Pastoral Devotion for November

Christ the King

For just a few seconds, close your eyes and relax. Get comfortable, clear your mind and imagine seeing Jesus. Imagine actually seeing his face, imagine being there with him. What image did you see? Did you see him as a baby born in Bethlehem? How about as a shepherd, or blessing little children? These are often the images we see of Jesus in our mind. Such images provide us with popular metaphors associated with Christ. Jesus our friend, Jesus our brother, Jesus our comforter. We learn to see Jesus as the one who walks with us and talks with us.

I would imagine that few if any saw Jesus as King. Kings aren’t normal images for too many folks these days. In folklore, Kings wore long purple robes and golden crowns. Today’s kings mostly wear suits and look like presidents, or wear military uniforms and look like soldiers. Jesus doesn’t fit these descriptions. He doesn’t wear gold around His neck or rings on His fingers. He doesn’t wear a suit and certainly not army fatigues.

I’m curious, when you imagined seeing Jesus, how many saw a man beaten to within an inch of his life, his outstretched hands nailed to a cross beam and gasping for breath with bystanders mocking and taunting him? Oh…and as for his crown? Thorns, sharp and pointed; digging into his forehead. When a few finally recognized Jesus as King, this is the image they had before them. Yet, in this image we see the glory of our King Jesus.

Jesus came to earth to save His people from sin. He came to rescue those who believe in Him from eternal death. In the stripes of His wounds runs the blood from which we are saved. From His dying words, “It is finished” we have the proclamation that Christ has won the victory, God and creation are reconciled through His innocent death on the cross.

So once again I invite you to close your eyes, picture Jesus in your mind. What do you see? Yeah, me too. I see the babe of Bethlehem, the Good Shepherd and the one who feeds the hungry and cures the sick. But that’s ok, that’s who Jesus is as well. And next week Matthew will begin telling us the story in his words; the story of Christ our King.