The Kind of King We Need – Psalm 72

Psalm 72

¹ Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son.
² May he judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice.
³ May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.
⁴ May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.

⁵ May he live while the sun endures and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
⁶ May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.
⁷ In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.

¹⁸ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
¹⁹ Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth.  Amen and Amen.

Old Testament scholars say that this psalm was probably used at the coronation of Israel’s kings. It prays for many attributes of just rule and for long life and health of ruler and kingdom alike. This reading ends with a blessing for God as well, under whose hand the newly crowned king rules, extending God’s goodness to the people.

Why this psalm for this week? Remember Monday’s lesson? John the Baptist offered a chance for repentance and a baptism to show that you knew you were not always right with God and you were sorry and promised to do better. Remember how the sincere who came to John perhaps had their attention drawn to Jesus, the Savior, who would be walking among them? In Jesus’s ministry on earth he regarded people in the way this psalm describes. He looked for lowly to lift up, he defended the poor, he delivered the needy from their ills, and he took the opportunity to crush the oppressors at the marketplace of the Temple by stopping them from cheating people making the required animal sacrifices. John was pointing to the king who had come not just to their land but to rule all people forever.

Then the psalm describes the bigness and lastingness of Jesus’s reign – throughout all generations…til the moon is no more. John the Baptist saw the greatness of the One he was preparing the way for. It’s our job in Advent to realize, as John did, that this baby who is coming is not only a figure in our creche scenes but also the ruler of the universe for ever and ever. Amen and Amen.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for your Word in Holy Scripture and your Word, Jesus, the Christ Child. Help us to remember every day, especially in this season, that Jesus came for every person in the world, forever and ever, that he lived our human life, and that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Amen.