Can you imagine the Queen cleaning a toilet? The very idea might be scandalous to some. The Head of the Commonwealth could hardly be expected to clean the toilets of her palace. That is a job for servants, and those without servants!
And yet, one far greater than the Queen has come who did something far more shocking. The Son of Man came, that glorious figure in Daniel 7:13-14. The ruler, not only of a nation, or a Commonwealth of nations, but of all peoples, nations and languages. The Great King came.
What did this Glorious One come to do? In his own words: ‘For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’ (Mark 10:45).
He didn’t come expecting the people to bow before him. He didn’t come to show his splendour and have the crowds grovel at his feet. Instead, he came to serve.
But what does it mean that he came to serve? He came to give his life as a ransom for many. Our rebellion against God had made us debtors to him, and we would pay with our lives. His judgement was inescapable and terrifying.
And Christ came to be the ransom, to pay the price we couldn’t so we could go free. The Glorious One came to serve, to die for many. The one who is most holy and pure came to have our filthy sin placed on him and to suffer in our place.
This is the shocking gospel we have to tell. To a society that prizes self-sufficiency, they must come relying on the work of another. To a world that dismisses the horror of sin, they must see its dreadful cost, and come in faith and repentance.