On the Sunday following Colonel Gaddafi’s death a cartoon appeared
in my newspaper showing the dictator’s feet sticking out of the
drainage pipe in which he was discovered hiding. In the distance are
fighters of the liberation forces advancing towards him, waving the
flag of the new Libya. The caption to the cartoon reads ‘King of
Kings’.
The caption was meant to be an ironic comment on the sordid end of a
man who had exercised such tyrannical power over his people and had
made such absurd claims for himself. But the words almost jumped out of
the page when I read them because on the previous evening I had sung
them in Colwyn Choral Society’s performance of Handel’s Messiah.
‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’ – many of you will recognise these
words from the famous ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus. They come, of course, from
the book of Revelation and are a title for the triumphant Christ which
St John in his vision sees inscribed on the robe and the thigh of the
rider of a white horse (Rev 19:16). Anyone who has sung the Messiah
knows how exciting and uplifting it is to sing these words as the
chorus gradually builds in intensity: ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and he shall reign forever and ever,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah......’ What a tremendous song of praise to
Christ the true King and Lord!
For most of November we will be keeping the ‘Kingdom Season’. These
four weeks at the end of the liturgical year invite us to reflect on
the nature of God’s Kingdom and the qualities needed in those who would
be part of that Kingdom, and they build up to the final Sunday which is
the Feast of Christ the King. On the last Sunday of the Christian Year
we celebrate the reign of the true King of Kings.
If Gaddafi is an extreme example of how power can be abused so Our Lord
shows us what real Kingship and authority is all about. His Kingship is
the rule of the ‘shepherd King’ who travels afar to find his wandering
sheep; who leads his sheep to green pastures and to the water of life,
who revives their drooping spirits, guides them along the right paths
and walks with them through the valley of the shadow of death. Although
now reigning in triumph in heaven as ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’
he still bears the marks of his crucifixion, the marks of his
sacrifice, which are the marks of one whose rule is characterized by
Love.
Unfortunately we won’t hear the Halleluja Chorus sung in church on the
Feast of Christ the King but we will hear readings and sing hymns which
speak to us of the true servant King to whom with complete confidence
we can commit ourselves, knowing that we are safe in his hands.