LAST WEDNESDAY OF THE KINGDOM
27 November 2013
Readings:
Key Verses:
Rev. 20:13b, 15: “They were judged, each one according to his works… If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.”
Luke 19:27: “[The nobleman said,] Bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.”
Reflection
My nephew is an energetic six-year-old who loves pretty much what most six-year-old boys today love: super heroes—in whatever form he can get his hands on them: action figures, video games, movies, you name it. On Mondays when I visit, he wants me to play super hero games with him—in all those forms. I really have to dig deep into my imagination when we play because super heroes never really appealed to me much as a kid. What I know of Superman or Batman is superficial at best; of the Hulk, Thor, Wolverine, and all that crowd, next to nothing. And please don’t ask about my fighting skills. I usually end up playing the “bad guy” because it’s just easier. I don’t have to think too much about my swordsmanship when I know I’m bound to lose.
While we were playing this past Monday, one of my favorite movies, the 2004 film Troy, came on. Besides the obvious (and probably wise) omission of the Greek gods, Troy freely adapts the famous Greek epic to focus exclusively on the human drama, something I identify more with than fighting and gore. Here, a womanizing King Menelaus implicitly abuses his wife, Helen, and we sympathize with her running away with the sensitive and idealistic Paris. As Menelaus is about to exact fatal revenge on Paris, we rejoice when Hector, Paris’ brother, dispatches him instead. So too with King Agamemnon, Menelaus’ brother. He kidnaps Achilles’ love interest Briseis, displaying a perverse sexual interest in her, but when she finally stabs him in the neck, Troy burning all around them, we’re satisfied. Justice is served.
None of this is how it happened in the Iliad or the Odyssey. Hector did not kill Menelaus; he went on to reconcile with his estranged wife. Similarly, Briseis did not kill Agamemnon at the siege of Troy; he died years later, at the hands of his wife, Clytemnestra (not shown in this film). But conventions of on-screen drama require that the film make these changes to better tell the story it’s trying to tell. And that story is about the endless struggle between good and evil. My nephew didn’t care much for the drama and dialogue of the film, but when the fighting started, he wanted to know who was the bad guy, and who was the good guy. And why? He wanted to see the good guy win, and the bad guy get what he deserved. And so did I. It turns out a 6-year-old kid, and his 32-year-old uncle aren’t too different after all.
People have described the Bible in many ways—a historical record, the infallible word of God, a “love letter” from God to his people—but, to me, stories like the ones in today’s readings often put it more in line with epic drama. We have here, too, the classic struggle between good and evil. We know who will win, who will lose; how good will be rewarded and how evil will be punished. And much more than that, from the way the story is written, from the message it’s trying to tell, we want evil to be sorely punished, to get its “just desserts”. We want the devil and his minions to be cast into the lake of fire. We want the nobleman’s rivals to pay the price for refusing his rightful rule—and in ancient times, that price was often execution, viewed as a justified recompense. In short, we want the story to end with a rebalancing of the wrongs committed, and the scales tipped back in favor of the good.
We all know this isn’t how life works. Life is rarely as simple as the good vs. the bad, the super hero vs. the villain. And in the experience of history, villains often do a lot of irreparable damage before being stopped—if they are. But that’s why we need these stories—stories like Troy, like Hulk, Superman, Spider-Man, or Satan’s doom and the lake of fire. Through the complexities of real life, their simple language reminds us all, at any age, of what good and evil are—and which one needs to win.
Prayer of the Day
Eternal God,
you set Jesus Christ to rule over all things,
and made us servants in your kingdom.
By your Spirit, empower us to love the unloved,
and to minister to all in need.
Then, at the last, bring us to your eternal realm
where we may worship and adore you
and be welcomed into your everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
—Collect 3 for “Christ the King (or Reign of Christ)” from the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA) p. 395.
Hymn: “Rejoice, the Lord is King!”
(Words: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013
Tune: ‘Gopsal’, George Frederic Handel, 1685-1759, arranged by John Wilson, b. 1905)
Rejoice, the Lord is King!
Your Lord and King adore!
Mortals, give thanks and sing,
And triumph evermore.
Lift up your heart! lift up your voice!
Rejoice! again I say, rejoice!
The Savior Jesus reigns,
The God of truth and love,
Who purged away our stains,
And took his seat above.
Lift up your heart! lift up your voice!
Rejoice! again I say, rejoice!
His kingdom cannot fail,
He rules o’er earth and heav’n.
The keys of death and hell
To Christ the Lord are giv’n.
Lift up your heart! lift up your voice!
Rejoice! again I say, rejoice!
He sits at God’s right hand
Till all his foes submit,
And bow to his command,
And fall beneath his feet.
Lift up your heart! lift up your voice!
Rejoice! again I say, rejoice!
Rejoice in glorious hope!
For Christ the Judge shall come,
And take his servants up
To their eternal home.
We soon shall hear th’ archangel’s voice.
The trump of God shall sound: “Rejoice!”
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