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The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

When people think of a king, most people immediately conjure up the image of a big, strapping man with a crown on his head, sitting on a majestic throne, and living in a palace. To say that a man has a kingly appearance does not suggest weakness; instead, it implies strength, power, and majesty.

So, is it any wonder that the people standing near the cross of Jesus did what they did, knowing that Jesus and his disciples had openly claimed that he was the Messiah, the Chosen One, the King of all kings? They sneered and mocked him, and apparently for good reason. After all, they could see his beaten and bloodied body nailed to a cross. They could hear him gasping for his final breaths. They could hear him crying out in agony. To their physical eyes, there was nothing kingly in his appearance at all.

But to the eyes of faith, Jesus’ appearance on that bloody cross makes perfect sense. After all, it’s exactly what the Lord had urged his faithful people to watch for as they waited eagerly for the Messiah, their Savior, to appear. Seven hundred years earlier, the prophet Isaiah had said of him, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” (Isaiah 53:2-3). If anyone has ever matched this description, it’s Jesus. This is a truly kingly appearance because Jesus is a different kind of King.

What makes him different? He’s not interested in appearances. He’s interested in saving his people. He’s interested in saving you. And that’s what he’s done. Perfectly. On the cross.

Dear Jesus, help me to see you as the powerful and gracious King of kings that you are. Amen.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.