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III. King of the Jews

A. The New Covenant

After David had conquered Jerusalem and established himself there, God established His covenant with David (see 2 Samuel 7).

And with the Son of David established in Jerusalem as King, Luke shows us that it is time for the New Covenant (see Luke 22:20).

The words "new covenant" used in Jesus’ last supper with His disciples, recall the promises of Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 31:31-34).

The day would one day come, Jeremiah had said, when "a righteous shoot to David" (seeJeremiah 23:5) would restore the kingdom to Israel and announce a new covenant.

This is what Jesus announces at the Last Supper.

Clearly, then, the New Covenant that Jeremiah prophesied and Jesus proclaims is not a completely new departure. Instead, it is a renewal of the covenant with David, which is now transformed into something even greater.

And Luke paints the Last Supper as a royal banquet, with Jesus taking his place as King of Israel.

B. Kingdom Table

The kingdom of David had ministers and governors who sat on thrones at court.

So, too, Jesus says to His ministers and governors, the disciples: "I confer a kingdom on you" (see Luke 22:29).

The word we translate as "confer" is the same Greek word used for "covenant" in the Greek translation of the Old Testament that Luke was familiar with. In Luke’s account, the act is more than simply conferring: it is a covenant.

Just as God made a covenant with David, so God the Father makes a covenant with God the Son, and God the Son makes a covenant with His followers.

What Jesus shows us is a perfect picture of the ideal Davidic kingdom, with all the original twelve tribes that made up the Davidic kingdom are gathered together and reunited at the original capital Jerusalem.

It is a grand picture. Jesus, the King, enthroned with twelve ministers, ruling the twelve tribes of the restored Israel.

In fact, the very words of the Last Supper account remind us of the description of Jerusalem at peace in Psalm 122: the tribes all gathered together to give thanks to the Lord, and above them "the thrones of the house of David" (see Psalm 122:4-5).

C. Reading Luke

Finally, in Luke’s account of the Passion, the list of Davidic titles begins to pile up. Notice that in these final chapters of the Gospel, Jesus is repeatedly called:

·The Christ (or Anointed One) of God

· The Chosen One

·The King of the Jews

The irony, which Luke certainly means for us to see, is that these titles were all hurled as insults as Jesus was dying on the cross (see Luke 23:35-38).

There was even a sign on the cross itself: "This is the King of the Jews." It must have been very funny to the Roman soldiers in charge.

But in fact that sign, placed there in mockery, spoke the truth that Luke has been showing us throughout the book.

All those titles really did belong to Jesus, because He really was the promised Son of David: the Christ, the Chosen One, the King of the Jews.

After He rose from the dead, he appeared to many of the believers. Luke records two of those appearances in detail, and in both of them the message is the same: the prophets had already told us that the Son of David would suffer these things and be raised from the dead.

On the road to Emmaus, two of Jesus’ followers meet Him, but do not recognize Him. When they tell him the story of what happened to their Master, He explains everything that happened by interpreting Moses and the prophets (see Luke 24:13-35).

Likewise when He appears to the remaining eleven apostles, He explains that everything happened to fulfill what was written in "Moses and the prophets and the psalms" (see Luke 24:36-49)

The things that happened to the Christ (that is, the Messiah, the Anointed One) were exactly what the prophets had foretold would happen to Him.

That is what Luke’s vivid images show us over and over throughout his Gospel: Jesus perfectly fulfilled everything that was expected of the Son of David:

That sign on the cross only proclaimed what all the signs before had already made clear: "This is the King of the Jews."

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