The Good King
When we think of kings, we are often remembering the bad news of history. We have so many examples of when way too much power is in the hands of one individual. Humans are not reliable for bringing consistent benevolence to bear when they wield irresistible power. The goodness of God, on the other hand, is ever sure.
The season of Advent, which begins next Sunday, is all about our anticipation of the coming of Christ, the King. In the arrival of the Christ, the goodness of God is revealed within our earthly realm. We recognize Christ’s advent: present, past, and future.
First, consider the present. God is breaking through afresh to our awareness, as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas. As we get ready for the amazing feast of the Nativity, God gets through to us, as we let this happen. Consider the thoughts of the great 19th-century preacher, Bishop Phillips Brooks. The long-time rector of Trinity, Boston sublimely describes our opportunity in v. 3 of his O Little Town of Bethlehem:
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.
Next, look at the past. The Advent season places us in a spot hundred of years before Christ, when the people of Israel were suffering a long bleak existence, hoping for God’s rescue. They were looking for the Messiah to be born and come on the scene, and to deliver them. So, Advent is a way for us to hear in a new deeper way the cry of hope articulated from the Hebrew prophets, promising the coming Anointed One. The birth of Jesus is that very arrival of Emmanuel, God with us. Hear this announcement in the first verse of the following Advent hymn translated for us from a 7th century Latin hymn:
O heavenly Word, eternal Light,
begotten of the Father’s might,
who in these latter days wast born
for blessing to a world forlorn.
That humble birth of Jesus in Bethlehem fulfilled the prophesies and brings redemption for those who trust him. Grab a Christmas card if one has arrived: one that shows the meekness of the Christ child. This gentle humility is one part of the revealed mystery of God in Christ. The deliverance of immeasurable power came by this helpless infant. Such paradox!
And now for the future element of Advent. The very same text, Hymn 63 in our hymnal, gives us the other side of Advent in verse three. We anticipate the future, second coming, the return of Christ:
And when, as judge, thou drawest nigh
the secrets of our hearts to try,
to recompense each hidden sin
and bid the saints their reign begin.
If the babe in Bethlehem gives us the gentle picture, the return of Christ paints the picture of glorious, awesome might. So, you see, in Advent we find Christ coming to our present situation in our own spiritual life, we identify with the near ancient people in their expectation of Christ, revealed in his first appearing, and we anticipate his future coming. The Collect for the First Sunday in Advent captures these contrasting edges of the Redeemer:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
How grateful we are for the good King, who comes to us; Goodness itself has come to save us. The past and the future both manifesting in the here and now, we give ourselves to Christ. We do well to borrow again from the language of Phillips Brooks and make it our prayer at this moment. “Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today…O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!