March 18, 2026 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude “THE KINGLY PRIEST”

 

MIDWEEK LENT 5       March 18, 2026     Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

 

“THE KINGLY PRIEST”

 

          Zechariah. We have come to know him as the Holy Week Prophet because so many of his Messianic prophecies that shone the spotlight on our Savior Jesus were fulfilled during Holy Week. I know, I know. The last time I presented a Zechariah prophecy I insulted your intelligence. The connection was too easy. 30 pieces of silver. The price paid by the chief priests to Judas to get him to betray. It did help us to examine how we value our Lord Jesus. Today I will challenge you a bit. See if you can figure out how this picture prophecy about Jesus was filled during Holy Week.

 

Zechariah 6:9-13 (EHV) “The word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁰ Take an offering from the exiles—from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have come from Babylon—and on that very day go into the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ¹¹ Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and place it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. ¹² Tell him that this is what the Lord of Armies says: There is a man whose name is the Branch, because he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. ¹³ He is the one who will build the temple of the Lord. He will be clothed with majesty, and he will sit and rule on his throne. He will be a priest on his throne, and there will be harmony between the two offices.”

 

          I can imagine that Zechariah’s first reaction upon hearing the word of the Lord was, “What? Are you crazy?” I can imagine that the reaction of Joshua son of Jehozadek, the high priest, was much the same, maybe even more vehement when Zechariah set the kingly crown on his head. “The Lord forbid you do such a thing!” And then Zechariah had to tell him, “Actually, the Lord has commanded it!” Why was this shocking? The Lord was commanding the combination of church and state. You may think that the separation of church and state is an American thing but it is God who established the church and gave it the tool of His word to use to carry out its work. And it is God who established the government and gave it the tool of the sword to use to carry out its work. They are two separate and distinct institutions that God has established. Each is to stay in its lane. Many people throughout history have thought having the two together would be a good idea. Just think if all of the laws of the nation followed the principles of the 10 Commandments! No matter that you would have to use the sword to get it. Just think if all the people of a nation were forced to be Christian whether they liked it or not and if they didn’t you could throw them in prison or kill them. Wouldn’t that be a great way to build Christ’s church? Probably the only time that worked reasonably well was when Moses served as spokesman for both in a theocracy for Israel. Still read through Exodus to Deuteronomy and you will still find plenty of ick! Go through more recent history and watch millions of people killed in the Christian crusades that were not about Christianity but about power. Observe faithful men and women who tried to get their church back to faithful teaching of Jesus put to death as heretics by a government in league with the church. Watch cities and nations that try to force Christian morals on its non Christian citizens produce more Pharisees than faithful followers of Christ. In Old Testament Israel kings that tried to do the job of priests were punished by God and priests that were more interested in politics than preaching starved the faithful.

 

          And yet here it was God Himself telling Zechariah to combine the office of

High Priest and King and that it would work perfectly. There would be harmony between the two. All that consternation I’m sure changed though once the Lord announced that this was actually about the Branch. Now it made sense. This was a picture and prophecy about the Messiah. He would be both King and High Priest at the same time. He would build the temple of the Lord which is the church. He would reign forever. Though Zechariah did not know this Branch by name, you do! It’s Jesus. Now for the challenging part. Remember this is a Holy Week prophecy. Where do we see Jesus as both king and High Priest during Holy Week?

          It’s Good Friday! Oh how the current high priest and chief priests must have sneered at Jesus when He stood before them. Here was the one who claimed to be the Messiah, the Branch. The one who was supposed to be High Priest and King at the same time. Look at him now. Bound. Beaten. Blindfolded. About to be executed. But what the current High Priest and the chief priests had forgotten was the role of the High Priest. His job was to care about the spiritual needs of the people and to make sacrifices for their sins. Oh, how Pontius Pilate must have sneered in arrogant Roman disgust when Jesus was brought before him. The King of the Jews? Are you kidding me? How many different would be kings for would be people had met the same fate? Execution by the mighty conquering legions of Rome. But what Pilate was forgetting is both jobs of a king. Yes, it is to rule people, but it is also to fight and defeat the people’s enemies. So where do we see Jesus, the Kingly Priest, combining both roles during Holy Week and with harmony between them?

          It is at the cross. They made him look like a mock king with the crown of thorns and fake royal robe. Pilate thought he was being so cute as he hung the sign “King of Jews” over Jesus head but none of them saw what they needed to see, the Kingly Priest, going to the cross as High Priest to make that once and for all sacrifice for sins. Going to the cross as the King of kings to defeat the enemies of His people, sin, death and the Devil. They did not see what they needed to see, but you do.

          Are you disappointed? That is the bane of the people of God. “Yes, yes, you paid the terrible price for my sins Jesus, but what I really wanted you to do was defeat the enemy of this disease in my body. Jesus the High Priest I want you to be is the one who intercedes with the Father so He does what I tell Him, I mean, ask Him to do. Jesus can you use your kingly power and your angel army to put all the ungodly people around is in their place and show them who is boss!” Brothers and sisters there are times when I find myself disappointed in my Kingly Priest too. Shame on me! Right back to our Kingly Priest on the cross. Because of what He did for me there will be none of the shame sticking to me that there ought to be when I see my God face to face. None for you either.

          The Kingly Priest. Jesus. In complete harmony. Doesn’t work anywhere else that church and state have been combined. But did you know that God did this same thing again in another way. The Apostle Peter brought that to light when he wrote, (1 Peter 2:9) ^“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Did you hear that? You are kingly priests too. But instead of paying for sin and defeating sin death and the Devil, God has a different job for you. Proclaim His praises, the great things He has done! Amen.

 

March 7-9, 2026 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: John 4:5-26 “JESUS: EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED!”

 

LENT 3

March 7-9, 2026

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: John 4:5-26

 

“JESUS: EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED!”

 

Let’s call her Demitra, this woman more commonly known as the woman at the well. If she followed common practice of the day she would have a Greek name. Even though the Romans were now in charge, ever since Alexander the Great had taken over the then known world it was cool to be Greek, to act Greek, talk Greek, dress Greek and have a Greek name. So we’ll call her Demitra. Her day started out as normal. She knew exactly what she needed. Kind of. She needed water. That’s why she was going to the town well. No running water for normal people. A normal part of everyday life was getting water from the well. What isn’t normal is going there around noon. That’s what the 6^th hour was back then. Demitra went to the well around noon because what she needed was water. What she didn’t need was all the grief from the other women of Sychar. They went to the well in the cool of the morning. Oh, they looked all prim and proper and thought so highly of themselves, thinking they were better than she. “Homewrecker” they called her, among a number of other not so nice names. What did they know about her and her life? If their first husband had died with no sons to take care of them, what would they have done? She needed a man to take care of her, she thought. With the pickings in town so slim she had not been picky and so one after another had left her after they got what they wanted. What did the others know of the struggles she had? They might have some choice names for her but she had some choice names for them too. Greek names. The thought of letting them have it brought a smile to her face. A little bit of name calling revenge, that’s what she needed.

          Rats! As Demitra drew close, she noticed someone else was at the well! So much for flying under the radar. It was a man, A little closer and she could tell he was a Jewish man. That was better. Everyone knows that the Jews despise us Samaritans so she would not have to engage with him. “Would you give me a drink of water, please?” the man asked. Well, that’s weird. So Demitra said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” He answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Living water? What in the wide world of Zeus and Appollo is living water? “Sir,” Demitra said, “you don't even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this living water? ¹²You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his animals.” The man, (His name was Jesus) answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty ever again. Rather, the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water, bubbling up to eternal life.” Ah, thought Demitra! This is exactly what I need! If he has some magic water so I don’t have to keep coming to the well in the heat of the day, that would be awesome! “Sir, give me this water,” Demitra said to him, “so I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” Demitra smiled. This was exactly what she needed!

          But then Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.” Demitra felt her face redden. “I have no husband,” she answered. There it was again. Right in her face. Had someone been talking? Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say, ‘I have no husband.’ ¹⁸In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” Demitra could feel the normal defensiveness grow. Time to deflect! “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews insist that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Nothing like a good old religious argument to get the spotlight off or her sin. Exactly what she needed!

          “Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. ²³But a time is coming and now is here when the real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for those are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” Well that didn’t work, thought Demitra. He actually answered the question simply and with authority. Time for bullet dodging topic number two! The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” ²⁶Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.” And then finally Demitra got exactly what she needed. A Savior. Up to then she thought she knew exactly what she needed, water for the day, protection from unkind tongues, a man, any man to make her feel whole. But none of those was exactly what she needed. What she needed was the Savior, the God man, Jesus Christ. The one who gave her a clean reputation through the forgiveness of sins. The one who made her whole with God by giving her His righteousness. The only one who could give her an eternal life where the problems of sin and its consequences of this life would vex her no more. Jesus, the Savior. Exactly what she needed.

          And exactly what I need and you need too! Often like Demitra we can think we know exactly what we need and sometimes we are kind of right. Food, drink shelter and clot11hing are real legitimate needs that we and all people have. God has graciously promised to supply those daily needs, though not without our working. Help in time of trouble, when facing illness or surgery or relationship problems. Those too are real legitimate needs for real temporary problems. But none of those are exactly what we need. Like Demitra we all have been led astray by what we think we need. A man, a woman, a friend to make me feel whole. Like Demitra in pursuit of perceived needs we can let our guard down and our standards down and be led into sin and bring into our lives consequences that follow us and haunt us. All of us have made decisions we are not proud of. We all have those skeletons of sin hiding in our closets and if someone gets too close to them, change the subject. Point out someone else’s sin. Anything but deal again with embarrassing truth. Like Demitra we look for our own solutions to cope. Avoid people or think you are avoiding God by staying away from worship. Abuse drugs or alcohol to help you forget. Make someone else the target of people’s anger and ridicule. Bury yourself in work or activities. None of them actually work. Most of them bring even more grief into our own lives and the lives of others. They are not exactly what we need.

          It kind of reminds me of when I was a younger child than I am now. Immature. Not understanding. Christmas time. Presents. Oh the joy the day the Sears or JC Penny or Montgomery Wards Christmas catalogue came in the mail! I remember circling all the things I thought I really needed for Christmas and prayed earnestly to get them. Would it surprise any of you to know that list was almost exclusively toys? Then came Christmas Eve. Time to open presents. Oh the disappointment when too many of those presents were needed things. “Thank you for the socks and undies, exactly what I needed.” woodenly spoken so the true message was sent. Nobody sees those anyway. What good are they.” And yet I tell you the truth it was those needed gifts that were still in use months later when the new toy was broken or cast aside because wants had changed.

          Brothers and sisters, by that illustration I don’t in any way reduce our Lord Jesus and His awesomeness to the level of socks and undies but merely seek to point out how easy it is for us to overvalue the things we think we need and undervalue what we really need. Jesus gave the woman at the well living water, Himself as Savior. He gave her hope and future. She would not always be that woman. He gave her value and purpose. Her response to Jesus’ revelation that He was her Savior was to become the MVP of her town pointing the rest of the people to Jesus. He was exactly what she needed.

          And you have Him too. You all have things going on in your life that you need Jesus for. You have real needs and perceived needs. You have little problems and big problems. You deal with consequences of past decisions and sins, some which last a little while and some that will last until your last breath. But none of them will last. Jesus is your living water that wells up to eternal life and there you will have no past, no problems, no wants no needs. Just glory. All the time. Jesus: exactly what I need! You too! Amen.