THE WORD IS OUR KING

THURSDAY, THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME  

2 Sam 7:18-19,24-29; Ps 132:1-5,11-14; Mk 4:21-25

The King is to the Throne as the Lamp to the Stand

A kingship by inheritance makes no sense unless the wisdom required of the king is also inherited. However, this is not the case most of the time. Many woes and sufferings that have befallen people and the human race are mostly due to rulers who attained their positions through inheritance rather than possessing the required qualifications. This is also an aspect of the result of original sin and consequent evil that disordered human nature. To rule a people, one must possess the necessary virtues, most importantly, wisdom, by which we order everything and all things to their proper ends. One who has no knowledge of the end of people and the purpose of human society cannot rule the people.  The consequence of such a setup would be a disordering of the people. The nature of evil is that it exists in things created as disorder. Thus, to make a good king or ruler of a people, one must be ordered first to God; and also understand how things are to be ordered for the flourishing of the community of people, and the community ordered to God. It is often observed that a disorder in the ruler reflects in the community he rules. So, kingship belongs to God naturally, for he is the creator and end of all things, and the human race in particular. Anyone who is appointed or made a ruler is therefore made so to represent God for the good of the people.

Based on this understanding, we consider the gift of the dynasty God gave to David as something more than just the throne. The justice and providential care of God is such that when he appoints anyone to a position, he also gives the necessary grace for its accomplishment. We can therefore correctly assert that the Davidic dynasty was equipped with the necessary grace for subsequent kings to hold forth until the coming of the Messianic King to whom it is ordered. David understood the implication and was full of praise for God’s generous gift. “After Nathan had spoken to him, King David went in and, seated before the Lord, said: ‘Who am I, O Lord, and what is my House, that you have led me as far as this? Yet in your sight, O Lord, this is still not far enough, and you make your promises extend to the future. You have constituted your people Israel to be your own people for ever; and you, Lord, have become their God.” He rightly understood that it is about God ruling over his people, Israel. The understanding of this foundation would uphold the rulership of any king who ascends the Davidic throne, for he would let God be King, and he would represent God as a visible king. But the lack of the necessary faith to support this foundation caused the throne to recede into mystery or promise many times before the coming of the Messianic King. Any of his descendant who believes as David that: “The Lord of Hosts is God over Israel,” believe also that “the House of your servant David will be made secure in your presence, since you yourself, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant.”

In the absence of this belief in any king of Israel, the Davidic dynasty receded back to unseen reality, which the visible sight sees as darkness and emptiness. The word of God is a lamp that we must believe in for us to be truly illuminated by the divine light of God’s promises and presence. But the refusal to believe fills our minds with darkness and our hearts with desolation and hopelessness, which causes disorder in our wills. Therefore, “Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Would you bring in a lamp to put it under a tub or under the bed? Surely you will put it on the lamp-stand? For there is nothing hidden but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light.” In other words, if we fail to bring in the light of the word of God into our minds by a daily reading and meditation on the word of God, even when we profess to be Christians, the disordered desires that grow in the darkness and secret recesses of our hearts in the absence of divine light in our minds, would soon be manifest in our behaviour: thoughts, words, and actions. If the Word of God does not rule our houses, then darkness would descend on them in the absence of the light of God on the lamp-stand; the result is that the forces of darkness would take control of our houses, rule and enslave us in sin. The Word of God is present to us; let us rejoice before him and worship him with due reverence and love. Let us make use of what we receive daily from God, “for the man who has will be given more; from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Let us not be too busy for the Word of God.

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, direct our actions according to your good pleasure, that in the name of your beloved Son we may abound in good works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.