To Have a King
What does it mean,
to have a king?
The very idea –
Isn’t it a bit of a reach too far,
into the mists of time, the long-ago ways
that saw people everywhere
ruled by solitary human beings,
exalted as though they were super human.
Good kings and queens, and bad ones?
Tyrants, and – rarely –
humble stewards of the good of the people.
Rich and regal,
proud and presumptuous,
all powerful in their dominions,
none dare challenge them.
Ordering nations into war,
approving plunder and pillage,
conquering wherever possible,
gathering new lands to expand their kingdoms,
to bring still more wealth, on which to fatten themselves.
What does it mean, to have a king?
Ah, the kings and queens of history . . .
When I say, “King,”
is the immediate association in your mind
a positive one, or negative, or neutral?
It seems, doesn’t it, that the images we retain of kings and queens,
whether from books and movies
or from an actual study of real history,
tend to be . . . negative.
Because we live in a democratic republic,
we Americans are wary of kings.
It’s in the very fibre of our being.
Our own revolution, in 1776,was a rebellion against
the tyrannical rule of King George of England.
Of course, we weren’t against all kings at the time,
as we eagerly accepted the aid of the King of France, for example.
And to this day, our nation’s leaders
routinely engage with and honor kings and queens,
some of whom are merely in ceremonial roles,
but some of whom are still absolute rulers -
the King of Saudi Arabia, the Sultan of Brunei,
the royal family of Bahrain, and many others.
What does it mean,
to have a king?
The very idea –
Isn’t it a bit of a reach too far,
into the mists of time, the long-ago ways
that saw people everywhere
ruled by solitary human beings,
exalted as though they were super human.
Good kings and queens, and bad ones?
Tyrants, and – rarely –
humble stewards of the good of the people.
Rich and regal,
proud and presumptuous,
all powerful in their dominions,
none dare challenge them.
Ordering nations into war,
approving plunder and pillage,
conquering wherever possible,
gathering new lands to expand their kingdoms,
to bring still more wealth, on which to fatten themselves.
What does it mean, to have a king?
Ah, the kings and queens of history . . .
When I say, “King,”
is the immediate association in your mind
a positive one, or negative, or neutral?
It seems, doesn’t it, that the images we retain of kings and queens,
whether from books and movies
or from an actual study of real history,
tend to be . . . negative.
Because we live in a democratic republic,
we Americans are wary of kings.
It’s in the very fibre of our being.
Our own revolution, in 1776,was a rebellion against
the tyrannical rule of King George of England.
Of course, we weren’t against all kings at the time,
as we eagerly accepted the aid of the King of France, for example.
And to this day, our nation’s leaders
routinely engage with and honor kings and queens,
some of whom are merely in ceremonial roles,
but some of whom are still absolute rulers -
the King of Saudi Arabia, the Sultan of Brunei,
the royal family of Bahrain, and many others.
President Obama got in a little hot water last week
for apparently bowing tothe emperor of Japan,
just as he had months ago to the Saudi king.
We have decidedly mixed feelings about kings and queens,
even in our democratic republic of America.
And then there is the church.
From medieval times onward,
Roman Catholic popes and other prelates of the church
were treated as royalty.
Sitting in thrones, wearing heavily jeweled robes and crowns,
ruling with absolute authority in their realms,
expecting, and receiving,
the humble, pious submission of their subjects.
Did you know that the installation of a pope is called
a papal coronation?
The pope is the Monarch of the Holy See,
and Sovereign of Vatican City.
The cardinals are called “Princes of the Church.”
What does it mean, to have a king?
In Jesus’ time,there were kings, of course,
and had been, for all of known history.
Jesus was targeted, as a newborn infant, by King Herod.
He was put to death by Pontius Pilate,
a regional governor appointed by the Emperor, Caesar.
Jesus knew about kings.
Listen to today’s Gospel. Pilate was absolutely fixated
on whether Jesus was claiming to be a king,
and if so, where was his kingdom, exactly?
Was it a rival kingdom,out to undermine,
perhaps to overthrow, the rule of Caesar?
Jesus said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.”
Claiming his kingship,
but claiming it was a transcendent kingship that he held,
not of this world.
I’ll bet Pilate really understood that.
A transcendent kingship. A kingdom utterly . . . other.
If you try to think of Jesus Christ as a king,
do you have to squirm your way into the notion,
or does it spring freely, rightly, fittingly into your consciousness?
Are we so uncomfortable with the notions of regal rulers,
including rulers of the churches,
that it seems unnatural, even unholy maybe,
to include Jesus in their lot?
Well, but are we really including Jesus alongside Caesar,
and the Saudi kings, and the popes and their princes?
Or are we saying that this Jesus,
our Christ, our Messiah, our Savior,
truly is the king of all creation?
A king in a mold never fitted to any other.
Our music today sings to us the qualities of such a king:
Crown him with many crowns, the lamb upon his throne.
Awake my soul, and sing of him who died for thee,
Who triumph’d oer the grave,
Who on the third day did arise and hope to sinners gave.
This is not the sort of tribute music
that earthly kings and queens have commanded.
Who came eternal life to bring,
Who lives, no more to die.
Throughout the earth his praise resounds
for he is Lord of all.
No, these words speak to our spirits,
of the transcendent reality of Christ, our king.
There is no other,like him.
No place, like his kingdom.
The king of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness fails me never;
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine forever.
Where streams of living water flow
with gentle care he leads me;
and where the verdant pastures grow,
with heavnly food he feeds me.
What does it mean,to have a king?
We have to think . . . so far beyond our world of reckoning,
beyond our messy human history,
beyond the failed reigns of human kings and queens,
beyond the royal trappings of their rule
and the sometimes cruel brunt of their rulings.
We have to imagine, beyond this life, beyond this earth.
And yet at the same time,
at the very same instant,
we can perceive Christ our King
everso real in this life, on this earth,
with us here, and now,
his kingdom already present to us,
in the life of the Spirit,
in the holy reality of the Eucharist,
in what we do together, here,
in our realization of his continuing mission,
in our lives as his disciples.
Oh, yes -
We have a king,
and it means . . . everything.
Amen.
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