When Jesus presented himself as Christ, as Messiah, he was presenting himself as a political figure, as Israel’s king. Luke makes this explicitly clear:
And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king. So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.
Pilate, no doubt to shame the Jewish leaders, inscribes “King of the Jews” over Jesus’ cross (Lk. 23.38).
On this, all four Gospels are agreed:
(a) When Pilate asked Jesus if he is “king of the Jews,” Jesus answered in the affirmative;
(b) Jesus’ death-sentence included the charge of being Israel’s king. The fact is, then, that Jesus was crucified because the Romans believed Jesus in some sense claimed to Israel’s rightful ruler. But did Jesus think of himself this way?
Brown thinks Jesus most certainly did understand himself as king of the Jews:
I think it most implausible that Jesus ever denied he was the Messiah; otherwise his followers would have said that he was executed on a totally false charge. He was not a king and had denied that he was one. Instead, in their preaching and writings they indicated that he was a king but not in the sense charged by his opponents. [1]
All of the Evangelists recognize the irony that Jesus is crucified as king of Israel. As Wright says, “In his crucifixion, therefore, Jesus identified fully (if paradoxically) with the aspirations of his people, dying as ‘the king of the Jews’…”[2] It is ironic at multiple levels.
First, it is ironic that Jesus receives a mock coronation by the Romans, who crown him with thorns and shroud him with purple. As already mentioned, Pilate nails a placard reading “King of the Jews” to Jesus’ cross, which must have seemed insufferable insult both to Jesus’ friends and his enemies, though for different reasons, of course.
Second, it is ironic that Pilate names Jesus king, in mockery of course, though Jesus remained largely unrecognized and rejected by his own people.
Third, it is ironic that Jesus, the promised Messiah/king whom everyone expected to be a man of unprecedented strength and power who would lead Israel in a final victory over God’s enemies, suffers and dies at the hands of some of Israel’s leaders who collaborate with Israel’s oppressors.
But what kind of king did Jesus think he was?
To be continued…
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[1] R. E. Brown, An Introduction to New Testament Christology (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994), 78.
[2] N. T. Wright, “Jesus” New Dictionary of Theology. David F. Wright, Sinclair B. Ferguson, J.I. Packer eds (Downer’s Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 348-351.
