We feast tomorrow on Christ the King. Just suggest a few thoughts about the Kingdom of God. As some of you know, Martin Buber has written a very instructive book of the idea of the kingdom of God in the Old Testament. And perhaps one or the other idea I would like to bring to your attention tonight is when we speak about the Malik, the king. In the context of the Old Testament, I think it is very good to point out, as Martin Buber does, we have two, let us say, pictures of the king corresponding to two aspects and two functions of life.

[01:16]

A kingly royal rule is one, when we think of a king, we usually have in mind the throne. And then on the throne, the king sits. And this sitting, of course, signifies the possession of a cupboard, of pub. The king rests, everybody else runs. And he is the quiet filter, the pivot about which everything then develops. But there is another that is more One could maybe say the more the oriental idea. But when we look, especially in the first beginnings, in the first pages of the Old Testament, we have another picture.

[02:25]

It is there, God, the Melech, as the leader. Leader means the one who is to guide his people or protects his people on the wanderings, his wanderings through this world, through the desert, so to say. That is the melek. That is, of course, as you know, this idea is connected and very closely with the idea of the pastor, the shepherd. As the shepherd leads the sheep, leads them to the passengers, and so does the king, the melek, the leader and the shepherd. Now, in this, especially in this last idea that I just mentioned, maybe it's worthwhile that we dwell a little upon it. If you tomorrow, when we begin the Feast, the Mass of the Feast, and we sing the Trojans, then you realize that there we are in the world of the apocalypse, of the fall in the fifth chapter,

[03:43]

where the throning of the king of the ages is being acclaimed by the thousands and thousands, by the living beings, by the presbyter and by the other, the hosts of the redeemed. is pictured there, so it is there that came in his possession, the one that has brought the wandering to an end, and who is now celebrating the triumph. Dignus est. He is worthy to receive honor and glory. That is in tomorrow's matters. Maybe perhaps tomorrow I could speak a little about that aspect of the kingdom. But tonight I wanted to call your attention to the other one, the king as the leader.

[04:50]

There he is naturally not in all his pomp and circumstance with his crowd and the sceptre and everything. But there he is simply clad, you know, as ready to march. So he is there as a leader. He has to be, he is with his people and he shares the conditions of his people. He goes with them through thick and thin, as we say in German, durch dick und dünn. And that is, of course, is another, you sense right away, you sense their right way. There is a tremendously important, decisive factor in our idea of the kingdom of God. It isn't, for that matter, oriental because the kingdom in which we believe is the kingdom of the Word made man.

[05:53]

Therefore, of the stone, eternal words that leap from the heavenly throne. Leap from the heavenly throne. Let the glory and shade of the here in the valley on the way of this earthly existence. That is so important. We see that in the Bible. Now, I wanted, you know, just to go with you through some quotations simply, some places in Holy Scripture where these things come to the fore. And that is, for example, first such a significant place as Genesis 28. And there you see right away is the ideal situation of Jacob, who is a refugee.

[06:57]

See, a refugee, that's the important thing. And it is there that to the refugee appears the Lord. and shares with him, as it were, the exile. That is always very strong. Here, you know, the chapter 28, that is the first, let us say, revelation of the, say, the first Domus Dei, of the first house of God. This is the house of God here on earth. And naturally, there's a great danger, we speak about the house of God here on earth, that we conceive it as the pagans would conceive it as a presence, a kind of bodily and immovable presence, as it were, as a throne name, to which then we add,

[08:07]

So Bethel here, where Jacob finds the place, and this place is his resting place, and it is a hostel for him, it's an inn for him, but of course of his own making, of the most primitive kind, the most primitive kind. Just as we take the text, you know, yes, it is usually in the translations, only consisting of one stone. But that, of course, too, is very important, that this one stone is called a house of God. That is now in Pentecost. But there he is, you know, in the exile and the whole depression, all the desolation of the refugee ways.

[09:08]

He has lost his father's house and he's leaving his country. And then he finds this desolate place. The stone, he says, and he puts there to rest his head on the stone. And then that is the place where God the king appears to him. And he appears to him as king because there it is where he promises he would give him the land. Only the king can do that. And give him, for that matter, the independence under his rule. But there is then the way in which, and let us say also the kind of the kingly rule, where it is expressed in the text, I am the Lord of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac.

[10:12]

I will give you and your descendants the land of which you live. and they shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to west, to the east, to the north, and to the south. That is all capely ruined. Give the land. Take care of the development, of the increase of the nation, and expand the realm, and all the nations of the earth in you shall be blessed." That is, of course, the new aspect of this kingdom. This kingdom here is not an expansion, you know. It's not a matter of politics, but it is a matter of blessing. And all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. It's not a local kingdom, as you see right away. Something completely... It's the way in which Israel always has conceived a mission.

[11:18]

The chosen people for all the nations of the earth. Something universal, truly messianic. I will be with you and protect you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land. Indeed, I will not forsake you till I fulfill my promise. I will be with you. The presence of this leader with his people is the decisive thing. Not as being enthroned on a high throne of majesty, above and transcendent of everybody. But I will be with you. The God Emmanuel. The God with us. So it is here the essence of the kingdom is the presence of the king.

[12:25]

The presence. And that again I think one can, of course, we as Christians can understand that only in its full impact through the New Testament. This God's being with us is naturally fulfilled in the incarnation and in his going with us, in his going to the cross. And then he's been with us as through and in the Holy Spirit in his church. I will be with you, protect you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land. Indeed, I will not forsake you till I fulfill my promise. This leader who goes there with his people, promises, and that is his whole truth, I will always be with you.

[13:30]

And then there are two functions that he undertakes and which constitutes his being with us. And the one is that he protects us in the exile. And the other one is that he brings us back to the land of the bombs, into the rest. So you see that the essence of this leadership, of the melech of Israel, it's really, one can say, the leadership on the wonders of the Pascha, of that Pascha, which is the center, as we know again through the New Testament, in the night of Easter through our Lord Jesus Christ. What is the exile? It's the slavery in Egypt. What is the slavery of Egypt if not that being far away from the home which our self-will, which Satan brings about?

[14:36]

And the return into the promised land. What else is it? But the reconciliation. So let us see it in that way. I will protect you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land. Indeed, and that is the conclusion of the whole, I will not forsake you till I fulfill my promise. That is indeed, as we know later on, already the proclamation, as it were, of the name of Jah. I am with you. I am there. The proclamation of the presence. But the important thing, presence, not only, let us say, in the land of the promise, but also present in the exile. I will protect you wherever you go. And I will bring you back into this land.

[15:40]

So you see, the presence of the king is not bound to the throne, but it is bound to the people. That is the important thing. That is what we so often forget, so often. And how important is it to remember that, especially in moments of desolation, in moments in which we feel the burden of the exiles, Moments in which the dangers of the world, from without and from within, threaten our very existence. No redeeming. Be not afraid. I am with you. That is the great message, therefore, which God gives to Jacob at the moment in which Jacob says, this is the place of God. Truly, the ladder which binds heaven and earth together is firmly put right next to him there where Jacob is.

[16:53]

Who would not see that that is truly the God of the incarnation who speaks there? And then, you know, the same promise is repeated again in chapter 31, the third verse. where it is said, the Lord said to Jacob, return to the land of your fathers and to your own king, and I will be with you. And again, maybe, we take another one, 46.4, at the very end of Genesis, the very end of the book, 46.4, where again it is said, By God. And again as a vision of the night. At night in a vision. God said to Israel. To Jacob. Who as you know was in deep sorrow.

[17:55]

Because his stone was lost. In Egypt. And he answered. Here I am. And then he said. I am God. The God of your fathers. Do not fear to go down to Egypt, for there I will be with you and make you a great people. I will go down to Egypt with you and will surely bring you up again. In the Hebrew text it's nicer. And I will bring you up, indeed bring you up again. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will bring you up. Yes, bring you up again. That is, of course, the God of the Pascha. What I try to call your attention to, that is the one who goes down to Egypt and brings us up again.

[19:00]

that wonderful burden that goes to the whole of the Old Testament, he has led us down to the gates of hell and brought us up again. So let us not forget that is everywhere the essence of God's kingdom, not something that is bound to any cosmic powers, to place, to nation, to a race, anything like that. But it is the God who wants to be present with this people. And not only when this people is on the height of its power, but he goes down into Egypt with his people, into slavery, and brings it up, brings it up again. Now, we have, of course, we have this idea continued in Exodus, what is indicated in the history of the patriarchs, later on is then fulfilled in the history of the Son of God of the chosen people.

[20:17]

I called my son out of Egypt. And the beautiful way in which that again is expressed, this kingdom of God, which is shown by his being with his people in a cloud by day and in a shining column of fire by night. That double aspect of his presence there wide again and there is a cloud by day and there is a burning fire by night. And this is what's right in the 19th chapter of Exodus, what in the first book we could say of God's, the king's, sermon on the mount. What is said in chapter 19 of the covenant on Mount Sinai. While Israel was at camp here in front of the mountain, Moses went up the mountain to come. Then the Lord called to him and said,

[21:19]

Thus Pharaoh said to the house of Jacob, tell the Israelites that comes this first sermon on the mount. You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I carried you up on eagle wings and brought you to my seat. That is a wonderful, beautiful description of the kingdom of God. God being the Melech of his people. I bore you up on Eagle Springs and brought you to myself. Again, if we think about it and see it in the light of the New Testament, Is that not a wonderful prophecy of what later on our Lord says? And he says, I am the way. I am the life. I am the truth.

[22:20]

I am the way. He carries his people on eager wings and brings the people to himself. He is the one who carries, who brings, and he is the one who is the rest. He is there on the one place, and he is there at the end. He is the way, and he is the life, and he is the rest of good and evil. So again, the incarnation and our Lord's work of redemption is foreshadowed in that beautiful. And we realize that. We should realize it ourselves. When we are on the roads, the dusty roads of this earth, when we feel the strangeness of the exile and are being far away,

[23:22]

from the hope and from rest. Then let us think about it. I bring you up. I carry you on eagle's wings. What are for us these eagle's wings? Where do they become a reality in our own spiritual life? I am your wings. I carry you. It's naturally in our faith that there the winds go. And what is our faith? But faith in the fact that God is our King. Our King in that way that he carries us on his shoulders. As the good shepherd went down from the mountain and looked for that sheep that was there in the brandy bush, And then he took out, and he put it on his shoulders, and he carried it up the mountain.

[24:25]

I carry you on eagle's wings in order to bring you to myself. It is faith, and let us have it as faith in the resurrection, which are the eagle's wings. Those who in the sacrament of baptism pass through the Red Sea And in this sacrament of faith, they are reborn because they are buried with Christ. They then are saved. They are being carried by the good shepherds out into the upper mountain, the mountain of the church, their white garment with their burning candle in their hand. And their youth is renewed like that of the eagles. As the psalm says. It brings you to myself.

[25:29]

It's the same, for example, if you apply that to the mass. Where are the eagle's wings with which the Lord carries us? Now, it's in the very action of this that we, in the spirit of faith, that we carry our gifts, our ills, ourselves to the altar. And he takes us upon himself. This is my body, this is my blood. and then carries us into the heavenly sanctuary, Pater Nostra, the essentials, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And then the kingdom is there, the rest is there, in the holy banquet which we celebrate. So you have seen how I treated the Egyptians, how I bore you up on eagles' wings, and brought you here to my sit,

[26:38]

Therefore, if you hug to my voice, keep my covenant, you shall be my special treasure, dearer to me than all other people, although all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, A holy nation. That is what you must tell the Israelites. And then this beautiful prophecy is then fulfilled at the end of this whole action in chapter 24. And it is ended with such a beautiful, again, significant retus. When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the Lord, and they all answered with one voice, we will do everything that the Lord has told us.

[27:41]

Moses then wrote down all the words and rising early the next day, He erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve times of Israel. And then having sent certain young men of the Israelites to offer holocaust and sacrifice, Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls and the other half he splashed on the altar. And then taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people who answered, All that the Lord has said we will heed and do. And then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his. There is the blood. The blood is the life. The blood is the soul. and half of it is splashed on the altar, which represents God, and half of it upon the people.

[28:50]

And that is the making of the covenant. They become blood relatives. And that is then the culmination of God's kingdom. That is what the melech does, who guides and leads and protects his people and brings them to his rest. He becomes their father. He becomes their brother. So where is it again fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ? He is the key. And if tomorrow we celebrate his kingdom, then again, what happens? We see half of the blood is splashed on the altar and half sprinkled on the people. We become blood relatives. And that is the essence of God's kingdom. What does this blur signify? It is God's own life. It is God's own love that becomes ours.

[29:51]

Now, I wanted to call still your attention to some other places in London, especially, in which perhaps all that we have said, you know, could be gathered together in a short and conclusive way. And I wanted to take the fourth book of Moses, book of Numbers, and there in the 10th chapter, because there it is, as I say, the rule of the military, of this leader king, goes with his people. It's described in such a beautiful, striking way. The Lord said to Moses, make two trumpets of silver. The trumpets of silver may be, I mean, you know that from history.

[30:54]

That is, of course, traditionally the trumpet of silver and the trumpet blast is the, it announces the presence of the king, the presence of majesty. And then here it's described, if you say use, in assembly, in the community, and in breaking camp. And there are the famous, you know very well that for the Jewish people, the day of the kingdom, or let us say, we would call it the intronization of Yahweh, of the God of Israel, is Rosh Hashanah. the beginning, the New Year's Day. This New Year's Day, that is the proclamation of the kingdom of God here on earth. And this New Year's Day is announced, and the significant, the central symbol of that day in the Old Testament is the threefold shofar blast, tekia, teruah, tekia.

[32:06]

These are threefold show problems. And that is where the central sign can say in which the rule, the kingship of Yahweh as leader-king is as it were incorporated. Three blasts. The one is for gathering. Gather the people together. The second one is breaking up the camp. And the third one is follow the leader. Those three things that will indicate the function of the people in the kingdom of God for what is necessary to follow the leader. The first is answer the invitation and gather together as the unity, as a people. It's called a call for gathering together.

[33:10]

Everyone gets out of his own and follows the one voice of the shepherd king. Then what does this one voice of the shepherd king, what does it announce? Break up your tents. Leave the camp. And then the third one, follow the leader. So these three functions naturally are also the three functions that again and again have even the corpse, let us say, of a shepherd. Our obedience to the rule of God, of our living in the kingdom of God, have to be obeyed. The one is gathered together as one. Leave your old cell, that little egoistic cell around which we circle again and again. Gather together in the ecclesia.

[34:13]

That means together. doing of leaving yourself, love, gather into the hope and identify yourself with the hope. Then the second one is, wake up the camp. And that is naturally the way in which we gain the liberty. Pack up. Don't be, as it were, don't stick to the place where you are. Pad up your things. You remember that in the days of the wandering of the desert, the Ark of the Covenant had to be carried and was provided for in such a way that it could constantly be carried. Therefore, no place, for that matter, of sinking in your roots for good

[35:16]

but remain a pilgrim here on this earth. And then the third one, follow the leader. Enter into his footsteps, as later on St. Paul says so beautifully in the epistle to the Philippians. And that is the essence, as you see right away, of our monastic life. The call to gather together. That means to leave one's organ in the readiness for the obedience. Then the breaking up of the cap. That is then the conversion of morals. And knowing and realizing I am a world and not now. I am hungry before you and it is good that I am. And then follow the victor. Follow the leader in the beautiful, constructive command of love, of charity, kindness.

[36:25]

That brings us to the rest and to peace. That is, at the end of the 10th chapter, maybe we just finish with that. There is one, there are two verses which in the explanation of the rabbis, are counted as a whole book, and they said they have the value of an entire book of the Pentateuch. Hence that is the verse 35 and 36 of the 10th chapter of the Book of Numbers. And there it is said, whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, arise, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered and those who hate you may flee before you. And when it came to rest, he would say, return, O Lord, you who ride upon the clouds to the myriads of the myriads of Israel.

[37:33]

That are the two, as it were, the two functions The two main functions of the kingdom, if we consider it as under the aspect of following the leader, following the shepherd, Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, as is, of course, this beautiful, complete inner harmony between the will of Moses and the ark. The ark is the throne of the presence. The ark is the symbol of the will of God. And every time that the ark sets out, Moses confirms it. He is one with it. He says, yes, now we wake up. Arise, O Lord, that your enemies be scattered and those who hate you may flee before you. Wherever, the ark has no place. Just as our Lord later on says to the apostles, when you come into a house and you say peace to this house and they don't accept you, then peace.

[38:46]

Take off the dust from your shoes and leave. That is the revising. The ark must have a place. But the ark does not have a place in the goodwill of the people where the ark is met with enemies and with those who hate it. That means the law of God. That means the will of God. And enemies simply, that is, will be the organized powers of self-interest which are against the inner essence of the law, which is that of selfless charity, already in the Old Testament, for that matter. And the other one, the haters, those who hate the will of God, are those who realize that this will of God is and turns against the selfish desires of their fleshly existence here on earth. But wise, O Lord, that your enemies be scattered, and those who hate you may flee before you.

[39:54]

And when it comes to wealth, Then he would say, return, O Lord, you who ride upon the clouds to the myriads and myriads of your people Israel, the rest. And that is then fulfilled in the apocalypse and these beautiful visions of which we might speak a little tomorrow.

[40:18]

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