Welcome to the Foundations Daily Podcast. My name is Helen and this week we’ll be looking at the last 2 chapters of Matthew’s gospel together. Very quickly you will see that we are going to be reflecting on the death and resurrection of Jesus – the Easter story – at the same time as we enter the second week of Advent and focus again on the birth of Jesus – the Christmas story.

The timing may seem a little peculiar; a bit unseasonal. However, it is a great reminder that the whole Bible is a story. It is a story of love and a story of rescue; the story of a baby and the story of the man that he became. Through this story we learn many things, and one of them is that God’s timing is never strange or out of season. God’s timing is always perfect.

This week my prayer is that as we move through Advent and remember Jesus coming to earth as a baby, as well as reading these Bible passages about his sacrifice on the cross; we will see again that the Bible is the story of God’s great plan for the world……..and for us.

REFLECTION:

From start to finish, Jesus is the central character of the Bible. Therefore if we are to fully understand God’s plan, it’s really important that we understand who Jesus is. In today’s podcast we are going to look at Jesus as the King.

Matthew 27:37 says: “Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Jesus is also taunted for being a king in verses 28, 29 and 42. These accusations of kingship are seen in all 4 gospels, and are central to the crucifixion narrative.

Throughout the story of God and his people, there had always been the promise of a king. We can read prophesies about this throughout the Old Testament. And at the very start of the New Testament, Matthew takes the time to write out the entire genealogy of Jesus to show that he has indeed been born into the line of King David, and when the Wise Men arrive in Chapter 2 they immediately declare, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?”

The promised king was going to change everything.

He was going to bring unity to the tribes of Israel, he would restore the Jewish people to the lands they had been promised, and his reign would bring an end to the supremacy of the Roman Empire.

However, it was this claim of kingship that Jesus was placed on trial for – because the whole point of being a sovereign is that there can be only 1 of you……and in 1st century Jerusalem, the Roman emperor was that one.

And so despite the hopes and the expectancy that he was the king who would change everything, Jesus became a huge disappointment. The written charge against him: “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS,” was nailed to the cross as a sarcastic, ironic statement, about this supposed king who had changed nothing.

However, 3 days later Jesus proved he was sovereign over death and was not merely an earthly king, but Lord of all eternity.

So, we know the end of the story, but what does it really mean to have Jesus as our king?

Firstly, it means a change in our expectation.

Jesus’ kingdom was not about establishing a political movement for the here and now, for that moment in Jerusalem, simply to solve the problems or complaints of the Jewish people.

Jesus is sovereign over our present reality, but he is also Lord of the future. When we read the book of Revelation, we realise that to have Jesus as our king means we need a completely different vision of the kingdom for which we work. Jesus even told us that we should change our expectation when he said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus as our sovereign doesn’t mean that all the difficulties in our present disappear, or instantly get sorted, but through Jesus – the King of Kings – we have a hope for the future.

Secondly, it means a change in our allegiance.

Tomorrow, Members of Parliament will vote to either accept or reject...