My Father will honour anyone who serves me.

 

Friday, August 11, 2023


Psalms 95; 96

2 Samuel 16:5-19

John 12:12-36a


Observances: Clare of Assisi (d. 1252), John Henry Newman, cardinal and theologian (d. 1890)


My Father will honour anyone who serves me.


Everyone likes a good comeback story. Having recently re-watched the 1970 film Waterloo in anticipation of the upcoming Ridley Scott biopic of Napoleon, that old film seems to have an (almost accidental) underlying message of the tragedy of a comeback story cut short just before it started getting good. Even though, as a good Anglican, one must sympathise with those who described Napoleon as “the monster”, one cannot help but admire the tenacity of a man who refuses to acquiesce to external pressure.


King David is showing similar tenacity in his flight from Jerusalem. All through this journey we have been reading about his shrewd political nous, in selecting who of his loyal followers should return to the city to serve Absalom and keep the new court unstable, as well as making sure he treats his subjects benevolently, keeping the populace on his side. But unlike the atheist Napoleon, David is also making sure that he keeps to his moral responsibility as the Lord’s Anointed.


Unlike Napoleon, David also does not need to fear the arrival of a Prussian army at the eleventh hour to frustrate his plans. Absalom’s coup does not end well for him, and we all know which of David’s sons will succeed him to the throne. But there is something to be said about David’s faithful tenacity during this period of his life.


The best comeback story of all is, of course, the story of the resurrection. Jesus is approaching the execution stake at what seems like an alarming pace. But John reminds us that Jesus is in control of the situation. Though He must go down, He will come back up, and draw all people to Himself. Which forces us to ask the question of ourselves: how shall we respond to our own punishing pilgrimage to paradise? Will we falter? Or will we hold on, knowing that the Lord is protecting us, and we are joining our comeback story to the Lord’s?

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