brave enough to risk a riot and so he gives in to their demands and delivers over Jesus to be crucified.
Perhaps to antagonize the elders and chief priests, or maybe because he had a glimmer of faith that Jesus spoke the truth, or for some other reason… John 19:19 (ESV) 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” To make sure everyone would know what he wrote, the inscription was in Aramaic, the local dialect, also in Latin for the Romans, and in Greek which was the common language of the period. In artwork we abbreviate the sign as INRI, from the Latin, Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. As Jesus hangs on the cross, those passing by continue to mock… Luke 23:37 (ESV) 37 … saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
Jesus of Nazareth is the King of the Jews crowned with thorns and enthroned on the cruel cross at Golgotha. All is going according to plan. The King of the Jews, the King of the World, offers Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Jesus is the servant king who… Philippians 2:7–8 (ESV) 7 … emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Whether he meant to or not, Pilate got it right. Jesus of Nazareth is King of the Jews… King of the world…King of the Universe. As Gabriel told Mary, Luke 1:32–33 (ESV) 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Jesus is the King…your King…your Lord…your Savior. He goes to the cross to save you. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Amen.