David son of Jesse was the man whom God made great, whom the God of Jacob chose to be king, and who was the composer of beautiful songs for Israel. These are David's last words:
The spirit of God speaks through me; God’s message is on my lips. The God of Israel has spoken; the protector of Israel said to me: “The king who rules with justice, who rules in obedience to God, is like the sun shining on a cloudless dawn, the sun that makes the grass sparkle after rain.”
That is how God will bless my descendants, because he has made an eternal covenant with me,
an agreement that will not be broken, a promise that will not be changed. That is all I desire;
that will be my victory, and God will surely bring it about. Godless people are like thorns that are thrown away; no one can touch them barehanded. You must use an iron tool or a spear and burn them completely.
Mark 13:1-8
As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples said, “Look, Teacher! What wonderful stones and buildings!” Jesus answered, “You see these great buildings? Not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one of them will be thrown down.” Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, across from the Temple, when Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him in private. “Tell us when this will be,” they said, “and tell us what will happen to show that the time has come for all these things to take place.” Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and don't let anyone fool you. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will fool many people. Don't be anxious when you hear the noise of battles close by and news of battles far away. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come. Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. There will be earthquakes everywhere, and there will be famines. These things are like the first pains of childbirth.
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‘I met a traveller from an antique land
who said: - Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
tell that its sculptor well those passions read
which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
the hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
the lone and level sands stretch far away.’
In English we have a saying “Famous last words”. This Sunday is the second last one for the liturgical church year - almost the last words we will say before we begin another liturgical year, on the first of Advent in two weeks' time. So it’s interesting to look back through the Bible at some last words. Moses, for instance, blesses each of the twelve tribes of Israel; he names each of them, and notes their strengths and weaknesses; he prays for each one, and that their future will be blessed. Elijah encourages his young protégé Elisha, teaching him about taking risk and growing in faith. The last words of Stephen call for forgiving grace. Jesus commends himself to God’s care, and later when he appears to the disciples, he tells them that they will always see and know him, through thick and thin.
All of these are good words. The writers and editors of the texts show us the leaders taking the broad and high road of faith and life. We are encouraged to travel lightly and trust that God opens the way, even if we cannot see very far ahead.
David’s last words don’t fall into that category at all. David began as the golden one, who killed Goliath, who played and sang for Saul, who had compassion and kindness in him. He moved on to the King David who would send a man into battle to be killed, so that David could have his wife, Bathsheba. The David who, in the end, comes to trust in empire and wealth, and kids himself that God is doing it because David is so great.
David’s last words become a kind of “teacher’s pet” exit speech; all good things flow from the throne of the king, and on down. Anyone who disagrees is a prickly pain who needs to be eliminated - uprooted and burned as garbage. There is no room here for a next generation of blessings, unless it is another royal monarch. There is no room here for a child born in a manger, a nobody from a nothing little scrap of a village called Nazareth, washer of feet, one who will endure flogging and crucifixion.
Today we have too a group of disciples who are agog and impressed at the wonderful temple, how it has been rebuilt. The home of the Jewish faith; the one place in which they put all their trust, even when the religious leaders were taking advantage of them. They remark to Jesus on how impressive it is...
...and Jesus replies that not one of those stones will survive, that everything will come down. It is a clear comment on the differences between human empire, and God’s realm.
There will be wars and rumours of wars before the end of time. There will be all kinds of false prophets, those who set themselves up above others. But, Jesus says it does not mean the *end* of time has come, it means the end of that kind of thinking has come, and a new way of living with God’s blessings is about to appear.
Even though Advent hasn’t officially started yet, we are hearing Christmas Carols already!
“Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, born is the King of Israel.”
“This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing . . . “
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King . . . “
“Peace on the earth, good will to men, from heaven’s all gracious King . . . “
You can probably think of several others that, if you haven’t heard already, you will soon hear, or will be singing pretty soon. The common theme in these carols is that Jesus comes as the King.
What does it mean for Jesus to come as King?
The cycle of the church year begins and ends with the affirmation of Jesus as King. At the beginning of Advent last year, we looked forward to the coming King. Today we reach the end of the year, and point to the reign and rule of Christ, the King.
One of my favourite shows is “Law and Order”. One reason I like the show is that it addresses social issues from a variety of perspectives. How we, as a society, treat those with mental illness, for instance, or how corporate fraud affects the lives of every day people. Since the story takes place in New York City, several episodes have addressed the long term impact of September 11, 2001. The shows also raises the legal dilemmas facing our courts and those who enforce laws. One episode may address freedom of speech while another may explore the limits of the free exercise of religion.
Some of the recurring legal issues have been when and where and who and how plea bargains are used and the role of politics in our court system. And while they portray them as contemporary topics, those two issues are not unique to our court system, nor are they unique to modern history.
In fact, both politics and plea bargains are at play in the trial of Jesus – if you can call it a trial. In a system where the accused are presumed guilty and the court simply imposes the sentence, Pilate finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place. He looks for a way out, but cannot find one. If we continued in our reading today, we would hear Pilate concluding that Jesus is innocent, but claiming his hands are tied (Jn 18:38; 19:12). He will try to offer to punish another man, in a plea bargain-like proposal, but the opportunity will be denied him (Jn 18:39-40).
Pilate, who serves at the whim of the Emperor in Rome, is trying to appease the local citizenry. He has the authority to condemn or to set free but he does not have the political will to use his authority.
There is a strong irony in the comparison of the two readings today. David the King who rules y authority, while Jesus speaks with authority. David rules with power and might and violence; the other rules with truth and love and peace. David has no true wisdom, Jesus does. David rules his own little corner of the world with violence; Jesus raises no army and commits no crimes, yet is put to death for saying his kingdom is no of this world.
For David, a Kingdom required borders and troops and taxes. For David, a King held absolute power, a King was sovereign. For Jesus, the focus is not on the King, but on the Kingdom. Jewish law was clear that the role of the King was to care for the people – much as a shepherd takes care of the sheep. The King was not sovereign, but ruled under the direction of God (Dt 17:14-20).
Jesus turns nowhere but to the absolutes of truth and righteousness and the will of God. As sovereign, he willingly lays his life down for the sake of those who desire to live in his realm.
For us to acclaim Jesus as King is to suggest that we are both the focus of God’s concern and the beneficiaries of God’s providence.
Yet even so there are some who see God as a tyrant-King, someone of whom we are not just in awe, but full of fear - a God with all power, who executes justice based on the standards of perfection and sinlessness.
And the world has seen its share of tyrant-Kings and dictators who rule with only one concern – their own self importance and power. In the end, David was one of those kings, who put more stock in the power of human physical empire, and missed what God hoped for him and for his descendants.
Like David, Pilate, Herod, Caesar, these rulers really derive their power from the fear of the people over whom they wield their sword. In contrast, Jesus derives his power from God in heaven and uses that power to grant grace and forgiveness, even before we aware of our need..
Jesus fulfills the role of the Jewish ideal for a King. His concern is for the people, and the realm over which he has been given authority, and his authority comes from God, hence he does not need palaces and armies. Since this empire has no geographic borders, those who enter come of their own free will.
I began this sermon with the poem - called Ozymandias of Egypt, by Percy Bysshe Shelley. When we listen to David’s bragging in his last words, and then look at Jesus words about all the stones being torn down, nothing remaining, - and then the poem “My name is Ozymandias, king of Kings; look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”
And Shelley finished the poem ‘Nothing beside remains: round the decay
of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
the lone and level sands stretch far away.’
Empires. Two kings, two kinds of empire. One is an empire of human wealth, military power, fear and punishment. A king who has lost track of what is truly important. The other empire one of peace, harmony, grace, forgiveness - and a King who stoops to wash the feet of others, whose call is to service.
Where do we put our faith?
Sources:
1. “Two Kings, Two Kingdoms” a sermon based on John 18:33-37 by Rev. Randy Quinn.
2. P. B. Shelley “Ozymandias of Egypt”
3. Rev. G. Malcolm Sinclair, in “Feasting on the Word”. Westminster John Knox Press, 2009,
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