Pastor Dan Eddy
Matthew 27:27-31
What’s that on Your head?
3-28-10
I would
like to invite the children to come forward for the Children’s Lesson.
(Put on
What do I
have on my head? (A hat)
A hat…yes. What
someone wears on their head says a lot about them?
You can wear
a hat to show you support for a
sports team. I like the Green Bay Packers.
(Put on commercial hat) Sometimes people wear hats to
advertise or promote a product or a
place they like
(Put on hard hat) When you work in construction, you
wear a hard hat…to protect your head
from things that fall.
Hats can
tell us what someone does for a living
or when someone has authority over another. If I wear a fireman’s hat or a
police officer’s cap…I might be expected to put out a fire or arrest a criminal.
But
sometimes we wear hats that have nothing to
do with who we are...we pretend…
(Put on cowboy hat) I can wear this cowboy hat to a
costume party, but I’m not really a cowboy. I can’t wrestle cows or drive
cattle.
And sometimes
we can wear hats that make us look silly. (Put
on Lois’ purple hat) And people laugh at us.
And you’re
laughing because I’m wearing a woman’s hat. This is actually Lois Brandes’ hat…she’s
our organist, today. It’s looks silly because I‘m not a woman and lavender is
not my color.
Anyone know
what a king wears on his head? (A crown)
(Show a king’s crown) A crown…yes. Usually the crown is
made up gold (like my cross) and expensive jewels like diamonds and
emeralds….like I have here with the ring finger on my hand.
Kings wore
crowns so you knew them coming down the street. It made them look distinguished
from other people. You know they had authority and power.
Does anyone
remember what Jesus wore on His head?
He wore a
king’s crown, too…but it was not made of gold or jewels…it was made of thorns. It
looked something like this, except probably with more and bigger thorns. (Show crown of thorns)
If you
touch thorns, they can hurt you. They
can give you pain. They can even cause blood to come out.
Well some
people were mean, made a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus’ head…how do you
think that felt? (Lightly put crown of thorns on head) (Painful) It hurts just
putting this scaled-down crown on.
Painful
yes. Why would people put a painful crown of thorns on His head?
They wanted
to make fun of him, because they didn’t believe He was a king, and they wanted
to hurt Him.
How do you
feel when someone makes fun of you and hurts you physically or hurts you with
words? (Very sad and hurt)
Jesus felt hurt and sad, too. But He
was the only one who could be the King, willing to wear a crown of thorns.
Why would
Jesus allow people to put a painful crown on his head and allow people to make
fun of Him?
Because He
loves you. Jesus was willing to suffer
lots of pain, and be killed, so that all your sins could be forgiven by God.
Jesus
Christ is the only King who can save us so that when we die, we can be with Him
in heaven. Jesus went through much pain and agony so He could give you lots of
happiness and joy. That’s how much He loves you.
Okay you’ve
been good…God bless you. You may go back to your seats as I will finish today’s
message.
Matthew 27:27-30 ESV Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's
headquarters, and they
gathered the whole battalion before
him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together
a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand.
And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And
they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they
had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him
and led him away to crucify him.
Wow…how
things changed so much in just 5 days. Jesus went from the Palm Sunday parade
we re-enacted here this morning with people waving palm branches and saying “hosanna” which means “save us now.” “Jesus you are our
king…hail.” to the absolutely humiliating scenario I just read.
Six hundred
to 1000 Roman soldiers watched or participated in stripping Jesus naked, putting
a deep red robe on him, reserved for kings. They drove the crown of thorns into
head (hold up crown of thorns)…causing
much pain and bleeding.
Pilate’s
soldiers, with his approval, gave Jesus a king’s scepter…then beat Jesus over
the head with it, increasing His pain. Utter violence coupled with spitting and
the continuous mocking…hurting Him physically and emotionally like few things
in life could.
They mocked
Him because they didn’t believe He was a real king. In their view He had no
army, no empire. He was a Jew from an insignificant small town. A country hick.
They didn’t
think they were beating up the real King, the Son of God. They didn’t believe
He came from heaven. They would laugh if you told him that Jesus could call on
legion of angels to wipe the mat with these cocky Roman soldiers.
When we
hear how they treated Jesus…it’s should get us angry, emote sympathy from us,
and make us feel shame for Jesus.
But the question is…What does Jesus
wearing the crown of thorns tell us about us, about you?
There are
times when we believe Christ is our King….just like the supportive crowds did on
Palm Sunday. We wave our palms in the air like we did this morning. We exhibit
true faith in Him. We speak it, show it, and share it with others.
Then there
are other times when we say Jesus is our King, wave our palms in the air, but we
really don’t believe it. In fact it’s done as we mock, hurt and spit on Jesus
with our sins.
He’s not
the real, all-powerful king. It’s just some metaphorical title. Al Queda, the US
military, the President of the United States, Congress or other things or
people in life seem a lot more powerful.
Our sins
were the reason He faced this humiliation in the first place. It’s as though we
are there doing what the Roman soldiers did.
What does Jesus wearing the crown of
thorns tell you about Him?
Nobody else
could wear Jesus’ crown, because no other person, no other ruler, no other king
could die for all of humankind. No other king could wear our sins, and bear our
afflictions. Only Jesus had the authority to wear that crown.
Christ’
real power comes in His weakest moment from the cross, and comes in the unlikely
moments of our lives. The times we are humbled and want to be forgiven. The
times we are rejected and want to be loved.
Because
Jesus wore the thorny painful crown and suffered for us…to protect us…we have
been hosannaed “saved now”…hosannaed at our baptism, and hosannaed in His
supper. As a result of God’s Word and Sacrament, giving us faith in Him, the
King with the crowns of thorns reigns in your heart. And as long as He’s there,
no one can take away His power from you.
The pain He
endured throughout His earthly life and on the cross does not compare to even
our worst pain. He suffered more than physically; He suffered more than as a
man; He suffered as the Son of God rejected by His own Father.
We know
what it’s like to suffer as human but we have no idea what it means to suffer
as God, or even to suffer as both God and man. The King really did wear the
deep red as the blood was poured from His body. Did you note how they took His comfortable
kingly clothes off but kept the painful crown on Him?
The
suffering, sacrificing king. On the cross, he looked like David going up against
Goliath. Who could ever think that at that day, at that time, in that place,
something so powerful, so underrated, so truly kingly was being done for all of
humankind?
If I could
have the ushers come forward. As you probably guessed our cross piece for this
week is a crown you can put on your cross as you re-live the passion of Christ
this coming Holy Week.
Now as you
are receiving your Cross Piece…I occasionally get the question of why do we
have to re-live the excruciating events of Holy Week? It’s too painful to hear and
imagine again what Christ went through during this Passion Week.
And that’s
because we live in a society today that avoids pain…that sees no benefit in
sorrow. Our society endorses an increasing ethic of whatever gives me pleasure
is good and whatever gives me pain or grief is bad. We have an increasing
number of children who grow up being shielded from attending funerals because
they are sad, or visiting people in nursing care facilities or hospitals
because they smell or are depressing.
At times,
we avoid pain at all costs, but by avoiding hearing about Jesus painful
passion, we can rob ourselves of the joy of Easter.
So what is
the benefit of reenacting what Jesus went through? Perhaps I can answer that
question sharing an insight from Tony Dungy’s book Quiet Strength. (Hold up
book) Dungy was the first African-American coach to win the Super Bowl.
This was done back in February, 2007. He had led the Indianapolis Colts and the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers to many playoff games, over 6 times, but never made it to
the final showdown. His book recounts his years as a football player and coach
as a husband and dad, weaving in his personal testimony for Christ. I highly
recommend you read this book as our Men’s Bible Study Book Club just did.
Anyway in
one sections of the book, Dungy talks about he and his wife adopting a child
named
Dungy said,
“Through
Unrepentant
sin can shield us from Christ’s pain. Avoiding confronting sin puts our lives
in a dangerous place when it comes to the way we live our lives today. His
suffering helps us see the magnitude of His sacrifice and help us learn from
the things in life that give us pain. That’s why all four Gospel writers share
many painful details of Christ’s suffering and death. Through the Holy Spirit,
we better appreciate His love from the Cross and that protects as we endure the
hardships of our life today. Jesus teaches us how to better handle, not avoid,
the pains of life.
Put this
crown on your cross this week as you re-live the passion of Christ. He wore the
crown of pain, because He is your King. His crown protects you with forgiveness
and life for eternity. As a result, show your support of Him by wearing His
crown of righteousness, showing His love for others. Let people see you wear the cross of
forgiveness as you change your mind away from sin.
Don’t be
discouraged by people who mock you and make fun of you because of your faith. Encourage
them and others to worship here this week so they can know His pain, so theirs
can be relieved. Wave the palms…hail the King…and whatever hats you wear in life…live
for the glory of the King of kings. Amen.