A Very Odd King

Evening everybody. So I'd like to just take a few minutes to focus on the Incarnation. Meaning, God becoming flesh and living amongst us. This is traditionally one of the things we think about in the Advent season. Sometimes we get distracted thinking about Middle Eastern weather phenomena and making lists of livestock that the Levant held. But today I want to think about the strangeness of Jesus coming to earth as the very oddest king we ever did see. One of my earliest political memories was an act of rebellion. I was watching a debate on television about the merits of the monarchy in Great Britain and my parents were discussing the benefits of the republican system of government and I snuck out of the room that day and I phoned that phone in and said we were supporting the monarchy I made sure that despite my parents' leanings, we were down as monarchists. So I guess you could say that I was born a reactionary, which is another way of saying being English. But the idea of a king who can command is almost unthinkable to us today. Who wants to pay homage to some guy we did not choose? We choose our leaders today. And even then, our loyalty is really pretty contingent on whether we happen to agree with them on that particular issue at that particular time. This suspicion of authority is not completely without warrant. The Judge Samuel described what the kings of Israel would demand of them. Listen briefly to 1 Samuel 8. This is what the king who will reign over you will do. He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants, your manservants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take and use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day." Not every king is John the very worst king of England, to quote Robin Hood, but even then, these kings are not acting in our best interests. The later history of the kingdom of Israel more than bears out the prediction Samuel gave, because human kings tend to rule for their own glory. They build palaces for their own glory. They take wives and concubines for their own glory. They seek military victories for their own glory. So the idea of Jesus as King can seem quite alien to us. What is he doing? Is his authority good? Jesus gives us an answer in the book of Matthew. By contrast with the human king's harsh yoke, Jesus tells us his rule is very different. So Matthew 11 verse 28 says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. If we look at the humble circumstances of Jesus' birth, we can start to see that, yes, this is the kind of king worth following, whose commands are for our own good. Jesus gave up much to win us. He who was rich beyond all splendor became poor for our sake. He exchanged a throne in heaven for a manger The sapphire paved courts of heaven for the mean floor of a shelter built for livestock in order to show us his love beyond all telling. Jesus is very far from a human king acting for his own self-promotion. Jesus gives up everything in order to win his people. In acting for God's glory in this way, he also acts for our greatest good, uniting us with him. And so now in this union with Christ, one by Jesus, we share in his death, in his resurrection, his ascension, and his promised return to a restored heavens and earth. Now he invites us to lay down our lives, our strivings, our petty desires, to follow him, to be united with him, and to truly live. Lord Jesus, I thank you that you came to us, to this lowly earth, the earth you created by your words, and that you dwelled with us You showed us a better way to live. Lord, you have won a people for yourself. And Lord, I pray that anyone here who does not know you would turn now and see that you are the true king, the king worth following. I pray this for your name. Amen.