A Great King

Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah

God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!

God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted!
Psalm 47

Psalm 47 might have been taken from the hearts of the Palm Sunday crowds around Jesus. He enters Jerusalem and they see Messiah come to subdue peoples under the Jewish nation. The expectations for Jesus were incredibly high and he did not diminish the ardor of the crowd.

Jesus was doing something different than what people expected or wanted. It was deep structural renovation followed by the beginnings of recreation in the hearts of men and women. This vision for total reform of people and of God’s good world wasn’t brought about through military domination, but through submission to the religious, political, and judicial complicity in a farcical judgment. Jesus humbly bent down, carried his cross, and hung on it for the sake of the world. Do you see the King of the earth there?

Holy Week should not make us lose sight of Psalm 47. When we look at the proliferation of evils, the rise of dictators, the lack of personal accountability, the degradation of our environment, political corruption, and finger-to-the-wind morality it can be easy for us to see Jesus as weak, but his humility on the cross was full of courageous purpose. God was present with us and took our plight upon himself, so that we could understand his ardor for us.
His resurrection shows the magnitude of his power as the triumphant King before whom all will bow.

This week we remember that we are the singing legions proclaiming to an incredulous world that we serve the great king over all the earth.

King of the earth,
We acknowledge that external appearances don’t always lead us to see your kingdom advancing, but you remind us of the world of corruption that was found in our own hearts. This payment for all our sins through your radical self giving on the cross has made us new. You have awakened in us love for you, our only true King. Amen