The Anointed King

Have you ever been through some symbolic action to show you are taking the lead on an important effort? Maybe they fastened a pin on you or handed you a copy of the group’s charter documents. This kind of gesture is a modern example of very old customs. We are out of touch with rites and ceremonies surrounding making a person monarch of the realm. One ancient action applied for the ruler to take the throne is anointing: the pouring of oil over the head thus launching the person’s reign.

Rulers were anointed, and so were priests. In ancient Israel, the anointing of Aaron the priest, and his sons for purification is ordered by God (Leviticus 8). Also, long before David ever takes the throne from King Saul, God reveals to Samuel the priest, which son of Jesse is chosen. God orders him to anoint the youngest, just in from tending the flocks, David (1 Samuel 16).

The terms “Christ” and “Messiah”, you remember, mean “The Anointed One.” These Greek and Hebrew titles indicate an ultimate anointing. When we put the title “Christ” with the man, Jesus, we are asserting he is ruler in the reign of God he announces. When Jesus teaches, he is declaring the inbreaking of the kingdom of God. He points to it when he heals a person, gives sight, hearing, and speech. The kingdom of God is announced when he casts out demons or raises the dead. He is Christ Jesus, the anointed Jesus. New Testament scholar, N. T. Wright often translates passages referring to this teacher and healer from Nazareth as “King Jesus”.

The language is so prevalent in the books of the New Testament, it is no surprise we have an annual celebration (this Sunday) called, “Christ the King Sunday.” Look at the Collect for the day:

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Every year, we end the long season of Sundays after Pentecost, with this emphasis. Indeed, the celebration launches the final week of the liturgical year. In the church year cycle, the week of Christ the King ends the year, bringing us to the First Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new liturgical year. We celebrate Christ the King, then the vestments used in church are changed to a royal color for Advent, either blue or purple. The word “advent” from the Latin, adventus, that is, “arrival” or “coming”. The serious and awe-filled yet joyful note of Advent is that of expecting the arrival of the King, the Christ.

This Sunday, listen for how the scripture lessons point to the unique kingship of Christ Jesus. The prophet, Daniel, writes of the ominous Ancient One who takes to the throne having been “given dominion, glory, and kingship.”  The Revelation to John points to Jesus Christ who is “the ruler of the kings of the earth” the one “who was and who is to come…the Alpha and the Omega.” In the Gospel of John, the Roman procurator, Pilate, questions Jesus about his kingship. Jesus clarifies his kingdom is very different from kingdoms of this world and everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice. It is not a realm defended with military might, a kingdom not from here:

Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

A thousand years before Christ, Saul, and then David were anointed as kings by Samuel the prophet/priest. In 1 Samuel 18 the people of the realm sing, “Saul has killed his many thousands, and David his ten thousand.” Jesus is the later Davidic king, and very different. King Jesus heals, gives hope, and raises the dead. Jesus did not kill but gave himself to be killed. God so loved in the world—so loved the human family—and so delights in you, that he gave his only Son. The Anointed One Jesus is the gift to the world so anyone who believes in him should not be lost but should have eternal life.