So Christians claim that Jesus is the King. What, exactly, does that mean?
King of what? of where? of whom?
What does his kingdom look like? Where
can it be seen? How should kingdom
people act? Who is this Jesus as king – was he just a good but harmless prophet
or a great but self-centered tyrant?
I’m not so sure we can easily comprehend the implications
made when Jesus is proclaimed as “King”.
As Americans we value democracy and a say in how we are governed. Our leaders are supposed to be public
servants, serving the public good rather than their own. In trying to never again allow the tyranny of
an English king, our constitution was designed with checks and balances to
limit any one person from taking on too much power.
So I wonder if the idea of having Jesus as king of our lives
might be limited by our ideas about kingship.
We assume a king can’t be trusted, that his power must be restricted
somehow, and that he should only exist to serve us or get voted out of office.
Maybe this is why I find the idea of “Jesus as King” to be
so hard for people to comprehend. Many,
like a young lady named Jessica that I spoke with at the coffeeshop, believe
that no one – no church leader, not Jesus, not even God Himself – should have
that sort of authority over our lives. Their
idea of God seems to be limited to the requirement that if he exists, he can
only act with love and kindness in actions that serve us and make us happy. Less like a king and more like a public
servant whose actions and decisions can be approved or rejected by the ones he
serves.
Jessica also surmised that maybe this need for a servant
king is common to humanity, as demonstrated in our fascination with stories of
superheroes, and that Jesus filled that role in a way that inspired generations
to come. Her Catholic background
emphasized that role, that of Jesus as suffering servant and the ultimate
example of humility to guilt us into being good people.
But Jesus is much more than a servant or even a
superhero. He is also described not only
as king but, along with the Father, as “God, the blessed and only Ruler, the
King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in
unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and
might forever.” (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev.
19:16)
Jesus deserves our allegiance for being our suffering and
serving superhero, who took the punishment we deserved on himself and who conquered
death in the process. But he also
deserves our allegiance and all glory, honor and praise because he is also the
king of kings and Lord of Lords, who has shown Himself to be both great AND
good, one in whom we can and should put all our hope and trust.
Thanks, Jessica, for allowing me to record our
conversation! It can be seen HERE at https://youtu.be/U9-_ebsm3XM
No comments:
Post a Comment