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Today is Christ the King Sunday and the readings move us to reflect on the nature of Kingship, which is sometimes difficult for us. We're Americans and we don't trust monarchs. As Protestants we tend to resist undue imposed authority. Sometimes the male language is a barrier and the day's focus gets broadened to "the reign of Christ," which to my mind is a good idea. On this last Sunday of the church year I want to examine the Old Testament reading, King David's last words, and connect the transformation of messianic hope to the imagery from that last book in the Bible, Revelation.
First let's talk about David. What comes to mind when you think of King David? If I just let myself free associate, I think about his being the youngest of Jesse's sons and remember the disbelief that he was the one chosen the day Samuel showed up to anoint the next king of Israel. I see Goliath the giant Philistine and David taking him down with just a few stones and a slingshot. I hear the crowd chanting "Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands" in what I imagine as a singsong taunt. I remember the rage Saul felt when he saw David's rise in popularity. I hear the sweet singer of Israel who soothed Saul's rages with his harp music and I see the soul mate of young Jonathan. Those are the dominant images that come to mind if I let myself just remember. Interestingly they are all positive and the one negative that does come to mind is the incident with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband to cover up the affair.
In the passage David is reflecting on what makes a good leader, "One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God," and then describes that leader as "like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land." He then asks, "Is not my house like this with God?" If the positive stories and images dominate your thinking, you might say, "Amen, hail King David." But only someone with amnesia could agree with the text's uncritical praise.
Ted Smith alerts us to the difficulty when he says, "Is David's house really like this? David's house, built on the bodies of Saul and Jonathan? David's house, where Amnon raped Tamar (with no small assistance from David himself)? David's house, where Absalom killed Amnon and raised an army against his father? David's house, where the royal line will proceed through the child of Bathsheba, a woman whom David "took" both before and after killing her husband? David's house, under which the people have suffered civil war already and under which they will come to suffer conquest? David may be the beloved of God, but is his house really like the sun?" (http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/22/2009&tab=2)
When you read the Bible, especially, the Old Testament, you're always getting someone's version of history. Rex Mason at the Furman Pastors School one summer called this "the Bible's propensity for propaganda." This is not an insult to Holy Scripture. It is merely the recognition that the text is advocating for someone or something and to hear the word of the Lord clearly we must be discerning listeners. There are different voices in Scripture and especially in the historical books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles.
My friends whose hobby is studying the American civil war know that one's perspective can color the story one is telling. Is the proper term "Civil War" or "War of Northern Aggression," or "the Recent Unpleasantness?" It depends. In the life of Israel, once the Temple was built in Jerusalem, it became tempting to identify the choices of the state with the will of God. The role of priest and king became closely aligned and if the king wanted it God must be for it. The prophets arose to call the king back to the keeping of Torah.
In David's last words he sees the ideal leader as one who rules justly in the fear of the Lord. The storyteller in Samuel for the most part agrees and tells the story of an anointed king whose son will build the Lord a house and whose dynasty will secure a lasting peace. The scholars call this "royal theology of Jerusalem." We see it clearly in Psalm 132.
I think this is why the reading is appointed for Christ the King Sunday. David is the archetype of the Messiah. The memory of a golden age (not quite as ideal in reality) and the hope that it will be repeated is a powerful foreshadowing of our hope when we pray "thy kingdom come, thy will be done."
However over time, due primarily to the Exile, the specific hope was freed from the institution of the monarchy and transformed in the prophetic consciousness to the universal rule of God. The loss of the monarchy thus did not necessarily entail the loss of hope for the triumph of God's reign.
But it was a transformed hope. And our understanding of Christian hope that Christ is King must be transformed too. Even though the reading from Revelation images a triumphant return of the "ruler of the kings of the earth" and commands us "Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him," we still must connect that hope to the life and teachings of Jesus.
To take seriously Christ is King is to pledge our allegiance to his teachings, "the first shall be last," the kingdom of God is among you," "the son of man must suffer," "if you did it to the least of these, you did it to me."
Christ does have the power to rule when we open ourselves to his presence and live as his compassionate hands and feet and eyes and heart. When all eyes see him, as the passage images, I believe the most striking sight will be his outstretched wounded hands. "Crown him the Lord of Love, behold his hands and side, those wounds yet visible, above in beauty glorified."
A rabbi in ancient times gathered his students together one morning before the sun arose and asked "How can you tell when night has ended and the day has begun?" "Could it be when you look in the distance and can tell a sheep from a goat," one of his students said. "No that's not it," said the Rabbi. "Is it when you look at a tree and can tell whether it is a fig or a pear tree?" Again the Rabbi said, "No." After a few more guesses they said, "We give up, how do you know when night is ended?" The rabbi answered: "It is when you look on the face of any man or woman and you see them as your brother or sister. If you cannot do this, then, no matter what time it is, it is still night." (http://www.motivateus.com/stories/whendoes.htm).
When is Christ the King? When you look on any man or woman and see them as your brother Jesus, then Christ is King. And the sun will be shining brightly, just as King David said, "Like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land." Then Christ is King.
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