I typed a wrong key when I began to write this week and hit a “d” instead of a “g” at the end of the word King. It came out “Christ the Kind.”
Let me tell you a story.
Once there was a king named Arthur. You remember him, the one who thought up the Round Table and had Lancelot as his knight and Guinevere as his wife.*
Long before he rose to high office, in fact when he was just an infant in the cradle, a strange thing happened. The nurse stepped out for a moment and, quick as a wink, Merlin the magician stepped in and then stepped back out …
… taking the boy with him.
Merlin, funny old character, decided to educate Wart in a special way. He changed the boy into various and sundry animals, each just for a specified time. He turned Wart into a hawk, for instance, to witness first-hand the world as it appeared in a hawk's eyes. Or a fish. In fact, especially a fish because Wart then could attend a formal school of fishes and learn from their teacher.
Well, it seems that Jesus had a few things in common with the Wart. As a boy Jesus was not called “Christ” “King” or “your highness” any more than Wart was referred to as “your majesty.” Jesus was just called “Jesus,” a common name in those days.** He played outside, helped his dad, rolled in the mud, accidently cut his finger, even helped birds to fly. And his mom was his very most favorite person.
He had a teacher who was even better at teaching than was Merlin. It was the Spirit of God, and it helped him through the creeks and cubbyholes of the earth and made him friends with the funny sweet people who lived all around.
Both Wart and Jesus did grow up to be the kings they were meant to be. But they brought new images of a king. Their love was not just for the noble and the mighty but for everyone. They were lowly. Jesus was “king” because he understood every minutest texture of everyone’s life and world.
Pilate did ask Jesus if he were a king. He was, specifically, but not in any way Pilate could have imagined. Smallness was his power. Persuasion was his scepter, along with an amazing ability to teach.
He was Christ the King.