1 Samuel 8: 4-11; 16-20; II Corinthians 4:13-5:11

They say Americans love the British Royal Family.  This is ironic, because the British are the only people that oppressed Americans which was done, by the way, with the full blessing of that same royal family. This same family is still there and Americans love them or are intrigued by them. The people of Israel after a period of being ruled by Judges who had deep spiritual insight, now want a king just like the other people. They actually say that:” just like the other people. Now I doubt Americans want a king. But they love to watch British royal weddings and jubilees. Most Australians and Canadians, the people most like Americans, would like to get rid of the British queen as their official but useless head of state.  Still the American love of the British royal family and the Hebrew desire for a king share something in common.  They both secretly think they are missing something.  So my question is: what does that desire and longing for the royal rule reveal about the Hebrews and Americans? Or may it makes more sense to say: “what does this desire have reveal about the human heart?

Friends, let us first remind ourselves what happens in I Samuel. The people say: “ look you’re old, people don’t listen to us, get us a king.” Samuel takes this personally, but God comforts him. “Look Samuel it isn’t you, it’s Me they are rejecting.” And then God’s sensitivity shows through as God is pictured as reminiscing: they always do this.” But then God tells Samuel to remind the people of what a king will do: he will take their young men and put them on chariots, he will take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your men and your donkeys…” Friends, I have an inkling that at least three things are going on here.

Paul reminds us the things are unseen are eternal and the things that are seen are temporal.  Could it be that with the royal adoration we want to turn the temporal into the eternal? That’s what occurred to me.  Maybe to be in love with the royal takes us from the things that perish to the things that last forever, especially if it is a monarchy as old as the United Kingdom and when it deals with a queen who has been on the throne as long as we remember?  Now what would God have to say about this.  The response might be the following: “You can cannot do that, humans. the eternal is not your area of expertise.  Royals are just humans and sometimes even despicable humans.  You must accept the limitations of Your life and leave the rest to me.  Why would you even contemplate choosing a king over me?”

Or, friends, do we just want to be lifted above the every day? That’s another thought. Air Force one is a powerful symbol of this country.  The American monument that goes around the world, built in this country, equipped with the very latest technology. It brings a sense of grandeur.  It lifts national pride off the runway and makes it a moveable feast.  Other leaders have similar planes but they do not lift the imagination in the same way.  Perhaps that’s what kings and queens do on occasion. By belonging to them people are lifted out of the mundane.  What would God’s response be to that?  God might say: “but that’s just dumb. Why would you want to be associated with a monarch that doesn’t even know you exist and chances are doesn’t even care whether you exist?  I am the One Who gives energy to the universe, the power of all life, the source of all grace. Does that not lift you enough? What more do you want?”
Finally, are we perhaps searching for identity, with our love of all things royal? Are we trying to find out who we are? Does a monarch give us a sense of self-definition. “That is my king, that is my queen.”  It seems we always need something: an accomplishment, a clear profession, to be someone.  A royal family kind of belongs to everyone.  What would God’s response be, friends?  God might say: “all your identities  change: with our clothes, and our looks and our wealth and our accomplishments? But I am with you always.  Your real identity is belonging to me? Does that not matter?”

Friends, you and I do want our lives to be temporal, we want them to last forever.  You and I do not want our lives to be average and mundane. We want them to be special. We all want a red carpet at one point in our lives. Finally we want to be clear who we are. Friends, we do not have to dig very deep to find out how insecure we are, how easily we feel small and insignificant.  We are always looking for something bigger than ourselves to hang on to. But God in God’s infinite wisdom reminds us:” you will not be satisfied with any kind or any queen or anything that seeks to take my place. You will not be satisfied.  Friends, may we learn to listen. Thanks be to God. Amen.