His throne room was the top of a small hill named Golgatha. His throne was not gilded and set with precious stones; it was a cross of rough-hewn timbers. Though He wore a crown, it was of thorns. Albeit He had been cloaked in a robe of royal color, it was but a discarded rag and even that was taken from Him. Once He held a scepter, but it was only a reed from a creek bed, stuffed derisively in His hand by jeering guards. Yet Jesus, upon Calvary's cross, was more a King than any other sovereign; certainly more a King than a commoner, for He did the uncommon thing of atoning for our sins...this Christ, this monarch, this Jesus we know as the King of Ifs.
The religious leaders scoffed at the Crucified: "He saved others; let Him safe Himself if He is the Messiah of God, His Chosen One," they railed.
The soldiers mocked Him. "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself," they bellowed.
A criminal hanging upon his cross saw in Jesus the King of Ifs in a way that none other did who stood there that Friday...not Mary His mother, nor even the disciple John. It was implied, if not worded as such as that robber thought, If You are the Righteous One, and I am decidedly not righteous at all, You can save me. Thus he begged the Lord aloud, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
And so He did, promising, "Today, you will be with Me in Paradise."
He is the King of Ifs, this Jesus. If you have any doubt, doubt no more. If you have any question about your deserving His salvation, question that no more. You don't deserve it. Neither do I. But that is not what God demands of us. We cannot earn His mercy. He seeks only our faith. Doesn't Paul write, "(The Father) has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:13-14) It is not a question of what we have done to deserve it, but what God has done to make it possible.
Friend, let Jesus take the if out of your life and make it a sure thing...as He did for that thief who saw Him as the King of Ifs Answered.
The first if we encounter in the text is one stated by Christ's tormentors, the religious authorities.
"He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Messiah of God, His Chosen One!" was their comment. There was acid in their voices, and ridicule upon their lips.
They had failed to read their Scriptures, these priestly guardians of God's Word. They had failed to remember the prophets and their depiction of the Messiah, the Christ, for Jesus fit every qualification. John the Baptist had earlier wondered about the very same question, "Are you the One who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" asked John's disciples in his behalf. If you be the Messiah, they seemed to say, what are you waiting for?
"Go and tell John what you hear and see (answered the Nazarene): the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them," explained Jesus. "And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at Me," He added. The King of Ifs had already mastered their query with actions of Her own. (Matthew 11:4-6) Here were fulfilled ancient understandings of Isaiah the Prophet about what the Messiah would be like (35:5-6; 61:1) The rabbis had taught that the Messiah would come, as Malachi foretold as "the Sun of righteousness...with healing in its wings." (Malachi 4:2) And so He did. The blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame walked, and lepers danced with delight over their miraculous cure.
The Messiah had no difficulty in saving Himself as the priests had scoffed. The difficulty lay in saving us...not that He didn't accomplish that. But that required the cross and His sacrifice; the Sinless giving Himself totally for the sinful! It is up to you and me to decide if we want the salvation He won upon that cross for us. There can be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Either He is your Messiah, or you're not one of His...though He died for you, and lives for you so that He might conquer the ifs that frighten you and the doubts that assail you. Writes Paul,"...In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross."
The religious leaders stated their ifs, but promptly ignored checking out the answer the Old Testament prophets gave, and Jesus Himself is. Are we so stupid as to compound their tragic attitude?
The soldiers mocked Him. In their defense, I suppose it is necessary to recognize that when you are detailed to execute human beings, you find a lighthearted way of doing so to steel yourself against the pain and guilt. They could not face reality, those guards, thus they jeered at Jesus, "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!" It was the taunt of pitiable ignorance more than pompous arrogance as it had been for the priests!
Above His head was a placard that read, "This is the King of the Jews." Pilate did not choose to say, "He says He is the King of the jews," as the religious leaders wanted substituted. Instead the Roman governor chose to be emphatic rather than subtle, specific instead of vague. (Matthew 19:21) "This is the King of the Jews!" sang the words of the truthful sign.
Neither the priests nor the soldiers sought salvation for themselves in their taunts of Christ the King, for they only wanted to see Jesus rescue Himself from being riveted to the cross. They wanted Houdini or David Copperfield, a magic act rather than the actions of One "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." The soldiers forgot what Jesus told Peter in their hearing, as the Big Fisherman sliced off Malchus' ear when the Lord was taken prisoner in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Do you not think," said Jesus, "that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53) Their iffy attitude was not based on anything but ironic sarcasm...and a failed memory...and a foolish lack of faith!
That was a puny, but a truthful sign nailed over Jesus' head. Some of you have noticed the workman directing traffic for the big trucks down on Branham Lane at Carter, as they build the freeway. He is a weight-lifter evidently with massive arms and great shoulders, but despite all his apparent strength he holds only a lightweight caution sign that a three-year old toddler could manage quite successfully. One thinks it's a bit of overkill...such strength for such a picayune sign.
The might is not in the sign, but in the person who holds it. One would not care to tangle with such a mass of muscles. As it is with that construction worker, so it was even more evident in Jesus, who mastered the agony of the cross with the might of a King despite the jeers of the priests and guards who crucified Him. If the placard seems inconsequential, its message is not. If the might of the Master seemed overwhelmed by the meanness of the cross, it is His power that turned that instrument of execution from a symbol of defeat to an emblem of triumph. Paul says that's "so that He might come to have first place in everything." Even those soldiers now know the power of the Risen Christ and the foolishness of their jests. The small sign did not hide the gigantic vigor of God, for bleeding as His body may have been, there was the strength to redeem you and me.
Jesus is the King of Ifs, because He not only saved Himself, but us.
It is Dismas who implied an if, but not one of derision as did the rest. It was one of decision! The penitent thief knew Jesus' reputation as a worker of miracles and a proclaimer of a new Gospel. If Jesus was so righteous that corrupt priests were jealous enough to seek His crucifixion for it, wasn't there a sanctity here that only Jesus Himself could reveal? If He could heal the sick and raise the dead, couldn't He also open the door to eternity for him? If in this agonizing hour he was brought before the Messiah, should he not recognize Him?
"Jesus," pleaded the dying thief, "remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
It is a magnificent story to which legend has added some fanciful curlicues. Since the Bible gives the thief no name, tradition has conjured up several. Some call him Dismas, while others name him Demas or Dumachus, all names that refer to his past as a criminal...a criminal redeemed. Added to this is an apocryphal tale that is beautiful in its telling, but unsupported in its allegations.
When the Holy Family fled to Egypt shortly after Jesus' Nativity, so the story goes, they were attacked en route by robbers. The offspring of the chief of the band of brigands was exceptionally entranced by the Child Jesus. William Barclay says, "The young brigand could not bear to lay hands on Him but set Him free, saying, ˜O most blessed of children, if ever there comes a time for having mercy on me, then remember me and forget not this hour.'" The legend says that the robber youth grew to become a kind of Robin Hood, robbing the rich to aid the poor. It is said the boy, who saved the Baby Jesus and His family from harm in their flight into Egypt, met the Lord again...on Calvary's mountain...and this time the Babe, now full grown, saved him.(1)
Well, it's a nice story, but let's look at the real event instead of the pretty legends. The thief asked Jesus to remember him in His Kingdom. Jesus' response was something more splendid than it appears at first glance. The Lord not only promised him that he would reside with Him, it is apparent his sins were absolved, forgiven and forgotten as well.
But there is more. Jesus also assured the dying man that he would be with Him in Paradise. The significance of this phrase is not apparent. One has to examine the word. Paradise is not just another word for Heaven, but indicates a close relationship and a particular honor. The word is of Persian origin. It means a private, but lavish garden, one enclosed behind a wall, a place where a Persian king would stroll with his closest friends. Such people were given a title: companion of the garden, just as some people are called "Knights of the Garter" or "Knights of the Bath" in English circles today. Our Lord awarded to the repentant thief more than forgiveness and heaven, but the assurance that he would be among His closest companions in the eternal realm. Here was the challenge of an if fulfilled.
Jesus proved Himself to be the King of Ifs, the Monarch of Mercy, the One who could resolve every question by a love so great that death could not end it, nor time destroy it, nor sin wear it out.
What are the ifs in your life? The scoffing of the priests and the jeering of the soldiers did not end His love for them. Nowhere do we read that Jesus condemned them. Instead, in the passage immediately preceding our text, we discover Jesus saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23-34) So He says to us the same absolution.
If you feel abandoned...that the world around you and God Himself have given up on you, think again! Jesus is the King of Ifs, letting if be part of life, but not the whole of life. If you are crushed by debt or overwhelmed by unemployment, disappointed by your lack of success or dissatisfied with the emptiness of material gain, Jesus has something more for you...it is His renewing, invigorating love that enables you to be His companion in the garden of this world as well as the next. If you feel uneasy about life and your part in it; if cynicism over America's dilemmas has arisen in your heart, and anger over a greedy, seemingly uncaring planet has engulfed you, take the if out of life and give it to Jesus. He is the King of Ifs, who masters them all with a love that transforms impossible situations into possibilities for joy.
Jesus is the King of Ifs.
Touchstone, a clown, in Shakespeare's As You Like It, jests about the art of dueling and the book of instructions that deals with it, by commenting that when he and his opponent got so far, instead of lurching at one another with their rapiers, they simply "measured swords and parted." He then proceeded to tell his friend that he could avoid all the problems of parrying and thrusting "with an if," for there was no need for quarrel or battle "with an If."
"Your If is the only peacemaker; much virtue in If," says the clown.(2)
It's not such a funny argument, for it is no joke that Jesus is the King of Ifs. Placed in His hands, if becomes an adventure rather than an adversity. He becomes our Advocate rather than our adversary.
King James I of England, who was no fool nor clown, had his own set of ifs. He spoke to the dons at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and said, "Were I not a king, I would be a University man. And if it were so that I must be a prisoner, if I might have my wish I would have no other prison than this library, and be chained together with these good authors."(3) You and I do well to link ourselves to more than books, but to Him who is as Hebrews says in the King James Version, "The Author and Finisher of our faith," (12:2) as well as the King of kings, the Prince of Peace, the Noble Lord and Monarch of Mercy, who turns ifs into reality and wishes into hopes realized. He does not imprison us, but instead sets us free so that we need never know the torment of the tyranny of ifs unlived.
Can we not sing with Henry H. Barstow,
If Easter be not true.
˜Twere foolishness the cross to bear;
He died in vain who suffered there;
What matter though we laugh or cry,
Be good or evil, live or die,
If Easter be not true?
If Easter be not true ” -
But it is true, and Christ is risen!
And mortal spirit from its prison
Of sin and death with Him may rise!
Worthwhile the struggle, sure the prize,
Since Easter, aye, is true! (4)
The King of Ifs is no Duke of Wales, no philandering prince. He is no pretender, as was King Juan Carlos of Spain for so many years before he was proclaimed king seventeen years ago today. He is Christ the King, who rules and reigns as a monarch should...redeeming the lost and restoring the loyal to Paradise forevermore. Amen.
(1) Barclay, William;The Gospel of Luke; Westminster Press; Philadelphia; 1975, Page 286.
(2) Shakespeare, William;Twenty-Three Plays and the Sonnets edited by Thomas Marc Parrott; Scribner's Sons; New York; 1938; As You Like It; Act V, Scene IV, Lines 90, 102, 105 and 107.
(3) Elizabeth Longford, Editor;The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes; Oxford University Press; New York; 1989, Page 154.
(4) Barstow, Henry H.; Stanzas 3 & 4 quoted inMasterpieces of Religious Verse, edited by James Dalton Morrison; Harper & Brothers; New York, 1948, Page 205 (#649).