| |
Epiphany 4, 2006
O Jesus, King of Glory
Today’s hymn of the week is “O Jesus, King of Glory” (LW 79) by Martin Behm, a contemporary of William Shakespeare (1564-1616). On September 16, 1557 Martin Behm was born in the small town of Lauban, which is today located in southwest Poland. In the 16th century, though, when Behm was born there, the region, Silesia, belonged to Bohemia which in turn belonged to Austria. During a lengthy famine in 1574, Martin went to a distant relative in Vienna where he stayed for two years and worked as a private tutor. After studying at Strassburg for four years, Behm returned home in 1580 when his father had died. In the following year he became a teacher at the local school and was also ordained into the ministry as assistant pastor (deacon) of Holy Trinity Church in Lauban. In 1586 he became its senior pastor. He served the parish for 36 years until 1622, when he died (on February 5) after spending almost six months on the sickbed. His were difficult times: In 1590 he again had to deal with famine; in 1616 the plague swept through his congregation; and in 1619, the seemingly endless woes of the Thirty-Years War (1618-1648) began affecting Lauban. In these difficult circumstances, Behm was a faithful Lutheran pastor and preacher, author, and very productive and well-known hymn writer (close to 500 hymns). In most of them he holds up the sufferings of Christ. In difficult and confusing times, Behm offered the unchanging gospel of the suffering Lord as comfort and hope. Our hymnal, Lutheran Worship, offers one hymn in addition to today’s hymn of the week: LW 479 “O Holy, Blessed Trinity,” Behm’s morning hymn to the Holy Trinity, for whom both his and our churches are named.
Behm’s hymn was translated into English by a very famous translator, Catherine Winkworth. She was born in 1829 in London, England; her family moved to Manchester two years later. In 1862 her family moved to Bristol. She died suddenly in 1878 in Monnetier, France, a town southeast of Geneva, Switzerland. In the 1850s and 60s she published three collections of about 220 German hymns translated by her into English. In 1869 she published a collection of biographies of German hymn writers. Our hymnal contains 41 translations of hers.
Now to Behm’s Epiphany hymn. As in the Epiphany hymns we looked at in the weeks before, Behm’s hymn teaches us very clearly who the Jesus is: He is the “King of Glory;” he is “both David’s Lord and (David’s) son.” How can this be? According to his divine nature, Jesus is David’s Lord; according to his human nature, he is David’s son (see Mat. 22:41-46; Acts 13:22-23; Rom. 1:3; Is. 11:1-4). Jesus is both God and Man in one person. Unlike the decaying kingdoms of the world, the kingdom of Jesus “endures forever.” His throne is in heaven. Because of this, Jesus is the only one who can “help that in earth’s dominions, from pole to farthest pole, your reign may spread salvation to each benighted soul.” In other words, because Jesus rules the world we pray to him that his heavenly kingdom of grace and forgiveness may come to all men. This stanza is therefore based on the Second Petition of the Small Catechism, which in turn tells us how God’s kingdom comes to all who sit in the darkness and shadow of death and sin: “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that by his grace we believe his holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” God’s kingdom comes by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, in law and gospel. This is why Jesus preaches a message of repentance and forgiveness and teaches his disciples to do the same (Mark 1:15; Luke 24:47). This is the Church’s missionary message to the ends of the world. Note also that our hymn is not afraid to call unbelievers “benighted” – that’s not a nice name, but it’s true. Without the light of the gospel, all people are “benighted,” sitting in utter darkness, be they ever so intelligent or successful in the world. But now, in Christ, the gospel’s light has come (Is. 9:2; 60:1-3; Luke 1:79).
The hymn’s second stanza brings in the “eastern sages” (Mat. 2:1-12) who were guided by a star to where the Christ Child and his Mother were, which is the gospel reading for the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6). They, bringing “their richest tributes,” “were witnessing your glory, they worship you, their King.” The sages are important people for us because they were the first from outside of Israel to come to Christ. They were non-Jews like us! In them, the prophecy of Is. 60 was beginning to be fulfilled: the nations are coming to Zion’s light and bringing their tributes, including gold and incense (v. 6). Now, what about us, how do we find this King? Any stars guiding us? Our hymn answers our question: “To you the star is pointing, the sure prophetic Word.” Jesus fulfills the many prophecies pointing to the Messiah (Luke 24:44; Acts 10:43). With the wise men now “joyously we hail you: our Savior and our Lord.” This stanza applies the gospel lesson for Epiphany to us. By his own Word the “King of glory” leads us to himself. Today, this Word still shines as brightly as ever.
The third stanza points out something surprising about Jesus: According to his Word, he is the King of the universe, “a mighty monarch.” And yet, he cares “very little for earthly goods or gold.” He didn’t look like a typical king at the time – or like a powerful person today. He came to earth, not to parade his supreme glory around, but to be our humble Savior. The tributes we offer, the gifts we make – Christ does not need them. By them we simply show our faith in him as our Savior. This kind of faith pleases him the most. So Jesus needs no big castles and crowns. “Yet you are decked with beauty, with rays of glorious light.” What kind of beauty and glory is Christ’s? His beauty and glory are his “works” that “proclaim your goodness,” and also the fact that “all your ways are right.” Christ did much good during his earthly life: he healed, cast out demons, fed the hungry, and raised the dead. He continues to work good by sustaining his fallen creation for the good of his children. And his ways were right in that he became our righteousness from God: By his suffering and death, all our sins are forgiven and we are declared holy and righteous before God. This righteousness he offers to all “benighted” souls in the gospel. How beautiful and right our Lord is for us!
To this merciful, beautiful Lord and Savior we now again pray: “O Lord, protect your people with your almighty arm.” Our survival as Christ’s Church in the midst of her enemies depends solely on Christ, the almighty and gracious Lord of the Church. In other words, we are led to pray the Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, that the Lord would “break and hinder every evil plan and purpose of the world, the devil and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow his name or let his kingdom come; and strengthen and keep us firm in his Word and faith until we die.” As the first stanza, so the third follows almost the form of our collect prayers, where we first address God giving the reason for our prayer (“Lord God, almighty Father, since you …”); then we state our petition. Pay special attention to today’s collect after the hymn of praise and greeting. You can also model your personal prayers accordingly. These stanzas have this form because Martin Behm was a good pastor and this hymn was first published in a collection of prayers.
The fifth stanza continues to dwell on the Second and Third Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. First, we pray that Jesus, the “King of Glory,” would admit us to his kingdom. This would be an act of great mercy because we’re not at all like him, mighty, beautiful. We are “weak and poor,” miserable sinners, as we confess at the beginning of church. Yet Jesus came to save and rescue just this kind of sinners! In the second half of this stanza we pray according to the Third Petition, that Jesus would “guide and keep us safe from our bitter foes.” These foes are not simply the “bad people” we may or may not meet in life. Our most important foes are “sin and death and Satan” – the ones from whom Christ already delivered us by his suffering and death. They continue to plague us, even though they are already defeated. But like a broken army they still can do us harm – hence our prayer. Behm ends this stanza by leading us to pray the Last Petition “And deliver us from evil:” “Free me from all my woes” “of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to yourself in heaven.” The Lord’s Prayer, today’s hymn, and the Catechism become one for those who’ve learned to meditate God’s Word and the Catechism.
Finally, stanza number 6 takes up again our Epiphany star, God’s Word, and prays that Jesus would let this bright, clear “Word within me shine as the fairest star:” The gospel reveals his “reign of love” that shows us “how wonderful you are.” This is again the Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer. The second half of the stanza is a prayer based on the First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer because here we prayer that Jesus would lead us to “confess you truly.” We pray, in other words, that God’s word would be taught in its truth and purity among us. Christians don’t want to spread lies about God. Such lies do not help the “benighted souls” Christ wants to save; they’d only increase darkness and confusion. God’s true and pure Word – that’s what all sinners need, ourselves included. When we confess Christ truly we, “with your Christendom,” own him King and Savior. We can’t separate Christ from his Word and teaching to pick and choose what suits us or others (Mark 8:38). This would be making up our own Christ. We’d profane God’s holy name given us in Baptism. We’d break the Second Commandment. “Protect us from this, heavenly Father!” May the Holy Spirit keep his whole Church on earth with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. |
