Famous Last Words
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This Sunday, the end becomes our beginning. Before we prepare for the road to the stable, we revisit the place of the Skull. Before we sing “Christ our Savior is born, we remember the crown of thorns.
Perhaps it feels odd on this Christ the King Sunday, to speak of crucifixion instead of resurrection, that our final words of the Christian year focus on the last words of Jesus.
Often times when we think of last words, we think of someone on their deathbed, surrounded by loved ones and flowers, sharing memories and stories. It is a time for goodbyes, prayers, and final moments.
But the deathbed of Jesus is more like death row, and the company he keeps isn’t the devoted disciples, but a band of scoffers who use his final moments to make fun of him.
This is not the deathbed of a royalty. We have seen what this looks like recently with the passing of Queen Elizabeth. Everyone rushing to her bedside. A funeral procession that took days. A whole country and world in mourning. It was a royal event.
But here Jesus is outside Jerusalem hanging between two criminals. No fanfare. No royal procession. No throne. No chorus of praise. Just Jesus on a cross with a sign that read “King of the Jews.” It would have been custom to have signs posted by each criminal listing their charges. We don’t know what the signs may have said on those on either side of Jesus, only that they were criminals.
These signs and this death were used to deter others. Criminals on a cross hung outside of town as a sign that this was what would happen to you if you dared to challenge the Romans. The bodies on the cross served as a sign that there is no king but Caesar.
But above Jesus’ head there was a sign that said “This is the King of the Jews.” It was his charge of insurrection. It was the cry of ridicule.
Jesus here is mocked on three levels. He is mocked first by the religious leaders who had conspired to kill him, then by the soldiers overseeing the execution,and lastly by one of the criminals hanging beside him. Meanwhile, the crowd doesn’t say a word, just observing. Their silence speaks for itself. The word for mocking here actually means to turn your nose up at someone, to sneer, or to ridicule (BDAG). The scoffers are seeking to shame Jesus.
The religious leaders say “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God” (23:35). The soldiers offer him sour wine, a mockery of kingship, and say “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” Then one of the criminals hanging beside him joined in saying “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.”
If the words of the band of scoffers sound familiar to you, it’s because they are. They echo the words of Satan spoken to Jesus in the wilderness.
"If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread”(Luke4:3). “If you will worship me, it will all be yours” (Luke 4:7). “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here” (Luke 4:9). The temptation then is the temptation now: If you are the Son of God, prove it. Save yourself.
The scoffers keep at it from all sides. If you are a God who can’t even save yourself, then how on earth are you the Messiah? You are no match for Caesar hanging on this cross. Come down from there if you’re so powerful.
To the Roman executioners, it was another day, another crucifixion. To the crowd, they were puzzled in seeing the one they hoped for be killed. This couldn’t be the new king. To the religious leaders, they were restoring honor to God by getting rid of this imposter who kept breaking the law and claiming to be God.
And Jesus. He was crucified and hung between two criminals. Bets were taken about who would get his clothes. He was stripped naked and shamed.
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” These are some of Jesus’ last words, and he uses them to forgive his enemies, to pray for his persecutors.
But what about the last words of the criminals on either side of Jesus? One of them derides him, joining the scoffers in their request of him to save himself. To the band of scoffers, kingship is built upon the rule of others through violent conquest and the game of politics. To the band of scoffers, the word of the king is law, but Jesus didn’t seem to be performing any miracles now. To the band of scoffers, you are only a savior if you save yourself first. But Jesus just hung there.
Surrounded by mocking, when the voice of the disciples are nowhere to be found, the voice of the other criminal rises out of the text saying, “Do you not fear God?” He says “You are under the same sentence as he is. The difference is that we have been judged according to our sins but he is righteous, for he has done nothing wrong.”
Here the criminal acknowledges his own sin while confessing the innocence of Jesus. He then says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He knows the name of Yeshua, the name that means the Lord saves. Here on his own deathbed, the criminal makes a statement of faith. While others mock the salvation of Jesus, the criminal proclaims it. While others ask Jesus to save himself, the criminal says “remember me.” While the scoffers wonder what kind of king Jesus could possibly be, the criminal already confesses him as such, convinced that not even death will prevent his kingdom come.
And with this, Jesus says “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Thieves in paradise. Today. The time of salvation is now. And the thief will not be alone. He will be in the presence of Christ the King. Where will they be? In paradise. The word for paradise here is a Persian word that is used to describe a beautiful garden or a king’s park. The criminal asks Jesus to remember him, and Jesus offers him paradise.
I know we want to keep reading. I know there is more to the story, but for today, this is the image Luke gives us of Christ the King. Not a regal portrait of Jesus with a golden crown and scepter. Not the image of the resurrected Lord dressed in white, or the Jesus who is feeding the five thousand or transfigured on top of a mountain. If Jesus was running for President, the gospel of Luke today gives us the crucified Jesus as our sign. We look at his body that has been broken for us and his blood that has been shed and we remember, and we confess him as King.
Why is it important that this crucified Lord be declared a king? In 1925 the Feast of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI to remind Christians that their allegiance was ultimately to Christ and not to any earthly rule. To remind Christians that we are to be citizens of heaven instead of citizens of the sword. Nadia Bolz-Weber says that what this world needs is “not a king with the greatest arsenal, not a czar who knows how to keep everyone under control and doing his bidding. We don’g need a Kaiser who wins the violence and retribution cycle, or a CEO who can protect our wealth. We need a Lord who saves us by refusing to play that game at all.”
A king who rules with mercy and grace. A king who gives everything that we might know him. A king who lived life on the margins.. A king who lifted up the lowly and sent the rich away empty. A king whose deathbed consisted of humiliation and scars. A king who spent his final words forgiving murderers and blessing thieves. Nadia says “He’s not a defender, a protector, a soldier, a cop, a secretary of state. He’s a savior. A savior who knows that more violence will never save us from our addiction to violence....We need a king in a cradle…we need to fall on our knees” and confess him as Lord.
And when we confess, when we spend our words confessing Christ as king of our lives, something starts to happen. Maybe you don’t hear it. Maybe it isn’t something you can see. But you can feel it. Where love takes hold, idols fall.
Makeshift kings. Media kings. Kings of land and country, of vanity and narcissism. Kings of never enough and overwork. Kings of injustice and sweeping under the rug. Kings of secrets and painful memories. They all crash before him as we hear “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” These are the words of Christ the King.
So what will your words be? Will your words and life be a mockery of God, or will you turn to him and say, “remember me, Jesus, when you come into your kingdom.”
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.