"The Lord Our Righteous Savior"

"I will raise up for David a Righteous Branch; a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. This is the name by which he will be called: the Lord our Righteous Savior."

            The Christian year ends with Christ the King Sunday. Before we begin another Advent season, a time of preparation and longing, of both repentance and joyful anticipation, we are called to consider that Christ is the King.

            The word "King" is not well liked these days. It can be a negative word for many. It can feel undemocratic. It can feel patriarchal or male-dominant. It is a word we keep at a distance or sometimes avoid entirely. But the scripture, and the church, tells us that there is something here if we will pursue it.

            In the Old Testament, the king was often described as a shepherd. A shepherd protects a flock, leads them and provides for them with water and pasture. Without a shepherd, the pasture is ruined and the sheep stray and die. So the Israelites thought of their king in those terms. In the king they found security, they were led by decisions based on righteousness, and they found provision in the sound economic judgments of the king. But, as Jeremiah says, some kings destroy and scatter the sheep. Kings tend to be arrogant, self-serving, given to amassing personal wealth, overly harsh in forcing compliance to their policies. Some kings are given to conquest rather than defense.

            The ideal king in the Bible is one who remembers the Covenant that God made with the people. The king remembers that it is God who is truly King, who is the shepherd who cares for Israel. So the ideal king was righteous, was just in his dealings with people, and truly sought to maintain an obedient, heart relationship with God.

            But that is not what happened. The kings of Israel strayed, followed their own ways, and always seemed to be in competition with God. As a result, in the time of Jeremiah, Judah came to an end with a string of bad kings.  J.A. Thompson writes, "the representatives of the Davidic dynasty during Jeremiah's day failed to demonstrate the true qualities of kingship." Jeremiah asks, in chapter 22, "Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?" The shepherds of Israel were destroying and scattering their flock rather than caring for it and leading it in right ways. The Lord then says he will punish them for the evil they have done, and then he will raise up a King who will "reign wisely and do what is just and right."

            In verse 5 there is a shift in image. The true King is not pictured as a shepherd, but as a branch, or a shoot, growing out of the stump of a tree that has been cut down, but is not dead. The dynasty of David, handing down kingship from father to son, is now over. The tree is cut down. But a new shoot will grow. Isaiah 11:1: "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a branch will bear fruit." This Messiah or true King will have a new name: "The LORD our Righteous Savior."

 King Zedekiah carried a name that meant "My righteousness is the Lord." But he failed to live up to his name. So the new king will be called by the name, "The LORD our Righteous Savior." The word "Righteous" here means "What is Right" or "the justice done for someone" or "the vindication God will bring." This is a King who rules out of a deep commitment to the Covenant with God. His relationship with God will always be first in his heart. Then the Israelites would return from exile, just like Israel came up out of Egypt into the Promised Land.

            Jesus is the true and righteous King. We discover his kingship at a very unlikely place, on the cross. For it was on the cross that a sign was placed above the head of Jesus, "This is the King of the Jews." It was placed there in mockery, but it spoke the truth for all to see. Even as the various leaders taunted Jesus and told him to save himself and come down off the cross, Jesus remained there with the title. On the cross he is the King. So the cross for us is the sign not just of his death, but of his resurrection and exaltation. The crucified one is the King.

            This is clearly stated in Revelation ch. 5,

"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center before the throne . . .

The elders and creatures fall down before the Lamb and sing,

'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God members of every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.'

Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

            So we see Jesus the King when he is on the cross. In John chapter 6, after Jesus feeds a great multitude through the multiplication of a few loaves of bread and a few fish, the people decide to make him king by force, but Jesus flees to a mountain by himself. We do not see Jesus as King at a miracle or in a great adoring crowd, but on the cross surrounded by thieves.

            It is on the cross where Jesus is proclaimed as King, and he accepts the title, he does not save himself. His crown is made of thorns. We see that he is King in the way he prays. He prays that the Father would forgive those who do not know what they are doing. He is the one who knows what they are doing. He is the one who understands what the scripture says. The rulers and leaders are all caught in their ignorance. David Tiede says, "They have fulfilled the scriptures by condemning Jesus because they did not understand them." Jesus is the King who is wise, who understands what is happening when everyone else is ignorant, who has authority to ask the Father to forgive them.

            We see in Pilate's question to Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?", that Jesus is the true King. The term "King of the Jews" was first used by Herod the Great. The Romans gave him that name along with authority to rule the province of Judea. But the Romans would never give that title to any of the sons of Herod, though they tried to receive it. The Romans did not trust any of them, and finally replaced Herod Archelaus with one of their own, with Pilate. Now Pilate asks Jesus if he is King of the Jews. That is the stated charge against him that leads to his execution. It is also the Christian confession about him.

            Finally we see that Jesus is the King by listening to his conversation with the thieves on the cross. The King exercises his reign of justice and mercy, pronouncing pardon and inviting the one into his reign, "Today you will be with me in Paradise."

            The thief, probably a rebel, for he must have done more than robbery to incur such an awful punishment from the Romans, sees that Jesus is innocent, knows who he is, and says to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." This rebel knows that Jesus is the king, about to begin his reign. Even hanging on a cross, this guilty man recognizes that Jesus is a king, and the cross is where his reign begins.

            David Tiede writes, "A salvation in heaven is here announced on earth." "Jesus already possesses authority to open heaven's gate to those who see and trust God's reign at work in him. Those who have faith in the faithful Jesus receive the saving benefits of his reign, even as he dies."

            The thief does not come to Jesus as judge, asking to be forgiven. He comes as a citizen of a kingdom, asking to be remembered. He sees that Jesus is King, and he desires to be under his rule and reign. He has no doubt struggled a great deal in his life, looking for a king, looking for a cause. His search brought him to a painful death, the severest punishment Rome could give. He found the King and desired to be a loyal subject in the Kingdom. He found the King and entered Paradise with him. He found the King and entered into his reign that has no ending.

            You are invited to become a subject in the reign of Jesus. You are invited to know the true King, the one who is the shepherd, whose rule is based on righteousness and justice, the one who has authority to open heaven's gate to those who trust in him.

            Amen.