"Here Comes the Judge" John 18: 33-37; Judges 21: 1-5; 15-25

We finish the Judges series on  Christ the King Sunday, which allows me to segue from the human, fallible judges of the Israelite people to Christ, who lives out his humanity perfectly, but judges us with grace.

Judges finishes with one more debacle as the Israelites make a dreadful pledge (shades of Jephthah's story). which leads to the slaughter and a silly story of getting wives for the tribe of Benjamin.  Judges concludes wiht "In those days Israel had no king, everyone did as he saw fit." Thus, the futility of the Judges leads to the stage being set for Israel to have a king.

Earthly kings arrive, and they do not solve the sinfulness of the Israelites.  Much like the judges, some kings are better than other; no king gets it absolutely right.  But then Christ comes.  The king who does not look like a king.  The perfect one who dies for our imperfection.  the judge who has the authority (both given by God and earned by his life  to judge harshly, and instead he offers mercy.

Is that a redefining of what it means to be a judge?  Or is it the defining of God's mercy?  Maybe both?

Not sure if it will make the sermon, but I am reminded of a poem comparing Christ and Alexander the Great, both of whom died at age 33:

Jesus and Alexander died at 33; 
One lived and died for self; the other for you and me. 

The Greek died upon a throne, the Jew died upon a cross, 

One’s life triumph seemed, the other's but a loss. 

One walked with mighty men and the other walked alone. 

One shed the whole world's blood, the other gave his own. 

Jesus and Alexander died at 33. 

The Greek died at Babylon, the Jew at Calvary. 

One made himself go, but the one who was God made himself loss. 

One lived but to blast, the other but to bless. 

When died the Greek, forever fell his throne of swords, 

But Jesus died and was raised by God, to live forever, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.