“Let all mortal flesh keep silent, and stand with fear and trembling, and in itself consider nothing earthly minded; for the King of Kings…the Lord of Lords comes forth to be slain, and given as food to the faithful.”
This is the incredibly beautiful hymn that takes the place of the Cherubic Hymn that we will sing on Holy Saturday morning…a reminder to us as we prepare for our Lord’s Pascha to ponder solely on the King of Kings…above all else in this life.
On Palm Sunday, there are no moments of silence when the King comes to Jerusalem. He is greeted that day with cheers on high! The people have been under the heavy yoke of the Roman Empire, searching for a way to be rid of them. They hear a rumor of a prophet who yesterday literally is able to raise people from the dead in Lazarus! A man who spent 4 days rotting in a tomb is now alive!
“With this kind of King at our side, not even the Romans could battle against us!” So they line the streets and waived palm branches, singing hymns of praise, just as they had done 2 centuries before when Simon Maccabeus, the victorious Jewish leader entered into Jerusalem after taking it back from the Greek Pagans.
When they catch their first glimpse of Jesus coming into the city, imagine the astonishment of those who had never seen this King before. He isn’t clothed in gold and wearing a crown full of jewels…but is rather in a simple cloak of a carpenter’s son. Jesus isn’t riding to go towards Herod’s Palace to be toasted and honored for his military victories, but rather he makes his way to His True Palace in the Temple. Our Lord isn’t riding on the back of a valiant steed, but rather on a simple and dirty donkey.
What Kind of King is this? Who is the King of Kings?? Who is this King of Glory?
In just a few short days, the tune of many of the Jews, especially that of the elite who had tremendous jealousy of Christ’s following, will change dramatically. The echoes of the voices shouting triumphantly today: “Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord” will cease…and the rising anger, jealousy, and disappointment will grow as they will begin to shout: “We have no king but Caesar…Crucify Him!”
“We have no king but Caesar” …this is the reaction of those who reject Christ the King. I offer this thought for us to ponder in our own lives’ dear ones: Do we reject Christ the King as they did?
There is a humbling Gospel that we will read on Monday evening…ones that usually evokes a lot of emotion and tears. It comes from the Gospel of Matthew, and it is sometimes called the Gospel of “Woes”. Our Lord is speaking some difficult truths to the Pharisees, revealing their hypocrisy. In one of those verses, He says:
“Woe to you, scribes, pharisees, hypocrites; for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous saying, “If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.”
Perhaps this one hits home a little harder than some of the others. We begin thinking to ourselves, that if we were in the same position and lived the same lives as the Pharisees, would we have been seeking to do the same thing to our Lord as they did? If Christ were to rephrase this woe for our ears today…perhaps our Lord would say:
“Woe to you, who are slaves of worldly things, who come to Church only out of a sense of obligation, who do not practice mercy and faith…Woe to You who do not recognize the King of Kings in your own life.”
Is Christ the King of Kings to us? One of the things that being a subject to the King requires is loyalty. Do we listen to the Divine Commands of the King? When we receive something from God in our lives, do we bear fruit and return it back to Him? When our King summons us the Divine Services this week…every day without fail…do we faithfully come? Like the Jews, we are so caught up in earthly minded things, that we fail to recognize the King of Kings who comes into Jerusalem. Yet despite our sickness and blindness from time to time, here He comes dear ones. “The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, comes to be slain as food for the faithful.”
To those who pledge their unyielding faith and loyalty to Him, especially this coming week, the true nature of Christ the King will be made manifest to all of us. We will see Him as He is depicted in St. John’s Revelation…the one coming in on a white horse, Who’s eyes are like fire and who’s head holds many crowns. He is called the Logos…the word of God…and He comes leading His armies in Heaven. This dear ones, is the King of Kings…and we bow down today in faith and love as He comes to do battle against Death itself for us all.