Jesus Christ our Lord? This pitiful figure standing before Pilate? The man buffeted between the Jewish authorities and the Roman governor? This accused who stands before his judge making excuses as to why his followers aren’t fighting for him? What kind of Lord is this Jesus Christ?
We want to know!
Martin Luther, the monk, needed to know as well. In the writing of his great treatise “On the Bondage of the Will,” Martin Luther identified the three great estates that God established in creation. First God established the family; community flows out of family, commerce flows out of community, and the notion of an economy derives from the establishment of the family. Along with the family God also established the church; that is, the people gathered and formed by His Word. Wherever God’s Word is spoken, there you will find the church gathered by the declaration of God’s promises and ordered by the commands of God’s Laws. With these two God also established the estate of government. Government came after the Fall, after the expulsion from the Garden. Government is a concession to sin, an acknowledgement that there is another word at work now among the people. Government was established to impose order upon those who would not be ordered by the preaching of God’s Word as Law and Gospel.
Now, of these three—family, church, and government—family is unique. Family is the only “productive” estate. It produces children, it provides labor, labor produces goods, and goods provide for the family so that it can produce more children. In this way generations rise and fall before the Lord and enjoy his blessing: “be fruitful, fill the earth and subdue it.” Both church and government are servants to the family in this regard. These companion estates to the family surround the family with proclamation and protection so that the family can enjoy a secure present (Government’s protection) and enjoy a secured future (the Church’s proclamation).
But there’s a problem: the reality of sin. Because of sin’s brokenness all three of these estates have become distorted: family members no longer look beyond themselves to their necessary purpose as the productive estate and no longer listen to the voices coming from church and government but are curved in upon themselves, looking and listening inward to selfish desires, goals, and pursuits; government no longer serves the family but in sin has become an entity unto itself—now called The State, it turns upon the family and demands that the family be its servant; and for the church much the same thing—now called Religion, it, too, turns upon the family and demands that the family be its servant.
Both the State and Religion have no productive capacity of their own. They must rely on the family’s generosity. But neither State nor Religion have trust enough that the family will provide so they turn to coercion. The State threatens the use of coercion against our physical life and tangible goods. Religion threatens with coercion against our eternal life and spiritual goods. Neither is satisfied with its own coercion though, each wants to obtain the other’s power as well. The State wants to rule with both physical coercion and spiritual coercion. Religion wants to rule with both spiritual coercion and physical coercion. Both desire to say: “Obey me, or else. It’s God’s will!.”
What kind of Lord is this Jesus Christ? He is the kind of Lord who stands accused by—and captive to—both the State and Religion with all their coercive powers. Into that accusation what does he do? Does he oppose their power? No! He preaches a sermon:
"You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
So what does Pilate say in response to this preaching of the Word of God? He says, “What is truth?” Oh… could we have expected any different response from one in power? One who was used to manipulating the truth?
I heard that the Congressional Office of Management and Budget was looking to hire a new accountant. Ole applied. He was standing in a line of interviewees when the man in charge came down the line. He held in his hand a paper and asked each applicant to read it and give him an answer. After each applicant did so, the man shook his head and dismissed them. He got to Ole. Ole took the paper and found on it a column of figures and heard the man asking him what the total was. Remembering how the others had been dismissed, Ole looked at the man in charge and answered, “What would you like the total to be?” He got the job.
So it is with Religion as well: those in charge take authoritative texts, turn to the theologians for interpretation, and ask: “What does this mean?” The theologians, knowing exactly where the power lies, answer them, “What do you want it to mean?”
In the kingdoms of this world, in the kingdoms established by the broken estates of the State and Religion, power is nothing less than the ability to define truth; and then wield that truth in service of their coercive power. And right in the middle of the world’s centers of power stands our Lord Jesus Christ accused and captive by both and in answer he gives them THE TRUTH. He surrenders himself to them. He gives them THE TRUTH of himself—as he is in his own person—He is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE.
Back to our question: What kind of Lord is this Jesus Christ? He is the absolute Truth, and this Absolute Truth is stomped on, beaten, mocked, and killed—not just by the State and by Religion, but by you the Family as well. Pilate turned to the crowd and placed the judgment Lord Jesus Christ in their hands and—stirred up by the religious authorities in its midst—the crowd shouted (the Family shouted), “Crucify him.” And so, this Lord Jesus Christ, the Absolute Truth of the Absolute Power of God, died… died for you.
What kind of Lord—what kind of King—is this Jesus Christ? He is the Absolute Truth about the Absolute Power of God who refuses to wield any sort of coercion power against His enemies. He is the Absolute truth about the Absolute Power of God who refuses to be used as justification for the use of coercive power by either the State or Religion. He is the Absolute truth about the Absolute Power of God which--in his dying—exposes the manipulative ways of the State, of Religion, and of distorted Family to use him as their “truth” in order serve their coercive power.
What kind of Lord—what kind of King—is this Jesus Christ? He is “your Lord. He redeemed you—the lost and condemned sinners that you are—he redeemed you, his betrayers and piercers—he redeemed you from sin, from death, and from the power of the devil. Not with silver or gold (or with any other “power” of this world’s kingdoms) but with his holy and precious blood, and his innocent body—He died for you. He died for you so that you would be his very own, live under him in his kingdom—the kingdom where Family, Church, and Government are restored to their rightful estates—and serve him in righteous, innocence, and blessedness forever. How do you know this? Because He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns eternally!
Thanks be to God! Amen
Conversation, Consolation, Confrontation: Forging a Fellowship of Preachers
From our perspective, however, they seem absolutely “clueless” like the men in the movie, “Dumb and Dumber.” Despite the fact that things weren’t going so well for them—Israel was under the thumb of Caesar, occupied by a Roman Army, and ruled by a puppet “Jewish king” who was nothing more than a willing lackey of the man who appointed him—they didn’t see what was wrong with their theological outlook or their “Plan of Salvation.” They rejected change, even a change from the tyranny of a secular ruler to the freedom of Christ! This is exactly what we mean when we say “we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.” The Old Adam’s will to be in charge of his destiny—even though he cannot be in charge of it—blinded the people who murmured against Jesus from seeing the Son of God for who He is while He is right in front of their eyes. And it stopped their ears from hearing His clear message: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
Jesus’ isn’t making a point about being or not being intuitive, however. Jesus is making known the fact that God the Father has His own plan to save His people through His Son, and no one can or will deny the Father what He wills through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has already acted in the Incarnation of His Son: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” Christ’s death on the Cross—the giving of His flesh and the pouring out of His blood for the sin of the world—is God’s plan to draw all men—and that includes you and me—to Himself.
Moses cannot save you. The Law cannot save you. A vote at a church assembly cannot save you. And you cannot save yourself. Only the Bread of Life who came down from heaven can save you—and, praise God, He has through His death and resurrection. You have been called by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel, enlightened with His gift of Christ’s faith, and sanctified in His one true faith. You belong to Christ now. And that’s that. Amen.
