Are you the king of the Jews? We are familiar with that question, which is asked of Jesus in the passion story. Everyone in those days knew what a king was! We are not talking here about best sport, or Miss Congeniality — we are talking kings! When Alexander the Great was the greatest king of the then-known world, he decided to conquer all of Asia Minor. Darius, the King of Persia, the only other ruler that could claim super-power status, sued for peace, saying to Alexander: "Let's you and me just divide up Asia together." To which Alexander replied, "Just as the earth can stand only one sun, so the world can have only one ruler!" Alexander promptly crushed Darius.
That is a king! As we learned last week, Israel had come to know kingship through the ministry of Samuel, who was called to anoint Saul as king, who was then succeeded by King David and his great dynasty. The lesson we have this morning is a glorification of that great Davidic dynasty. It comes at the end of the two books of Samuel, telling the story of David's kingship. It forms a bookend with the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10, which comes at the beginning of the story. It is lyrical and celebratory. We read, "The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered; the Most High will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king" (v. 10).
The king that Israel rejoiced in was David and our lesson purports to be his last words. There is no particular modesty in the description of the author: "The oracle of David, son of Jesse, the oracle of the man whom God exalted, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the favorite of the Strong One of Israel!" (v. 1).
What do we understand about kingship through this oracle? David says, in typical poetic repetition, "The spirit of the Lord speaks through me; his word is upon my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me" (vv. 2-3). God inspired David, so his rule is not to be seen as a tenuous, historical construction, nor as a historical accident, nor as a calculated personal power grab. It is God's intent, an appointment from God through the Spirit.
Not only has David received God's call, but also his permanent commitment, his covenant. "For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure" (v. 5). The eternal covenant (berith ‘olam) with David is an important theological concept in the Old Testament. It was said of David, "He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever" (2 Samuel 7:13). Then it says although David may have to be disciplined at times, "I will not take my steadfast love from him. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever" (2 Samuel 7:15-16).
If David has God on his side, we can assume that the enemies of the king do not have a chance. They are portrayed as a pile of extremely sharp and ugly thorns, so harsh and evil that you need to push them into the furnace with implements. "But the godless are all like thorns that are thrown away; for they cannot be picked up with the hand; to touch them one uses an iron bar or the shaft of a spear. And they are entirely consumed in fire on the spot" (23:6-7).
The king can count not only on Yahweh's defense, but on Yahweh's blessing. David asks, "Will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire?" (v. 5c). What might it look like for the king to prosper? David paints a beautiful picture of what such a blessed king could be compared to. He "is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land" (v. 4). It is a summery portrait, all brightness and light.
What is it about the reign of the king that such poetic language should be used? Who is like the light of the morning? Here comes the core of the argument! "One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God" (v. 3b). This is the kind of rule that Israel hoped for and the type of kingship that Israel idealized. One who rules in the fear of God, driven by the values of God, concerned for the widow and orphan, the marginalized and oppressed. One who rules over people justly, which is to say, one who is concerned with the public's well-being, not just with the power and privilege of a few. One who is concerned with a fair distribution of goods, access, and power.
So, like two bookends, we have, at the beginning and end of the books of Samuel, an idealized picture of kingship under David. In between, however, are the actual stories of David and his rule. There we have the hard, ambiguous reality. We have stories of personal moral failure, like David and Bathsheba. We also have stories that are typical of an empire and its royal aggrandizement: stories of ambition, exploitation, self-indulgence, intrigue, vengeance.
So in the exercise of power, David lived not only with the gift of the Spirit and the covenant, but also under the law and the judgment of Yahweh. When David calls down judgment on godless thorns, as fuel for the fire (vv. 6-7), then David calls down judgment on himself. So we have stories of judgment and grace, of blessing and curse, of despair and hope. Whenever Yahweh would get to the point of disowning David, as it were, or divorcing himself from the kingdom, Yahweh always pulls back, remembers the covenant, forgives, and restores.
But the historical realities were harsh and the hope for the Davidic rule became more distant, more poetic, but no less hopeful. The intensity increased, even while the likelihood became dimmer. The promise remained along with this high, royal theology. The early church took this Davidic portrait and used it for its Christological affirmations
Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.
— Psalm 24:7-10Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. — Psalm 24:7-10
Jesus is the one raised to power, whose rule is just, and who bears God's abiding commitment.
How was the church to deal with the ambiguity built into kingship? In the gospel for today, John 18:33-37, Pilate asks Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answers, "My kingdom is not from this world, my kingdom is not from here." The fact that the rule of Jesus differs from Pilate's is evident from the gospel's visual presentation. Jesus is a king with a crown, but it is a crown of thorns! Jesus goes on to say: "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth." It was that truth, God's love for the whole world, God's unceasing commitment to the covenant, that neither church nor state could accept. Pilate's answer was, "What is truth?"
In the face of Pilate's cynical doubting, the church has confessed that death could not hold the crucified king. He is now our risen Lord. The second lesson, at the beginning of the Apocalypse, grants the faithful a blessing from Christ, the king.
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
— Revelation 1:4b-6
So we are back to the language of kingdom, but in a chastened and purified mode.
In this world, we still must deal with ambiguity and live in hope. Another Christological image the church utilized was the coming of the Son of Man in glory, an image from Daniel 7:13-14. "I saw one like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven. When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, he received dominion, glory, and kingship, nations and peoples of every language serve him." It is against the background of this text that the Apocalypse says, "Look! He is coming with the clouds; and every eye will see him!" The tense is future, a promise to be trusted; but for now we wait.
Who is the king? What is truth? We must answer those questions in trust and in hope. We know we have been baptized into the body of this risen Christ. Baptism is the tomb in which we die with Christ, but also the womb from which we are reborn in the Spirit. We now live by the promise of baptism: We have been sealed by the Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. If we have been marked with the cross, we know we will finally wear the crown in glory.
For now, we seek to live out the covenant God made with us in baptism, proclaiming the gospel of Christ in word and deed, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ by compassionate living and working for the goals of peace and justice. We do all this, trusting in our Lord God who says to us this morning, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8). Amen.