Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Let us pray.
Holy One, through your Holy Spirit, instruct us by the light of your prophets, illumine our hearts that we may hear your call and follow your path. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
A reading From Zephaniah chapter 3, verses 14 to 20 sing aloud, O daughter Zion.
Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem.
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has turned away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst. You shall fear disaster no more.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, do not fear, O Zion. Do not let your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst. A warrior who gives victory. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will renew you in his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing, as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you so that you will not bear reproach for it. I will deal with all your oppressors at that time.
And I will save the lame and gather the outcast. And I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth at that time. I will bring you home at that time when I gather you. For I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: So my favorite of Shakespeare's history plays has to be Henry V. And my favorite scene, and that play comes in Act 4. Maybe you remember that English soldiers are preparing for a climactic battle with France. It's October 25, 1415, a day marked in English calendars as Saint Crispin's Day. The place is Agincourt, France. The English soldiers, they're exhausted and hungry. Many are sick from dysentery. They've marched for days through cold and bitter rains, and as the dawn is approaching, they're deathly afraid this day will be their last.
As scene three begins, one noble asks another where the king might be. The other replies that he's gone to view the French battle lines. Another notes that viewing the French line, the king was sure to see that the French have some 60,000 fighting men at the ready, making their numbers five to every one soldier on the English line. Another notes, those are fearful odds against the English. Five to one. And besides that, the French are well rested. And then in the stage directions in Shakespeare's play, three words come up in italics. Enter the King. Enter the king. Henry V steps on the Stage. He's immediately met with this lament. Oh, if we had only here 10,000 of those men in England who are doing no work today. If we only had them. And the king replies, don't wish for one more. And then he gives a speech that I like so much. I asked my friend Corey Nathan if he would be Henry V for us today and offer that speech on Saint Crispin's Day, according to Shakespeare's Henry V.
[00:04:01] Speaker C: If we are marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss.
And if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor.
God's will, I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, nor care I who doth feed upon my cost. It yearns me not if men my garments wear.
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my cousin, wish not a man from England. God's peace. I would not lose so great an honour as one man more methinks would share from me for the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more. Rather proclaim it, Pastor Matt, through my host, that he which hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart.
His passport shall be made and crowns for convoy put into his purse. We would not die in that man's company that fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is called the feast Crispian.
He that outlives this day and comes safe home will stand a tiptoe when this day is named and rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall see this day and live old age will yearly on this vigil feast his neighbors and say, tomorrow is Saint Crispian.
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. Old men forget, yet all shall be forgot. But he'll remember with advantages what feats he did that day. Then shall our names, familiar in his mouth as household words. Harry the King, Chesney and McGuinness, Howard and Lintot, Kaimano and Ruiz be in their flowing cups freshly remembered. This story shall the good man teach his son.
Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by from this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
Be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition. And gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here and hold their manhoods cheap whilst any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's Day.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: And in Shakespeare's play, that's exactly what happened. The soldiers erupt in applause and cheer suddenly what had been before. Despair turns them to joy.
That's what happens after a king had entered the scene. He called them brothers. He promised them victory spoken with authority. How could you not cheer and applaud?
Well, one reason I'm grateful for Shakespeare's Henry V and for speeches like that one that Corey just was kind enough to deliver, is that it helps me, and perhaps you too, better understand the impact it can have when the stage directions read enter the king. You see, I'm American. I suspect many of you are too. And we don't live in a monarchy, you know, Our history and our form of government famously limit the power that one individual can have. As Presbyterians, many of us love to point to how the US government drew on Presbyterian polity in developing our nation's systems of change, checks and balances, of decentralizing power. Our church is famous for proclaiming too much authority shouldn't be in one person's hands, shouldn't be in a pope's hands. We have no single authority figure that's given too much power. For we are acutely aware of the problem of human sin, of our propensity to misuse power, especially when one of us is given too much power of it. And so it's hard for me, and perhaps for you, too, to travel in our minds and hearts to times and places where monarchy was the air people breathed. It defined their reality. Times like that of Henry V in 15th century Europe or in the land of Judah and its capital, Jerusalem, in the 7th century BCE the context for the reading Jessica offered today from the prophet Zephaniah. And so I'm grateful for scenes like Act 4, Scene 3 of Henry V that can evoke for us the power of a monarch stepping on the stage.
In many ways, in monarchies, the queen or king was a kind of different class of people, Royalty. It's like they were a different world. They occupied another reality. And for the king or queen to enter the stage, it was like that royal reality became our reality. It was like that commonplace you or I occupied, suddenly was touched by another world, and it made that place uncommon.
That's the kind of picture Shakespeare paints for us. In that scene from Henry V into a world of sick, outnumbered, travel weary soldiers, some everyday common folk, a king not only enters the scene, he calls them part of his family, a royal family. And he promises Them victory, it might have seemed impossible before, but with a king in their midst pronouncing victory as sure and certain as the dawn, well, it's enough to make a weary world, a weary battle line. Rejoice.
I share that scene from Henry V because I believe it helps us understand the kind of portrait the Book of Zephaniah paints for us. For you see, it's a world of monarchs that this short three chapter book called Zephaniah imagines. The Book of Zephaniah, after all, begins with this introduction. The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah in the time of King Josiah, in the time of King Josiah of Judah. You remember King Josiah of Judah, of course, from the sermon series we did going through Second Kings, right? King Josiah was the one who followed that awful king, Manasseh. During Manasseh's time, as it's portrayed in Second Kings, the people were led astray. Bloodshed was so widespread that it said the dead bodies lined the streets from one part of Jerusalem to another. It was an awful time when hearts and minds were pointed away from the Lord, their God, away from the good, the right, the just and the true. A time of slaughter. Manasseh. And initially that grim portrait could also describe Judah. As King Josiah was crowned in 640 BCE.
And yet, soon after Josiah came to the throne, a discovery was made.
In temple renovations, in revitalization efforts and building efforts of that central worship space of the ancient people of Judah in Jerusalem, a book was found, a scroll, a book of the law, something we think was a version of the book of Deuteronomy. It contained the Ten Commandments. It contained ordinance and statutes meant to direct people's lives to the worship of God. And commandments like thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not covet.
It was precisely this time in history that the Book of Zephaniah has in mind. We think the Book of the Law was discovered, but bloodshed was still rampant. People had strayed far from God's plans for them, far from the commandments. The good and right, just and true, had been lost. And that's the day Zephaniah seems to imagine a time like King Manasseh's reign. When we read the first two chapters of that book that bears his name, this is how the artist John Singer Sargent imagined the prophet Zephaniah. Let's see if this. There we go.
This is from a painting called the Frieze of the Prophets, a mural that John Singer Sargent put together back in 1895. It's up in the Boston Public Library. These are just three of a host of prophets that he depicted, and these ones are the so called prophets of despair.
This portrays Zephaniah to the side, holding his head and looking down. He's been portrayed along with Joel and Obadiah, and it's like he's holding his head in pain and rending his garments, for what he sees is so grim. In the early chapters of Zephaniah, we read words like, the great day of the Lord is near. Near and hastening fast. The warrior cries aloud, there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
It sounds like the very opposite of an inspiring soliloquy, doesn't it? It sounds like a speech of despair, of a coming time when the consequences of Judah's misdeeds would come back to haunt them. It's a bitter day of defeat that the first chapters of Zephaniah imagine, even as the prophet calls them, to turn from idolatry, fraud, oppression and bloodshed.
But then in the third chapter of Zephaniah, right about the middle, it's as if the stage directions read, enter the king. Enter the king. And suddenly the world and future that was painted so bleak by the book of Zephaniah takes a turn, and we hear these words, Rejoice.
Rejoice with all your heart, daughter Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He's turned away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst. A king is in your midst. You shall feel disaster no more. The Lord gives victory. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will renew you in his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing, as if on a day of festival. I will make you renowned and praised among all peoples of the earth, says the Lord.
Recalls to my ear Henry V's Crispin's Day speech, when a king enters the scene and lifts a veil on the future. And people see a day when victory is declared. Each one of them is honored not just by the king, but by all people. And seeing this future, the people erupt in shouts of joy. Those three words bring it about. Enter the king.
Well, Shakespeare and our history books, of course, tell us how that battle of Agincourt back in 1415 unfolded. The French bore down on the English, arriving on horseback with a terrifying cavalry charge. But the strength of the English archers and mud that proved the greatest enemy of the French that day overwhelmed the French army. And later in Shakespeare's account, Henry V would read, of 10,000 fallen French to less than 30 English slain, an extraordinary victory.
But if you see in Kevin Branagh's version of Henry V put to film, there's a remarkable scene, a noteworthy one, that takes place soon after. All the soldiers cheer with joy as they learn that the day is theirs.
Henry V, depicted by Kenneth Branagh, picks up a fallen soldier and then he walks through these fields of all the dead, so many of them French. And rather than a victory song being played at Te Deum, we hear a song of lament.
And as soldiers along with Henry V, look at all the fallen, those they had called their enemies, it's like something is horribly wrong. The great day of which they might have dreamed was not there yet. Too many lay slain. That day of peace had not arrived.
We know from scripture and from history that back in King Josiah's day, there was cause for a time to celebrate a king. A new king had entered the scene. And for a time it felt like victory. After discovering that book of the law changes, renewal efforts were made. And it was like the people of God discovered anew who they were. Worship happened in powerful ways, centered on the Lord, their God. And certainly there were shouts of joy and cheers praising the God of creation. A good king had come and Josiah directed directing people back to God. But not long after that, people would behold what Henry V sees. Soon after the battle of Agincourt, they would see dead bodies stretched out before them. Less than 30 years after Josiah's reign, Jerusalem and Judah would fall to a ravaging empire called Babylon and the promise of Zephaniah, Chapter 3. A Promise of enemies turned away and of people no longer fearing disaster or destruction. That would be a far cry from the killing fields of 587 and 586 BCE.
Those would be years, so soon after Josiah's reign, when Babylon ravaged the last remnants of what once was a United Kingdom, 12 tribes together of Israel under the rule of King David. And certainly people wondered when that kingdom collapsed under Babylon, would such a king ever, ever enter the stage again?
And then our scriptures tell of another dark and gloomy time. Centuries later, a foreign empire named Rome ruled the land. And the Jewish people were subject to its taxes and its military occupation. They were subject to Roman imperial decrees, like the one that said all citizens of Judah, then called Judea must return to their place of birth to be registered and at that time, the very end of the first century, before the common era. And in that place Roman occupied Judea. It's like the divine stage. Instructions read, enter the king. Enter the king.
According to Luke's gospel, outside the city of David, an angel would deliver the soliloquy that the children brought us this morning. Behold, I am bringing you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For born to you this day in the city of David is the Savior, the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a child wrapped in bonds of cloth and lying in a manger. And with that good news we read of how an army of angels, that's the word in our scriptures, a heavenly host, which means an army of angels, erupted in joy, singing glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those whom God favors. A king had entered the scene.
Now that king born in Bethlehem would grow to give a whole host of inspiring soliloquies. This Messiah would proclaim how a heavenly kingdom had come near to them, to common folk. It was right there in their midst. As the sick were healed, the poor were given good news, the hungry were fed, ordinary commoners were proclaimed by this king to be God's own children, part of God's family.
A battle was coming, this king warned. But it would not be a battle fought with swords or cavalry. It would be fought with the non violent weapons of faith, of hope, of love. Soldiers would be sent out by this king to the field of battle, not bearing guns, but in groups of two to share good news, to heal the sick, to cast out evil, and to carry nothing for that journey but a cloak, tunic and a staff. And in so doing they would be proclaiming a new kingdom had come, a kingdom of God.
That king we as Christians call Jesus the Christ the Messiah. And he would be put to death. He was accused of daring to be called a king. Some accused him of challenging the prevailing powers, for daring to say no human king or emperor, no Herod or Caesar truly ruled the day. Some accused him of making himself equal to God by his words or his actions. And so he was sentenced to death. And for a time it surely seemed to this king's foot soldiers that the battle was over and they had lost. Their king had fallen, been crucified and buried.
And for a time that was the state of things.
But three days later our scriptures proclaimed that same king rose. And with his rising came a sign and seal that afflicted future day would come, a day of restoration, a day like the one the prophet Zephaniah saw when people would sing and shout, for the Lord had taken away all judgments. And they could say, the King of Israel is in our midst.
Some would say we are in a time and place today marked by exhaustion, sickness and anxiety about the future. Many today are tempted to despair as the night seems to stretch on and enemy forces seem so powerful. Many of us awake for the battle, acutely aware of our own weaknesses, our shortcomings, our sin, the way of discipleship, the way of justice, of mercy, of walking humbly with God, of loving God with all our heart, heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. It can seem some dark mornings like a movement doomed to fail. The forces arrayed against it seem too great. The odds of a victory worse than five to one, a million to one.
The first two chapters of Zephaniah. Imagine just such a day. And were that the whole story joyless, would be the morn.
But the prophet Zephaniah and then the prophet king named Jesus, would proclaim the dawn of a bright new day, a day when the stage directions would again read Enter the King. And the one who first gave life to the world would bring that day of restoration certain as the rising of the sun.
Friends, the good news of Advent and Christmas can be summed up in many ways in three words. Enter the King.
Enter the King. In this season, when we recall the birth of Jesus Christ, we can look to that great news that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Our Lord and King entered the world and made us children of God. We can savor the Christmas story of Enter the King. We can savor that even now, this very hour, the Holy Spirit is with us. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, that king which scriptures say rose and ascended into heaven is with us, is with us in spirit. We can still say that King who entered the world is still present right in our midst. And something more we remember in Advent. We can look that day when all tears will be wiped away and we will hear proclaim from heaven, behold, I am making all things new.
Enter the King and a weary world rejoices.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Amen.
