If God were to come to earth as a man what would you expect? Would you expect him to rise to power and rule the world? Honestly, most of us, if we were to really think about it, would probably admit that Jesus did the exact opposite of what we would expect him to do.
Jesus didn’t go about his role as Messiah in the way the Jews expected him to. They were looking for a political power who would restore Israel to glory. They were looking for a great warrior who would rule with the power that would make men tremble when they heard Israel was coming after them.
Jesus, the God-man, “had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). He came in the most humble of ways, sleeping in a feeding trough as a baby, growing up as the son of a carpenter. Jesus left glory to embrace human identity. Not only that, but he submitted to humiliation – a humiliation that was necessary for the redemption of all. [shareable]Jesus left glory to embrace human identity.[/shareable]
Jesus, the crowd favorite on Palm Sunday, was betrayed, ridiculed, mocked, rejected, beaten, and crucified on the following Friday. Why? Because he came with a mission to bring about forgiveness to you. In fact, he came to die. A king was killed because that was his mission. But this wasn’t just any king. Jesus was and is the King of kings.
No political leader, religious leader, community organizer, restaurant manager, entrepreneur, or actor is greater than he. Jesus Christ came to love and he did so with a cross. Yes, the most unexpected situation came about when we found the King of kings on a cross of thieves.
The cross, a place for thieves and murderers to hang. The King’s cross, though, was special. God used what was meant to punish the criminal, the cross, to be the tool he used to punish the innocent and redeem the guilty. That is correct! Your guilt was punished on the cross, yet the one who paid the price was innocent. You get redemption and Jesus got punishment. You are guilty and he was perfect.
This, my friend, is the power of God. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
God flipped the script on the cross. For someone in the 1st Century, the cross was death. For all who follow after Jesus, the cross is life.[shareable]For someone in the 1st Century, the cross was death. For all who follow after Jesus, the cross is life.[/shareable]
When you are confronted with the truth of the cross of Christ, a response is required. So, what’s yours? You’ve got two options:
1) Surrender in faith
2) Go your own way
One path leads to life and one leads to death. One path involves the cross and one does not.
What’s your response to seeing the King of kings on a cross of thieves?
