“For surely a king is first a man. And so it must follow that a king does as all men do: the best he can.” ~ Cameron Dokey, The Storyteller’s Daughter: A Retelling of the Arabian Nights
He is; but, He is not. Yes, surely Jesus is a man. However, He is not “first” a man. First, Jesus is God. He always was God and always will be God. In the course of time, though, Jesus also became a man. As a man and as God, we acclaim Jesus as our King.
We await the coming of the King of the Nations, as our “O Antiphon” for today declares. As we await the day that our King returns, we need to do some soul searching. How much do we want His rule? How much are we willing to give up of ourselves in order to accept His rule? How willing are we to quit demanding that God comply with our demands?
We, human beings ourselves, often have a hard time dealing with the God who is truly human as well. Sometimes, we treat God as if He matters second rather than first. We try to exert our own will over God rather than embrace God’s will for us.
We ask if it is too much to expect God to do things for us. Oh, sure, we may have all sorts of “noble” reasons for demanding things of God. However, the very nature of God and the very name of a human is that God ranks higher than any of us.
Because God became one of us, we sometimes get our signals mixed. Let us be clear of one thing, Jesus is the King and not any one of us. As we prepare to celebrate the birthday of our Lord, we need to prepare for the day that our Lord and King returns to judge His creation and rule over His people.
King of the Nations, come and save us!
FAITH ACTION: Ask the Lord to give you the grace that you need to accept His rule over your life rather than trying to exert your rule over Him.