The Conquering King Arrived on the scene as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday of this Holy Week. The Conquering King Dined with his disciples on Thursday of Holy Week, the night he was betrayed, raising the bar on the Passover Meal by adding his very body and blood to the menu of Holy Communion for the forgiveness of sins. On the Holy Day we call Good Friday, the ultimate sacrifice was made to pay the necessary price for our sin as our Conquering King Dies.
It’s not like the movies. On the rare occasions when the hero dies, at least he does so in some glorious fashion to ensure a victory for the good guys. But as you read the verses of John’s accounting of our Savior’s death, there was nothing glorious about it, at least humanly speaking. There was nothing glorious about being crucified!
Note how many times the word “crucified” is mentioned by John in these verses. Lest anyone miss it, make no mistake, this was a death sentence being carried out. The cross served no other purpose. Crucifixion was no mere slap on the wrist to discourage future bad behavior. This was a death sentence. The Conquering King came to die and to leave no doubts whatsoever about his death by crucifixion, which was not only one of the most excruciating ways ever devised for a person to die but also one of the most humiliating and shameful.
Nevertheless, as God’s divine wrath was being carried out against sin through this death, God’s divine hand was also weaving his will throughout the events of that day.
God used the same Pilate who had pandered to the crowds allowing Jesus’ crucifixion to finally dig in his heels and insist that the divine description of Jesus as King remain affixed to the cross. How little did he know how accurate it was!
God used the selfish soldiers to fulfill the Scriptures by caring more about Christ’s clothes than about his crucifixion. Then, after selflessly making sure to provide for his mother’s life while his own life slipped away, Jesus made sure every prophecy was carried out in full with his expression of thirst.
Finally, John records the gut-wrenching final details for us: “Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (v.30).
Did you catch the subtle nuance that details the difference between victory and defeat for our Conquering King? John rightly described that Jesus’ life was not taken from him; rather, he gave up his spirit.
Yes, Jesus died, but not because the soldiers or even Satan himself had succeeded in killing him! Jesus’ death came because he gave up his life. Our Conquering King died willingly only when he was ready to die and only because he was willing to die.
But let us also consider why Jesus was willing to die. On the one hand, it is the simplest explanation – so simple in fact that even a child can answer the question, “Why did Jesus have to die?” “To pay for our sins,” they would answer.
And they would be right! It is unmistakably clear in Scripture that Jesus has to die to pay for our sins. Time and again, dating all the way back to the very first sin, through scores of slaughtered sheep, spelled out in the sacred psalms, and spoken by the Savior himself, sin required payment. Your sin. My sin. Every sin. And on Good Friday, Jesus died to make that payment. So yes, he died for our sins.
But do we fully grasp the magnitude of that payment for our sins? Do we realize not just the eternal implications of that payment, but also the current implications, the “today” implications? Yes, Jesus died for our sins and this changes everything. But this changes everything right here and now in our lives.
Jesus dying to pay for my sins is just the beginning. Good Friday was just one day, but what happened on it changed my every day. Every. Single. Day. Here are the two things that have changed for us every day: 1) He died for us so that we live for him and 2) He died for us so that we live with him.
He died for us so that we live for him. This is one way the Bible describes the impact of Jesus’ death on Good Friday: “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). I hope I didn’t ruin things there with a spoiler alert of what we celebrate three days after Good Friday on Easter Sunday, but yes, Jesus didn’t stay dead. That means we don’t need to stay dead either, living empty lives void of any meaning or purpose! We are spiritually alive, and that means we live not for self, but for the Savior.
Are you still living your life as if the pursuit of self-interest is really what it’s all about? Do you still imagine that living for self is the most fulfilling path you’ll ever find in this life? Do relationships and people merely serve to advance your own agenda so that if others do not provide any advantage to you, you have no interest in them? Is your career nothing more than the best thing going for you to make a name and reputation for yourself to win the attention of others? Do you get impatient when others try to infringe on the 24 hours of each day as if they belong to you alone and no one else? Are you still believing the lie that if you just remain dialed in enough on this path of self-interest, eventually there is a point up ahead where you’ll finally get what you were after?
Then, friend, you’re missing out on why the Conquering King died for you. He died to free you from that meaningless pursuit of self-interest so that you could serve a much deeper purpose: his. To live for him is to see how he has turned your life inside out. To live for him is to see relationships and people as opportunities to make a difference that matters, as people to love and help and serve and impact in ways that both benefit them and light a fire in you when you see the difference it makes. Your career is just another opportunity to do that very thing full-time, as you give your best for your boss and your company and your co-workers, not because of what’s in it for you, but because it’s just another way to live for Him. The hours of each day represent the time God has gifted to you to meet the needs of others for the greater good of your family, your community, and the world by not simply consuming like so many in the world do, but by contributing. By making a difference. By living for the One who died for you.
You are free to live for him because your eternity is backed by his promise that you will also live with him. See another way the Bible describes the impact of Jesus’ death on Good Friday: “He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him” (1 Thes. 5:10). Which part of that strikes you more? The promise is all-encompassing, isn’t it? Yet we tend to see its application as only having bearing once we fall asleep – once we die as believers. But there’s more to it than that! Right now, because he died, we live with him. Right now he is with us. Right now we live with him – not just when we die.
Do you know what it’s like to be in his presence? I mean really? When you think of being in God’s presence, is church the only thing that comes to mind? Is a building the only place, the only space that you imagine being in God’s presence? Paul didn’t write that Jesus died for us so that when we are “in church” we may live together with him, but no matter where we live and breathe. Yes, surely God is present in church, where Word and Sacrament are dispensed, but not only there. Far from it!
We live together with him as our hearts beat in rhythm with his steady promises of peace in him. We live together with him as his Spirit prompts our prayers of thanks and gratitude whenever we pause and stand in awe of how good he is to us. We live together with him when we rise up every morning and yearn for his presence as we start off the day listening to him speak to us through his Word. We live together with him when we connect the dots throughout the day between his powerful Word and the myriad applications of it in our own lives and the lives of others. We live together with him, not surprisingly, when we also live for him.
So yes, your Conquering King died for you, but do not miss the implications of his death on your life. He died so that you might really live. He died so that forgiven means no longer forsaken. Forgiven means the freedom to live. Today. Tomorrow. For the rest of this month, this year, your life, to the full. Your Conquering King Died so that you can live for him and with him now and forever.