A disturbing trend in society that you may or may not have noticed is that there have always been those who have mocked Jesus Christ. If the content that is prevalent these days is any indication, this trend is alive and well. I suspect that you are most likely well aware of this, and perhaps some of you have even mocked him yourself. Well, if you are one of those who, for some reason or other, have mocked Jesus Christ, this message is for you.
First of all, you are not alone, and you are not the ones who have initiated this trend. When Jesus was being led to his crucifixion, he told his followers that he would be mocked.
Matthew 20:18, 19
See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” [ESV]
What Jesus told them is precisely what happened. After he had been brutally tortured so that he no longer resembled a human being, note what they did.
Matthew 27:28, 29
And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, l King of the Jews!” [ESV]
They brutalized and demeaned him from the point of his capture right until the time that he finally died on the cross.
Matthew 27:39, 41
And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads … So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. [ESV]
They were never going to believe him.
Things have not changed since that dark day of Jesus’ crucifixion. People still mock him today. None of the vile comments that I’ve heard made about the Lord Jesus Christ are worth repeating, but if you’ve made them, you know who you are. Let me read something to you from the Book of Philippians about what God did because Jesus Christ walked in obedience to him.
Philippians 2:8-11
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [ESV]
If you look around, it’s pretty obvious that not everyone has bowed to the Lord Jesus Christ. However, according to the Scriptures, there is a day coming when that will be the case: at some point, every knee will have to bow to Jesus Christ. When that happens, no one is going to spit on him and mock him anymore.
Because he humbled himself to God, God has exalted Jesus Christ to a position of authority second only to him. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God, above every other name that can be named. When he returns, he will do so with the power of Lord God Almighty. Some of us have read the end of the book and have decided that it is far better to bow now. That choice will not always be possible. This is not a threat, it’s a promise.
So if you are one of those who has mocked Jesus Christ, might I suggest that the better alternative would be to make him your lord and to believe that God has raised him from the dead. It will lead to much better results in the future. In the meantime, I would like to quote on your behalf the same words that Jesus said about those who were crucifying him.
Luke 23:34
…”Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” … [ESV]