Greg Ford - Who is Your King?
I’m going to share with you today a message of the crucifixion and the resurrection through the lens of the gospel writer Mark. Some of the stuff I’m going to share with you today just really inspired me. About six months ago, I was doing some study on the individual gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I wanted to understand them a little bit better. I wanted to comprehend their motives.
We know they had a collective motive; they wanted to present Jesus Christ as the Messiah. However, they each had individual motives that were a little different in that they were highly motivated by their audience-the people they were trying to reach. And so, you’re going to see just like you and I might tailor our communication a little bit depending on who we’re talking to. You might have friends or family members who are kind of different, and so you might choose different words. You might say things differently knowing that it’ll land one way or another based on who you’re talking to.
It’s not like the gospel writers are distorting the story or changing it; what they’re doing is tailoring it to aim at their audience. Mark’s audience that he’s addressing were Romans — these are Roman Christians, both Jew and Gentile. But these are people who are steeped in the idea of Hellenism. In the first-century Greco-Roman world, Hellenism ruled, and it had four core values, or what we might call pillars of Hellenism. Once you understand that, you’ll start to see things in the book of Mark where he does what people do with good etiquette and good people skills: you start with what you have in common.
If you sit down across from somebody, you don’t start with what you don’t agree on. Instead, you begin with what you do have in common. That common ground starts a connection. At some point, you may veer away and talk about things where you think differently, but you start with the common ground.
The four pillars of Hellenism: the first one is healthcare. They understood more about the human body than anyone ever had. They focused on hospitals — not only on how to treat the human body but also how to treat illnesses. It extended lives and made for a better quality of life; that was a big part of what they did. The second part of their culture was education; they had great universities and improved the educational system tremendously. The third was entertainment. When you think about entertainment in our world-whether it’s TV shows, movies, or that sort of content-it shapes culture. The theater was used to shape the culture of the empire. The fourth pillar was competition and athletics.
Things like the arena, the Coliseum, and the Circus Maximus were designed to create a tribal mentality, and it actually works. I mean, that’s something you think about in our world; we value sports highly. It’s quite a thing to have that embedded in your psyche from a young age. When I was a little kid, some of my first memories were watching sports, and I remember playing T-ball. In the T-ball league I was in, they named your team after whatever organization sponsored you.
So, we weren’t the Reds or the Red Sox or anything; we were Sarah’s Kitchen. That’s real. You can ask my mom. We were Sarah’s Kitchen, and I was Sarah’s Kitchen’til I die. I mean, I was loyal, man. If you weren’t with Sarah’s Kitchen, you were against Sarah’s Kitchen. I never met Sarah; I had never been to her kitchen, but I’ll tell you, she was on my jersey. I was ready to fight to the death! Honestly, growing up as a kid, not only did I support all the Cleveland teams, but it was not only about loving my team; it was hating the other team.
I hated the Steelers. I’m a Buckeye fan, and I don’t even say «Michigan.» I don’t even say it. It’s just «that state up north.» I’m just here to tell you, I like to think the Lord has done a work in my life, but I still feel it. You know, when I’m at the gym and I see somebody pull up next to me in maize and blue, I want to drop a dumbbell on their foot. But I’m a man of God, so I can’t really do that. I just have to imagine it, you know? In my imagination, I drop a dumbbell on their foot, and instead of saying I’m sorry, I just say «Oh,» and walk away. [Laughter]
But you think about that, right? From childhood, you learn to compete; you learn to fight; you learn «us» and «them.» And if you’re not «us,» you’re «them.» That’s pretty beneficial to an empire that’s trying to expand its borders. If I can get you to fight your neighbor or we can have a crosstown rivalry where we fight in the parking lot after the game or whatever it is, if I can get you thinking like that, then how much more can I get you to expand our borders and do whatever I’m asking you to do? You have to be aware of that. You have to be conscious of that.
Of course, that’s the world that Mark is writing to. You’ll see like when he presents Jesus, he meets them at their values. He presents Jesus as a healer-healthcare. He presents Jesus as a great teacher-education. He talks about Jesus' miracles. He gathered huge crowds, and they were amazed, it says-okay, for people that have been to the theater and have seen a huge crowd, everyone walking away in awe. And then he presents Jesus as this great champion.
Now, this is where he goes from meeting them at their core values to now starting to shape their theology. Because sometimes the things that are deeply ingrained in us, they may feel right to us; they certainly feel real to us, but it may not be exactly what God intended. Now you have Mark starting to show them their passions and then present them with options.
Today, what I want to do is wrestle through three things: the first is something we all should know; the second is something we all should question; and the third is something we all should feel. Amen? Something we all should know, something we all should question, and then something we all should feel.
I came across a great piece of research from a guy by the name of Thomas Schmidt. He pulled the itinerary of the coronation of Caesar, which has been preserved in history. In fact, the one he used was the coronation of Nero, which would have been about 21 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. They didn’t do unique — it wasn’t like they were going to do a different coronation. It would be like our inauguration: whoever the president is, they have step one, step two, step three-they all do the same thing. They would do the same thing at the coronation.
What he did was put it side by side to show how Mark puts the crucifixion of Jesus next to the coronation of Caesar. I want to walk you through — it’ll be on the center screen here-but we’re going to walk through the nine steps of coronating a Caesar. The first was the Praetorian Guard gathers. The Praetorium was where the governor lived; it was the headquarters for the Praetorian Guard. So the full Praetorian Guard would have been 600 soldiers. On the day of Caesar’s coronation, 600 soldiers gather.
The second step is the emperor is dressed in royal robes; they put a crown wreath on his head and give him a scepter. The third step: the new Caesar is led through a processional — think of a regal parade with people lining the streets and celebrating this new leader. Number four: Caesar carries an instrument of death followed by a sacrifice. In Nero’s case, he carried a sword, and behind him was a bull. They marched a bull behind him because they were going to make a sacrifice to the gods later on.
Number five: they arrive at Capitoline Hill. Rome is the city of seven hills, and the biggest hill, the highest hill, is Capitoline Hill. It’s also known as «head hill» because when Rome was developed and discovered, there was a skull on that hill. So they called it «head hill „or „Capitoline Hill.“
When they arrived at Capitoline Hill, they offer Caesar wine mixed with myrrh, which was the most expensive wine and the kingly wine. Instead of taking it, he refuses it as a statement of „I’m Caesar; doggone it, I don’t need anything. I don’t need your wine.“
Then number six: the sacrifice is killed. They slaughter the bull or kill the sacrifice, and then they have this moment where they parade out a group of prisoners. The prisoners stand before Caesar, and Caesar goes down the line of prisoners in front of all these people with all this pomp and circumstance. He goes down the line, and one by one, he either pardons them or he condemns them-thumbs up, thumbs down-he goes down the line at his will. It might be arbitrary or he might have some information. Bottom line is, the power of life and death is in the hands of Caesar.
What we have to understand about the mindset of an empire -this has been talked about a lot -is that it’s driven by the power of fear, which then triggers the thirst for power or the love for power. Why? Why do people want power? Well, it could be that you are just power-hungry, or it could be that you don’t want your fears to come true.
If I’m big and powerful, wealthy, and have huge connections -if I’m in a high place, that means that you can’t hurt me. I’m independent. I have a sense of security and safety. If my security’s threatened, I will reach for my power and use it however I need to. What you have is an empire where they are coronating a Caesar, trying to show him as the ultimate powerful being -thumbs up, thumbs down, the power of life and death in the hands of Caesar.
Number seven: he ascends the steps of the temple with the high priest on his right and the commander of the military on his left. The Roman Empire had 24 sanctioned religions that were legal; everything else was illegal. Of those 24 sanctioned religions, you had a leader, but you also had a high priest. So he’s standing there with the gods and the religions on his right hand and the commander of his military and all the warriors behind him on his left.
Imagine this: you’re at the top of Zeus' temple; you’re on the highest hill, standing up there with the gods in this hand and the military in this hand. It’s the most majestic thing they could come up with. I mean, this is powerful.
Then number eight: Caesar is declared Lord and God as everyone sings his praises, „Hail Caesar, Lord and God! Hail Caesar, Lord and God!“ The final step, number nine: everyone waits for a sign from the heavens. History records that when Nero was coronated, there was an eclipse on that same day, which was probably intentional on their part. His astronomers likely communicated with him, „Hey, we can do this, and it will create a climactic moment where everybody says, 'Look, man, Zeus has stamped this guy! '“
So that’s the process of coronating a Caesar. When I read this from Thomas Schmidt, it blew my mind. Okay, look at this -now we’re going to Mark 15. If you don’t have your Bible, it’ll be on the side screens: Mark 15. We’re going to go, chapter verse 16 through 33, straight through. We’re not going to get cute with the text; we’re just going to read what Mark wrote and run right down this list.
All right: step one, the Praetorian Guard gathers: Mark 15:16. „The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace, that is, the Praetorium, and called together the whole company of soldiers.“ Step two: the emperor is dressed in royal robes, a wreath as a crown, and a scepter. Mark 15:17: „They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, 'Hail, King of the Jews! ' Again and again, they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him.“
So very clearly, what’s going on here is they’re doing a mock coronation. What is Jesus guilty of? What is he being accused of? What are the charges? To the Sanhedrin or the Jewish religious leaders, he was charged with blasphemy, claiming to be the Son of God, but they knew that Rome didn’t care about that. What’s going to get Rome fired up is sedition. So he claimed to be the King of the Jews, and that claim — the idea of sedition, that he' s organizing a rebellion or a riot-was ultimately the charges they brought against him. And so they’re going, „Okay, you’re king of the Jews? We’re going to coronate you,“ and we’re going to torture you on every level.
We’re going to mock you publicly. It’s one of our greatest fears that we would be shamed, mocked, or embarrassed in front of the whole world. So we’re going to do that, and then we’re going to physically torture you. We’re going to create a spectacle. With all your followers, if anybody decides to pick up your baton and run with it, they’re going to have to know that this will also happen to them. So the whole thing is designed as a mock coronation.
Step three: the new Caesar is led through a processional. What for Caesar was a grand parade, for Jesus was a death march. It says in verse 20, „When they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.“
Step four: Caesar carries an instrument of death followed by a sacrifice. This is powerful. Verse 21: „A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.“ So like Caesar, who carries a sword and has a sacrifice behind him, Jesus is carrying the instrument of death, which is the cross, and he himself is the sacrifice.
You see that now because his body is giving out, Simon is now carrying the instrument of death, and Jesus is following behind like a lamb to the slaughter.
Step five: they arrive at Golgotha. Mark 15:22 says, „They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull, or head hill, and they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.“
Step six: the sacrifice is killed. Verse 24: „They crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read, 'The King of the Jews.'“
Step seven: he ascends the steps of the temple with the high priest on his right and the military commander on his left. Mark 15:27: „They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left.“
Step eight: Caesar is acclaimed Lord and God as everyone sings his praises. Look what happens to Jesus. Verse 29: „Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, 'So you’re going to destroy the temple and build it in three days? Come down from the cross and save yourself! ' In the same way, the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves, saying, 'He saved others, ' they said, 'but he can’t save himself. Let this Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross that we may see and believe.' Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.“
Then the last step, step nine: everyone waits for a sign from heaven. Mark 15:33 says, „At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.“ There’s so much going on beneath the surface.
If you and I had been there, I don’t know-there’s something about what we just did; I kind of feel it. I feel like I can see it. Imagine being there and everything to the naked eye is just open and shut proof that the kingdom of God is weak, that Jesus has been defeated, that he’s been mocked. It would discourage you to follow; it would ultimately say, „Hey, it was a good run, but I guess it ends here.“
We know everybody was believing that because even his most loyal followers went into hiding. They said, „Sometimes you just got to admit defeat.“ The reality is if you look beneath the surface, you see a few things.
The first is you see the power of fear in action. What looked like this violent act, this flex of power by the Romans, was really, if you could see beneath the surface, just a bunch of scared leaders. I mean, you’ve lived enough life at this point to know that not everybody who’s puffing up is actually confident. Come on now. I think we’ve learned enough in this life to know that not everyone who flexes, and not everyone who talks about how much money they have and not everybody who name-drops and not everyone who is violent- not everybody who powers up is as confident as they seem.
In fact, what often looks like great power on the surface, if you could see underneath it, you would just see fear. There’s fear. And that fear provokes a need for power-a grasping for power, a need for control. So that’s what’s going on both in the coronation of Caesar, this need to show power on this level-the power of life and death-a Caesar that’s in need of nothing, declared to be deity, an imperial cult. All of that was masking a fear that some other nation or some other group is going to come in and take what we have, and we’re going to lose it.
So they had to try to show off. What you’d also see, if you could see beneath the surface, is that the person who looked the weakest, the most defeated, was actually the one who possessed the most power.
All right, Jesus could have flattened that place. He could have called down angels from heaven. He could have called on his own people to fight. But he went in the ultimate act of submission to God’s will. He went as a lamb to the slaughter. Amen?
So what do we need to know? There’s something we need to know: there’s something we need to question, and there’s something we need to feel.
What do we need to know? Well, what we need to know is that the mock coronation that was designed to shame Jesus actually revealed his true character as a sacrificial king. Amen? The news flash-Easter news flash-the mock coronation failed miserably. They intended to do this to prove that Jesus was weak. They intended to do this to shame him. But what it actually did was reveal his true nature and his character as sacrificial love and sacrificial king. Amen?
And Jesus did that really in two ways. The first way is that at the cross, Jesus exposes the power of fear. He exposes it. It says in Colossians 2:15, „Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.“
Okay, so how does Jesus expose the power of fear and the love of power? He does it on the cross by the fact that, when you look at that picture, you should see this: the most innocent person to ever live. Yes. The only sinless one. Yes. No one else — I don’t think anyone who’s ever lived can claim to be sinless. I know you had a good month, well, but none of us would claim to be sinless, right? You look at Jesus; he is the ultimate sinless one.
He didn’t do any of the stuff they said he did. What did he do in his life but show up and seek and save that which was lost? To heal people on every level and to help people understand who God really is. So you have in this picture, as vivid as it can be, the most innocent person being tortured, shamed, ridiculed, and executed in the worst possible way. The best possible person being treated in the worst possible way.
And in so doing, he exposes, by allowing it to happen to him, he’s exposing the power of fear. Amen? If you’re driven by the power of fear that turns into a lust for power, you are capable of doing tremendous injustice to an innocent person who simply arouses your fear or threatens your power. Come on, doc. Say that.
If my life is motivated and driven by the power of fear, if my fear is driving me and causing me to reach for control and to thirst for power, then anyone who threatens that and anyone who arouses that is dead meat. So he shows it publicly.
The second thing he does, after exposing the power of fear, is that he establishes the power of love. The whole act of the cross was a demonstration of his love-that he came to earth in human form and died for us. He died as us on the cross. Amen?
Okay, so he exposes fear. We got to know this. We have to know that the machination failed miserably. It didn’t shame Jesus at all; it revealed his character and exposed the power of fear and established the power of love. Amen?
Okay, so what do we need to question? We know what we need to know. What do we need to question? Well, we need to question-this is what I think Mark is trying to get us to question-and it’s, „Who is your king?“ That’s what he’s doing by connecting the crucifixion to the coronation.
The way he draws it out is by putting two kings in front of you and asking you to really search, to really dig deep. Now here’s a little historical nuance: Jesus was crucified in AD 33. You have Nero coronated in AD 54, right?
So Mark writes the book of Mark either during the reign of Nero or shortly after. The dating of the book is somewhere in the 50s to late 60s-maybe as late as 70. Nero ruled from 54 to 68. If we’re wanting to get inside the head and heart of the audience Mark is writing to-these Roman Christians-he’s contrasting two leaders.
He’s putting up Nero, in a sense, and he’s putting up Jesus. But Nero is more than just Nero; it’s a mindset, a type of thinking. He puts these two kings in front of you. In their world, the most powerful person was Nero — the one you’re afraid of. He rules with fear and provokes fear. He has the power of life and death.
So, Mark is putting these two leaders up, asking: „Who is your king?“ The reason this is important is more than just * do you have the right theological answer.* Because it’s not about getting the right answer; it’s about what’s the real answer.
If I gave you a Christian Jesus test, true or false, or multiple-choice, you’d probably ace it because you’d be like, „Jesus,“ right? And the answer is Jesus, and you get 100. The question isn’t can you answer correctly; the answer is what’s the real answer? Because who your king is will determine how you show up and how you behave.
In the Roman Empire, they called Caesar the *pater familias*- the father of the family. The way Caesar showed up as a leader is how they showed up as parents; it’s how they showed up in their businesses; it’s how they showed up as citizens.
This is an important question. In Philippians chapter 2, the apostle Paul is giving us application of the cross, application of the gospel. He says, „In your relationships with one another"-notice this — he’s saying: «Here’s how what Jesus did on the cross by exposing the power of fear and establishing the power of love should play out in your life.»
He says, «In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man.»
Now, to them, this would have been emotionally evocative because they would have been reading this comparing Jesus-who is the ultimate authority, the ultimate empowered king-who came down to the level of a servant compared to their model of Caesar as emperor who would never do anything that would appear to be a servant, would never do anything that would bring himself down. So he’s going, «Who is your king?»
He said, «Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.» Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Amen?
All right, so we know what we need to know: the mock coronation backfired. It failed tremendously; it glorified Jesus, and he exposed the power of fear and established the power of love.
We know we need to question: we need to be honest and go, «Who is my king?» Probably the best diagnostic for that is to be honest enough to pray and trust God, asking him to reveal to you if you’re being driven in this life by your fear or by your love. Amen?
Are you being driven by your fear? If you’re motivated and driven by the power of fear, that’s causing you to become more of a control freak than you’ve ever been, grabbing for more control because you wake up afraid, then you are falling into Caesar’s mentality.
But when Jesus is my king, I operate by agape love. I operate with the power of love. Amen? So that’s a question we’re supposed to wrestle with.
The third is: what are we supposed to feel? I heard a story recently by a theologian by the name of Greg Boyd, and it was just an incredible story. I’ll never forget it. He was talking about some friends of his who run a foster home. The way they approach every kid is that they believe every kid that shows up — these are good kids who have been through some bad things.
Because they’ve been through some bad things, they’ve probably picked up some bad habits and have some dysfunctional behaviors. But they believe the kids are good; they’ve just been through some bad. They also believe that the love of Jesus, the power of the love of Jesus, can heal anything, and it’s their job to demonstrate that and to give them that.
They had this little girl who showed up in their foster home. She was 10 years old, and they went to wake her up for school on her first day. When they walked into the room, the smell was overwhelming- the worst, terrible smell. They realized she had smeared feces on the wall.
So they woke her up and said, «Hey, what’s going on? Why did you do that?» And she shut down; she wouldn’t tell them. So they said, «Well listen, we think you’re actually a great girl, and we love you, and we know you just got here. You don’t believe that yet; that’s okay. We realize you don’t want to tell us, but we believe there’s got to be a good reason you did this, and whenever you’re ready to tell us, we’d love to talk to you about it, but until then, we’re going to clean this up.»
They said, «We can’t have this bacteria affecting you -you can get sick from this.» So they cleaned it up. The next day, she did the same thing. They said, «Okay, we see this is now a habit you have. If you’re still not ready to talk about it, we' ll be cleaning this up every day. So it would be nice if you could just smear it right here like in this spot. Just contain it to this spot because we are going to clean it every day. We will not let this get on you.»
They did this over and over again. Over time, they earned her trust. Over time she believed that they loved her. Finally, she said, «You know, I’m ready to tell you why I do this.» They asked, «What’s up?» She said, «When I was eight, my father was molesting me. When he did that, I was overwhelmed, and I just emptied my bowels. I defecated. When I did that, he freaked out; he got angry and ran out of the room. He was disgusted.»
She thought, «Okay, next time he did that, I did the same thing, and he did the same thing.» Then she thought, «Maybe if I start smearing on the wall, he won’t even come in.» It was her way of keeping him off of her.
What to you and me- and to these people running this home-is the most disgusting, detestable smell, to this young girl, was the smell of safety, the smell of security. When she told them that, they said, «That is so smart! That is so smart! We knew you were smart; we didn’t know you were this smart. You proved us right; we knew you were good.» They said, «Now listen, we’re going to keep cleaning this up, but you’ve got to understand, nobody is going to do that to you here. You’re safe here; you’re loved here. We’re not doing that here. Whenever you’re ready to stop doing that, you can.»
She didn’t stop right away; she kept doing it for a little while. But there came a day when they cleaned up that particular mess on that particular wall for the last time. When I heard that story, I thought that might be one of the greatest demonstrations of the power of love overcoming the power of fear. Amen?
1 John 4:18, «Perfect love casts out fear.» 1 John 4:19, «He loved us first.» Amen? When I heard that story, I felt two things. I thought about putting myself, as best I could, in that girl’s shoes. I thought, «Man, imagine being 10 and it’s you against the world. It’s you against the world; nobody’s safe, no place is safe.»
You test every environment. You’ll do anything, even if it’s to isolate yourself. But in that isolation, you’re totally lonely. Some of you know that. Some of you have walked through maybe what we just talked about or maybe a different version, but you know loneliness. You know «me against the world.»
You’ve been there. For this girl to come to a place where she, for the first time, felt the love she was supposed to feel-so I felt great about that. But then I felt personally convicted because I thought, «What would I have done? Would I have been that patient?» Because you can think of a different approach-a different approach would be to go in, to smell that thing, to see that thing, and to look at that girl and say, «That’s disgusting! It’ll never happen again. It stops today!»
Frankly, it’s probably the fastest way to get a behavioral change. You see both the power of fear and the power of love. Both of them can change behavior. That’s right. That’s right. But only one of them can heal a broken heart. Amen?
One of them tends to be faster than the other, but the other will change and transform your whole life. Amen? Greater love has no one than this-that he lay down his life for his friend. But it’s even better than that: Romans 5: 8, «God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.» Thank you, Jesus!
So what do we need to know? We need to know that what was intended to shame Jesus actually revealed the best part of who he is: his true character and nature -he’s a sacrificial loving king. Amen? What do we need to question? We need to question who our king is. Are we driven by fear or by the power of love?
What do we need to feel today when we look at the cross? We should feel the most vivid, powerful demonstration of love. You should feel love today. That’s what you should see when you see the cross. For that girl, it took continuous acts of goodness to her to prove love.
For us today, as we sing about the cross, when we think about the cross, when we imagine what Jesus did not only in AD 33 but what he’s still doing today, that demonstration on the cross is the ultimate act of love. That’s exactly what you should feel. Amen?
Let’s pray. Amen!
Lord, we come to you in Jesus' name. We thank you for the mighty cross. We thank you for your wonderful grace and your faithfulness. Lord, we thank you, God, that what was observed by the naked eye-what appeared to be defeat and weakness-was actually you in your greatness.
So today, Lord, as we take a moment to sing together and lift up your name and remember what you did, may we remember and consider what you still do. May we see, Lord, an unmistakable vision of unconditional love. In Jesus' name, everybody said, «Amen.»