In Sunday’s Lectionary, there’s one of the Bible’s many references to kings, in the promise to Abraham… ’17:15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 17:16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”‘ I don’t find these references very easy, because we don’t really recognise what kings are. Then they would have been people with real power, rather than the different role monarchs play in a present-day democracy. Paul would write later about the promise to Abraham being because of his faith rather than because of his birth, hinting at something new about kingship – the kingdom of God. Jesus is the one we follow, God is the one we believe in. Just as I have seen with the word ‘father’, I have heard of too much abuse of power from actual rulers in our world to be completely comfortable with the word ‘king’.
Another note: the promise that Sarai/Sarah will bear a son is considered a blessing. That’s not something everybody would recognise, for all that he will have a key role in history.
It’s a pleasant day today, but I’m spending couple of days being gentle with my foot.