Prophet, Priest, and King

 

Christ the King - November 24, 2013

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

 

At the Offertory today we are going to sing these words:

 

O Jesus, shepherd, guardian, friend,

My Prophet, Priest, and King,

My Lord, my life, my way, my end,

Accept the praise I bring.

 

We've assigned three titles to Jesus in this hymn-stanza, Prophet, Priest, and King.

Is it just flowery poetry, or is there important content in those titles?

Let's consider each word singly, and then all together.

 

Prophet:  usually we start off with a definition that will involve something abut predicting the future.

But that is too simplistic a way to think about the prophets in Scripture.

They are not fortune-tellers, but rather forth-tellers, truth-tellers, who speak with clarity about what is going on right now and its implications for the future.

“Here is the reality of our situation”, a prophet will say, “and here is where it will surely lead if our ways are not changed before God and our neighbor.

Disaster may be near, it may be far, but it is coming.”

That is the way in which the prophets of old spoke, and Jesus stands in that line as well.

The difference is that Jesus does not just say that the crisis is coming sometime, he says it is come whenever people encounter him and what he says and does.

The crisis, the turning-point, the center of life and eternity are focused on each time that Jesus says to us “Follow me” and we respond in one of two ways that Scripture describes:

       “And Abraham went, as the Lord had told him...” [Genesis 12:4], or

       “And the man went away sorrowful, for he [thought he] had many possessions.”  [Mark 10:22]

We add those two words –thought he – , because we know that he, and we, actually don't have any possessions; everything is on loan from God.

That is so easy to forget.

So part of Jesus' job as Prophet is to remind us that our position before God is that of beggar, of supplicant, who have proved nothing to God with all of our bluster and hot air.

 

The second title is Priest, for which we usually have a working definition of one who goes between God and mankind.

The priests of old times summarized the prayers of all the people and spoke them before God.

They were the ones who made the sacrifices on behalf of the people.

(A sacrifice is a prayer with an object: an animal, grain, wine, oil, or water.

The object or portion of the object is given up in thanksgiving, in recognition that all belongs to God and he grants much of what is already his to our use.)

Jesus is Priest, but not so much to represent us to a distant God, but rather to be God close to us.

This is a profoundly different and more important role.

It is no wonder that the Temple authorities were out to destroy Jesus, since he was bypassing their accustomed role.

 

And the third title is King.

We claim to be proud in not having royalty in America, but so many folks seem to have a peculiar fascination with the British royal family and their activities.

There was fascination in ancient Israel, too, a fascination which turned to jealousy.

“Give us a king,” they demanded of God through the prophet Samuel, “just like all the other nations around us.”

Samuel was very reluctant to ask God to answer the  prayer/demand affirmatively, and so he said: 

“If you have a king, he will start acting like a king; that's what kings do, and you will not like it in the end.

Lord Acton's comment from 150 years ago has been true across all the centuries: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Or, as Samuel warned the people of Israel who were demanding a king:

“He will take your sons...to run before his chariots,, and your daughters to be perfumers and cooks.... And he will take the best of your cattle,...a tenth of [everything]... and you shall be his slaves.”  [1 Samuel 8]

And they still foolishly said “Give us a king.”

 

There may be some who have that as their picture of God, as the absolute, capricious, sometimes vindictive sort of king.

It often pops up after one of the disasters – tornado, flood, hurricane, earthquake, heart attack, stroke, cancer, car crash.

“Why did God do this to us, to me?

The only way that we can begin to work on an answer is to hear again our Gospel lesson today, and indeed the whole of the Passion story.

The soldiers meant their jibe only in derision; “Some kind of a king you are, Jesus, stripped and nailed and crowned with thorns.

Where is your court? Where is your army?”

 

They could not understand that Jesus was living out a very different definition of kingship.

He is the king who washes feet, as Dr. Wendt so often reminds us in Bible study.

His power is not used for his own comfort, but for service to us.

Rather than treating us as nothing, he said, “the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. [Mt 20:28]

 

One of the earliest confessions of faith in the Church was Jesus is Lord. 

We hear and say that today so casually. Yet it was (and is) a monumental statement.

The major implication of saying Jesus is Lord is.... Caesar is not!

 

All of the other allegiances that try to claim us are still working on that old system, about grabbing things and grabbing power.

Two samples:

One parent wrote: “My children are being taken over by an evil empire! Most of the year I have these fairly nice, sweet kids, but when the TV gets done with them, by the end of December they are these selfish, self-centered, mercenary creeps! Help save my kids!

 

Of all those who have been baptized at whatever age, how many are persevering, and how many salute a different king, one which does not ask us to join him in suffering and rejection by the world, in worship which the world calls a waste of time, and in service which the world deems unprofitable?

It is easier to just slip away into sleep, or coffee, or shopping, or sports...all of which are laudable things but which cannot serve as the center of life.

They can't stand the heat!

 

Christ the King Sunday is a day to celebrate the Lordship of Jesus and also a fitting opportunity for us to inventory our allegiances. What/who is in first position in our lives? Clarity on this matter will free us to grow, repent, believe, and live!

Say the word “king” and we immediately think of thrones, and so the little line drawing on page 2 of the bulletin involves a throne.

But our icon today is much more to the point.

The throne of Christ is actually the cross, to the amazement of us all.

Here is where Christ as the Suffering Servant speaks the authoritative word of blessed Gospel: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” and soon after, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

 

So we see how all three titles are pointing to the one truth.

The Prophet is the Truth he tells;

the Priest is the Presence of God he mediates;

the King is the Servant his royalty deserves.

And it is all for us!

“Given and shed for you”, he says to us his his holy meal.

 

This is the wonder of which we sing in our hymn today:

[LBW# 172, Lord Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor]

--The one enthroned in heavenly splendor is the one who lifts up his people's head.

--The once-for-all offering is now made by the Paschal Lamb himself, in place of us.

--The Heavenly manna is given for us.

Let heaven and earth, with loud Hosanna, praise him, risen, ascended, glorified; Prophet, Priest, and King.  Amen.