How many times haven't we prayed, "Thy kingdom come" or sang "Crown him with many crowns" without even considering what kind of king Jesus is? People throughout the centuries have misunderstood, misused and even manipulated for their own interest the kingship of Jesus Christ. Certainly the people who proclaimed Jesus "King" on the first Palm Sunday didn't understand what they were saying, for five days later those same people cried, "Crucify him, crucify him!"
What makes it difficult for us to appreciate the royal claims of Christ is that his reign is so different than that of any king who has ruled in human history. What are we to make of a king who has no army, rides into his capital city on a donkey and says, "My kingdom is not of this world"? Even more unnerving is that he told his followers that he was going to Jerusalem not to set up a world government, but rather to be crucified!
When we go to the end of the story (Easter Sunday), however, we discover that King Jesus accomplished for humanity what no earthly king could begin to imagine. He destroyed the power of death over our lives. He doesn't force us to be subject to him. In fact, he doesn't demand anything. Instead, he invites us to receive what he won for us. The victory over death that only he could win, he now wants to give to us. That's the kind of king Jesus is.
Join us this Sunday (April 17) at 10:00 am to worship our King!
Hawaii Lutheran Church (WELS)
- Community Lutheran Church
- Honolulu, HI
- Community Lutheran Church holds protestant chapel services in Honolulu, Hawaii near Pearl Harbor, HI. We are next to the USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hickam Air Force Base, and Fort Shafter Hawaii. Look for us directly behind the Salt Lake, Hawaii, Target.