The great English novelist, Charles Dickens …
His Tale of Two Cities ...
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven,
we were all going direct the other way ...
Dickens’ description of Paris and London just before the French Revolution … describes well those fateful last days of King David … the transfer of royal power to Solomon.
David is old and David is dying.
What will happen now?
David’s older son, Adonijah, proclaims himself king.
He and his friends throw a party.
Bathsheba runs to David … tells him what Adonijah has done.
David may be old … infirm and weak.
But he knows betrayal when he sees it.
David declares that Solomon is the king.
David’s friends rally around Solomon.
Adonijah’s friends fear for their lives and flee to the four corners of the country.
There will be blood; everyone knows it. It is the way of kings.
David’s finals words to Solomon - a death sentence on General Joab - who killed General Abner when Abner came to David in peace … who killed Uriah so David could marry Bathsheba. Joab, a man of blood - David used him, but never trusted him.
David knows there can be no security for Solomon if Joab should live.
David breaths his last. David enters death ordering death for another.
Solomon secures the throne.
At his command:
Adonijah, the elder brother, is executed.
General Joab is killed, as David wanted.
The high priest, Abiathar, who supported Adonijah, is exiled.
Shimei, a member of Saul’s household, is put under house arrest in Jerusalem, and eventually killed at Solomon’s command.
The Bible says: In these ways, royal power was handed over to Solomon.
In the telling of these tales, a search for meaning and purpose.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel long gone under Assyrian domination.
The Southern Kingdom of Judah fallen to the Babylonians.
The City of David in ruins.
Solomon’s Temple destroyed.
Judah’s leadership exiled to Babylon.
How did we get here?
How did this come about?
One has to be brave to tell these kinds of stories … let the world see our dirty laundry … now is not the time for glossing over our failures … only truth will do … the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God!
God’s people came face-to-face with sobering truth:
We did it wrong … we closed our ears to the prophets; we choose violence over peace … we thought we were the only nation that God was interested in … we were filled with pride, and without sorrow … our best kings, sometimes wise and humble, were still kings: men of violence, war and death … death on every side … the blood ran deep.
Is there hope for us?
Answers are found in the Prophets - Isaiah for one, Jeremiah for another … Hosea and Amos, Micah, Jonah, Nahum and Malachi … hope:
There is yet another king to come.
One night, wise men in the east see a star, and follow it ... angels sing to shepherds in the field … the king is born.
Born in a stable, David’s town, Bethlehem.
30 years later, Jesus is baptized in the Jordan - the river of boundaries - on one side, the wilderness, on the other hope … in that river, on that boundary, to join wilderness and hope together, Jesus is baptized.
For three years, Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God, turns a few heads and overturns a few tables … until the powers-that-be can stand it no more … a mob is dispatched, Judas kisses the master … the powers-that-be choose Rome instead of redemption, choose power rather than peace.
A disciple draws a sword to defend Jesus; Jesus shouts at him, Put away your sword; those who live by the sword die by the sword.
I show you another way.
Beyond violence, war and death.
The way of peace … the way of a cross.
To follow me will take courage and require risk.
You, too, will have to take up a cross if you want to be a part of my work.
Dear friends in Christ:
Can we really choose the power of love today, or shall we remain stuck in old ideas?
A friend of mine recently wrote:
Everyone has a love; something they love or something they love to do. I have a niece who loves animals beyond measure and the art of animation too. And another niece who loves history. I have sons who are athletes with a love for all things baseball. If I ask them for a reason, I might just get a shoulder shrug or an "I don't know. I just do." And that's enough. Your love never needs a reason or a defense - it's yours. All we can do is support each other in finding what it is we love. And when we do, support each other in cultivating it.
Only in love and kindness … if we learn anything from the Prophets, we learn to live justly, to see that all are treated fairly, with special regard for the down and out: the widow, the orphan and the alien.
Because we belong to the real King … the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that the world might be reconciled to God …
Dear friends in Christ:
Heaven is already ours; we don’t have to fret about the afterlife, or what happens to us when we die.
It’s earth that needs some fretting … earth waits for our redemption.
Our neighbors wait for love.
The dead in Colorado and Wisconsin wait for us to choose peace.
Millions caught in the crossfires of war wait for so called “christian nations” to put away the sword.
The world waits for God’s People to love as God loves, to forgive as God forgives, to seek wellbeing as God seeks, to calm the storms, to heal the sick, to take care of the poor, to build just societies that love peace more than war.
The world waits for God’s people to final figure it out: Death does not produce life; war does not produce peace; greed does not produce justice.
The world waits for “christians” to be Christians.
God waits for us to seriously follow Jesus.
The one who governs by the Spirit, not the sword.
By his own death, not the death of others.
A cross for a throne.
A wreath of thorns for a crown.
The King of kings, and the LORD of lords.
The Alpha and the Omega.
Jesus is his name.
And it may it be said of us: Those people followed him, and we knew it by their love. Amen and Amen!
