From Ancient Kings to the King of Kings
August 23, 2023 - Wednesday, 20th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm 21:2-7
Each nation and empire has a leader who stands out from the others. The Persian Empire had Cyrus the Great (Persia, 600-530 BCE), a benevolent king who allowed the Jewish exiled to return to their homeland. Ancient China had Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BCE), the first emperor of a unified China. India had Emperor Ashoka (India, 268-232 BCE) who embraced Buddhism and propagated its principles of non-violence, tolerance, and compassion. Among the more recent leaders our historical books place at the top the American President, Abraham Lincoln, who struggled to abolish slavery, Nelson Mandela who fought against apartheid, and Deng Xiao Ping who opened China to the West.
Psalm 21 is a royal psalm that praises the Lord for the blessings he bestowed upon the king of Israel. The blessings include victory, fulfilment of his desires, long life, and finally the joy of God’s presence (Ps 21:2-7). Since the king represented his people, the blessings bestowed on him benefited his entire kingdom as well. The psalmist does not mention the name of the king and the blessings are so lavish that we can wonder whether he had any concrete king of Israel in mind, including David, the greatest among all of them.
The basic lesson that the psalm communicates to us is that no leader can succeed without God’s mandate. In the Book of Isaiah, we find these words of God of Israel spoken to Cyrus the Great, who did not know the Lord: “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armour, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut” (Is 45:1). Every Chinese emperor also knew that without a mandate from heaven, he could not rule or last long. The question is whether our contemporary leaders realise this basic truth as well.
Psalm 21 reads more like a prophecy that points to the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. I am particularly touched by the psalmist’s narration of the king’s request “for life” and the Lord’s response (Ps 21:5). The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus’ during his life petitioned the Father to be saved from death, and his prayer was answered with the miracle of the resurrection from the dead (Heb. 5:7). Saint Paul asks death what happened to its victory on the Good Friday (1 Cor 15:55). It was lost on Easter Sunday. Jesus Christ crushed the power of sin and death and triumphed over the power of evil.
Now the risen Jesus constantly intercedes for us with the Father (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1). What is the content of his intercessory prayer? In the Gospel of John, we find a long prayer of Jesus that is called the Priestly Prayer (see John 17). Jesus prays for his apostles and for those who will believe in his name through their testimony. As the prayer nears its end, Jesus says: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).
The psalmist says that the Lord granted the king “the desire of his heart” (Ps 21:3). The desire of Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, is that we be with him where he is and that we see his glory. This desire of Jesus’ heart reveals the depths of his love for us.