Deliver me my wife.

 

Saturday, July 22, 2023


Psalm 51

2 Samuel 3:2-19

John 6:35-51


Observance: Mary Magdalene


Deliver me my wife.


When Charles I was sitting in the dock, brought to trial by the lowest scallywags 17th C England had to offer, his one and only defence was to ask by what right his captors were charging him. It was a good question; it was the only defence he needed. Parliament was against the trial, and the people were repulsed at being implicated in any act of regicide. The single claim to any right to authority that the Army could make was right of force, and that only lasted a few short years before the Restoration.


David is now making his final push to win the civil war and claim what is rightfully his – the throne of the Jewish people. Having been approached by the turncoat Abner, David responds with shrewd political intellect: his first betrothal, Michal, must be returned to him, in order to reinforce his right to rule. It proves he is Saul’s rightful heir. David is no Oliver Cromwell, he is the Lord’s Anointed, and his right to authority was true, and would be unquestionable.


But David didn’t need to be reunited with Michal in order to take back his throne; there is a sense that he misses his first love, that Abner’s armies are of no consequence to the war effort, and what Abner is really offering David is a chance for his wounded heart to be healed.


Jesus is our Lord and Master. His right to authority is a divine right, the right of the Creator over His creatures (Rom 9:21). Whether one human, a million humans, or none are saved, it does not affect in the slightest the Lord’s rightful authority. But Jesus is the Lord of love, and He was not going to destroy the rebel spirits spoiling His creation without using it as an opportunity to demonstrate His bottomless love for us. This was the Father’s design: that none drawn to Jesus would be turned away; that nothing would be assumed, but His love for us unquestionable; and the right to authority that Jesus holds as Lord would not only be from His power, but from His love.

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