Bible Readings:
The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength. (Psalm 93.1)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1. 14)
Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2. 6 – 7)
A Thought
Last Week, I was at a meeting in a Roman Catholic Retreat House in Leeds. On Tuesday morning, our group celebrated Holy Communion together in the chapel. I happened to sit at the front close by a life-sized statue of the Madonna and Child.
It was a particularly fine statue and I found myself captivated and drawn in by it. Mary had a beautiful peaceful face and she was dressed in the traditional blue flowing robe. However, it was the boy Jesus held in her arms that really captured my attention. Jesus was depicted as a small boy of around three years old. He was wearing sandals, or at least one sandal. The other dangled precariously as if it was about to fall. There was something deeply human about this child. Watching our two grandsons, aged two and three, they forever have socks dangling or only one shoe on. At the same time, the boy in the statue was wearing a finely carved gold crown, a reminder of his kingship, and pointing towards the God-man of adulthood and beyond.
To me, this simple work of art encapsulated something of the human and divine nature of Jesus. Jesus laid aside his kingship and his majesty in order to come to earth to live among us in human likeness. He became flesh, born as a baby, growing up through childhood and teenage years into manhood. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, human and yet at the same time divine.
This Sunday in the church calendar, we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. We will focus on the Lord as king, robed in majesty and worthy of honour and praise.
Philippians 2. 10 – 11 goes on to tell us that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Let’s bring our worship to the King of kings now.
A Prayer
King of kings, majesty, I bow before you now to bring you praise and honour, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Song: “King of kings, majesty” by Jarrod Cooper