Like the Light of Morning

While I still lived at home, my Dad would admonish me to not sully the family’s good name with my bad behavior:  “Remember –you’re a KING!”  What constitutes being a “good” King?  Many who would observe Christ the King Sunday–the fulfillment of the Christian Year!–may feel uncomfortable with the term.  Most of our ancestors came across The Pond to escape being under royal decree…

Nevertheless, our readings begin with The Last Words of King David, II Samuel 23:1-7.  Detractors would point out David’s adulteries, his rash and explosive personality, and his moments of moody introspection as being un-Kingly.  Yet David was chosen to form God’s earthly kingdom because of his human side, as well as his enlightened vision.  Let yourself be immersed in his description of Godly rule:  “like the light of the morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land.”  Smell the air.  Feel the mist on your eyebrows.  What a grand morning!    (“I’ve got a wonderful feeling Everything’s going my way!”)

The lesson of Revelation (1:4b-8) falls in the greeting:  “…from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” (v.5)  This passage can yield lots of ideas, but I like this 5th verse for its description of the Lord as being sovereign even over local kings.  We live in a time of mega-competing royalties–money & jobs, international manipulation, family & education–which are not evil in themselves, as long as they’re seen as subservient to Christ.

Poor Pilate couldn’t grasp the idea of an allegiance beyond Rome.   Sent to uphold the things that were Caesar’s, he had little choice but to eliminate Jesus, whom he and others considered a pretender to the Empire. (John 18:33-37)  “So you are a king?”  Jesus answered, “YOU say that I am a king…”  Again, it’s a question of allegiance, where we put our ultimate trust.

Radical that I am, I won’t pledge allegiance to the flag–or to the republic for which it stands!  Some can be dual citizens, and each has to decide where their loyalty lies. (I’m quite compulsive about voting and paying my taxes.)  More and more often, in my advancing years, I find a large gap between what civil society proclaims and what the Christian ethic stands for.  I like my creature comforts too much to go to a hermitage…how then shall I live?  The question for all of us is, “What will you do with Christ the King?”

God Bless Us, Every One          Horace Brown King

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