An inauguration is a ceremony by which a president is ordained into office, while a coronation is the same process of installing or crowning a king onto his throne. In our text above, we see these words towards Jesus, “hail King of the Jews!” He was even given a crown and a purple robe that only kings were worthy to wear. As we know, this Jesus, was and is indeed a King – a King of Kings that is worthy to wear as many crowns. And it was only fitting that the soldiers gave Him homage and honour – for thus what He deserved. However, we observe something terrible about the Romans’ coronation of King Jesus; as serious as they were, they didn’t mean it. They were not by any means honouring our Lord, on the contrary, it was all mockery and blasphemy.
Let’s apply it to our lives then. We all love Jesus, right? And we indeed take great comfort and delight in giving Him praise and adoration. Allow me then to ask, how many individuals are prepared to really praise that Jesus not only with lips but with their lives as well? I am certainly not in the mood of directing this to unsaved individuals, my concern is the true Church; those who call on the Name of the Lord. I am addressing those who claim to be “Spirit-filled” even tongue-speaking “prayer warriors” yet their lives testify nothing of the fruit of the Spirit – at home and at work. It’s a mockery of Christ when we indeed hail Him as King with our lips while we are ready to throw all that out the window as soon as we leave the church building. God is not so much pleased with giving Him lofty names, I mean those “Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Shalom”, while your own heart is full of hatred and unforgiveness towards other humans. Remember our Lord’s words, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say” (Luke 6:46). By the way, who were the Scribes and Pharisees? It was those who made “long public prayers for a pretense to be seen by men” while the inside of their hearts were “whitewashed tombs full of dead bones.”
Sometimes I hear these words from my well-meaning brethren, “let’s be committed to Jesus.” Yet I have watched and observed that the “commitment” word has become nothing but lip-service to God while in reality, that is not really our concern – there is enough evidence of this in our lives. Think about this: how many times have you heard the words “let’s tell others about Jesus, we need to spread the Gospel”? Yet in reality, how many believers do you see on the street doing evangelism? How much of our churches’ money is spent towards helping the poor, visiting prisoners and even preaching to the outside world? Not much hey. At the same time the good Lord has provided ample opportunities in the way of media and modern technology, but, who cares? Come church service, everybody is suddenly serious and “surrendering to worship Jesus.” It’s a false coronation of the true King and is nothing short of blasphemy to Him!
The good part about human nature is that God has given us a conscience. This means we know within ourselves when we are walking in pretense and hypocrisy. As a preacher myself, I know it when I preach something that is not a reality in my own life. You also know it when you speak in tongues so as prove yourself more spiritual in the eyes of other brethren, don’t you? We all know it when we honour Jesus with our lips while our hearts are away.
The end of the matter is this; if we honestly examine ourselves, we will realize that all of us stumble in many ways, hence we have all mocked Jesus one way or the other. Let us, therefore, repent and draw near to Him with a sincere heart. When it comes to dedication, let’s all resolve to fully dedicate our lives to His cause – life and death. To praise Him not only with lips but with our lives as well. The world is watching how we act and behave while calling the name of the Lord. Therefore, we are in debt to give the true King, true coronation that He deserves. Thus it for today.
Sinothi Ncube
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