And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” … Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” … So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
-Matthew 26:39, 42, 44
Imagine you’re a king. Whether in a feudal or caste system, you are the most powerful person in your kingdom, the realm which you control. Your word can literally be law because you are on the top of the class system with all the authority that the position engenders. You run the show, so to speak.
Because of your position as king, there are expectations of decorum, propriety, and protocol, both on your part and everybody else’s. A king would not associate himself with commoners and peasants, much less be caught in public mingling with them or treating them as equals. A commoner would normally not be able to access the throne room. A real king always looks the part and is always above those that he rules over. This is the price of the throne.
So, you’re a king, well-versed in how to be a king and run a kingdom properly. Let’s say one day you decide to forgo your usual royal clothes and go with something that the commoners wear: dirty rags (because they don’t have the money to buy fancy silks or pay for tailors to hand-make their clothes, nor do they have staff to wash their clothes). On top of that, you also decide that you’ve had enough company with princes and lords and vassals. You’ll go outside of the castle and start hanging out with all the farmers, peasants, and the common people.
What do you think would happen? I would wager there would be outrage from the nobility and astonishment from the commoners because you just violated the commonly understood and accepted societal contract of the people by crossing class lines. You probably cost yourself the crown in the process by outraging those who think the king should not debase the position and title of king by associating with the common folk and not dressing the part.
He claimed he was God dressed as a lowly human; He was a King in filthy rags.
This is why Jesus of Nazareth was rejected and ultimately crucified. He claimed he was God dressed as a lowly human; He was a King in filthy rags. Not only that, but he was also a holy King who dared to wander from his throne and mingle with the common people: adulterers, prostitutes, tax collectors, fishermen and the ill and maligned people who populated the fringes of society. He was a King that broke the societal contract. The Pharisees, the Jewish authorities at the time, could not bear this because Jesus’s existence threatened to dismantle everything they had worked for: their security from the Roman empire who controlled the area at the time, their prestige with their own people and their income from both.
So the Royal King was schemed against and sentenced to death for coming off the throne.
Last Friday, I asked why would Jesus, the King who had been royally endowed with the awe, authority and power of the Creator of the Universe, be willing to allow Himself to be bound to the cross by the people he had come off the throne for? What could have possibly kept God of the cosmos nailed to a rough hewn wooden tree?
The answer can be found in Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. In the night before his trial and crucifixion, in the gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus alone fervently praying to God for strength and courage in the midst of real anxiety and sorrow and sadness. Not once or twice but three times He asks God if “this cup,” meaning his death, needs to come to pass.
This is what kept Jesus nailed on the cross: His willful determination to follow what God willed.
Just like a normal person, Jesus didn’t want to die! Unlike a normal person, He understood that if this was God’s will, He would see it through completely to the end. From His second prayer, we see that Jesus wanted to follow God’s will more than He wanted the cup to be taken from his lips, no matter what was in the cup. His own feelings and desires were secondary to God’s will.
This is what kept Jesus nailed on the cross: His willful determination to follow what God willed. Just like a king, He had the authority to come off the cross. Just like Superman, He had the power to break free from the nails that we foolishly thought would contain him to the cross. No one would have faulted Him for doing so since He had committed no crime or sin.
But He didn’t budge, despite having a mock crown of thorns thrust upon His brow and nails hammered through his wrists and ankles. He did not move an inch off the cross despite being hurled with insults and doused with indignity. The sheer force and power of the will of God was what kept our Lord and King nailed on the tree of Calvary, hanging until he bled and died.
Let’s again say you’re a king. As a king, you have a responsibility to the kingdom and to the people in it. Your duty is to protect the realm and the people who live in it while administering justice and upholding the law. When we gaze upon the cross, we begin to understand that this is precisely what Jesus did. His love for His kingdom and the people in it and His love for justice and law is the reason that He decided to forgo His royal robes and put on the earthly clothes of humanity and condescend from the heavenly throne room and live where the people lived and ate and worked.
By breaking the societal contract, the Royal King, through His condescending love, ended up giving everyone who accepted His love the keys to the kingdom, flinging open the doors to the throne room. No one would have to be a common peasant anymore, but rather, all now have a claim to royalty through His spilled blood (see 1 Peter 2:9). That’s not all either: We all also now have full, unfettered access to the King as He sits in the throne room.
And here is where we are today: the King is waiting for you to enter the throne room. Will you?
1 Petercondescending lovecrosscrucifixionGodJesuskingMatthewSupermansurrender
Condescending Love, Pt. 2
January 19, 2015
Devotionals
Comments Off on Condescending Love, Pt. 2
Matt
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” … Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” … So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
-Matthew 26:39, 42, 44
Imagine you’re a king. Whether in a feudal or caste system, you are the most powerful person in your kingdom, the realm which you control. Your word can literally be law because you are on the top of the class system with all the authority that the position engenders. You run the show, so to speak.
Because of your position as king, there are expectations of decorum, propriety, and protocol, both on your part and everybody else’s. A king would not associate himself with commoners and peasants, much less be caught in public mingling with them or treating them as equals. A commoner would normally not be able to access the throne room. A real king always looks the part and is always above those that he rules over. This is the price of the throne.
So, you’re a king, well-versed in how to be a king and run a kingdom properly. Let’s say one day you decide to forgo your usual royal clothes and go with something that the commoners wear: dirty rags (because they don’t have the money to buy fancy silks or pay for tailors to hand-make their clothes, nor do they have staff to wash their clothes). On top of that, you also decide that you’ve had enough company with princes and lords and vassals. You’ll go outside of the castle and start hanging out with all the farmers, peasants, and the common people.
What do you think would happen? I would wager there would be outrage from the nobility and astonishment from the commoners because you just violated the commonly understood and accepted societal contract of the people by crossing class lines. You probably cost yourself the crown in the process by outraging those who think the king should not debase the position and title of king by associating with the common folk and not dressing the part.
This is why Jesus of Nazareth was rejected and ultimately crucified. He claimed he was God dressed as a lowly human; He was a King in filthy rags. Not only that, but he was also a holy King who dared to wander from his throne and mingle with the common people: adulterers, prostitutes, tax collectors, fishermen and the ill and maligned people who populated the fringes of society. He was a King that broke the societal contract. The Pharisees, the Jewish authorities at the time, could not bear this because Jesus’s existence threatened to dismantle everything they had worked for: their security from the Roman empire who controlled the area at the time, their prestige with their own people and their income from both.
So the Royal King was schemed against and sentenced to death for coming off the throne.
Last Friday, I asked why would Jesus, the King who had been royally endowed with the awe, authority and power of the Creator of the Universe, be willing to allow Himself to be bound to the cross by the people he had come off the throne for? What could have possibly kept God of the cosmos nailed to a rough hewn wooden tree?
The answer can be found in Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. In the night before his trial and crucifixion, in the gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus alone fervently praying to God for strength and courage in the midst of real anxiety and sorrow and sadness. Not once or twice but three times He asks God if “this cup,” meaning his death, needs to come to pass.
Just like a normal person, Jesus didn’t want to die! Unlike a normal person, He understood that if this was God’s will, He would see it through completely to the end. From His second prayer, we see that Jesus wanted to follow God’s will more than He wanted the cup to be taken from his lips, no matter what was in the cup. His own feelings and desires were secondary to God’s will.
This is what kept Jesus nailed on the cross: His willful determination to follow what God willed. Just like a king, He had the authority to come off the cross. Just like Superman, He had the power to break free from the nails that we foolishly thought would contain him to the cross. No one would have faulted Him for doing so since He had committed no crime or sin.
But He didn’t budge, despite having a mock crown of thorns thrust upon His brow and nails hammered through his wrists and ankles. He did not move an inch off the cross despite being hurled with insults and doused with indignity. The sheer force and power of the will of God was what kept our Lord and King nailed on the tree of Calvary, hanging until he bled and died.
Let’s again say you’re a king. As a king, you have a responsibility to the kingdom and to the people in it. Your duty is to protect the realm and the people who live in it while administering justice and upholding the law. When we gaze upon the cross, we begin to understand that this is precisely what Jesus did. His love for His kingdom and the people in it and His love for justice and law is the reason that He decided to forgo His royal robes and put on the earthly clothes of humanity and condescend from the heavenly throne room and live where the people lived and ate and worked.
By breaking the societal contract, the Royal King, through His condescending love, ended up giving everyone who accepted His love the keys to the kingdom, flinging open the doors to the throne room. No one would have to be a common peasant anymore, but rather, all now have a claim to royalty through His spilled blood (see 1 Peter 2:9). That’s not all either: We all also now have full, unfettered access to the King as He sits in the throne room.
And here is where we are today: the King is waiting for you to enter the throne room. Will you?
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1 Petercondescending lovecrosscrucifixionGodJesuskingMatthewSupermansurrender