The Child King

Love came streaking across the skies of Dead Planet. A Child King would come to a most unlikely couple. A young virgin was to have a child. The Cosmos was ready to be born again. Here was news the heavens would declare with the shout of angels. A Babe was to bring a new kingdom. The Promise given in the Garden was stepping forth. The Word became flesh and dwelt among the inhabitants of this cold, dark world. The Light was about to shine. The One from beyond the stars would speak His golden words.

The God-among-man was here. I remember the first time I saw Him. He looked like one of us, dressed in the fashion of his day. But His Words of Life betrayed Him. This was no ordinary man from Judea circa 3 AD. He spoke in distant tones to this planet. There was no easy surrender. The dead world hypnosis with its “here and now” was going to be challenged. But who would listen? The Temple shouted its own tradition and reputations. It became a box of its own making. The new Herald of Eternity did not fit.

“Listen all you boxes of religion.” The other boxes received Him not. The big box of riches said He was too poor. The box of Now said His concerns were not important. The box of existence said things were fine just the way they were. All the boxes rejected Him and turned away. The Good News was that the Wonder of the universe cared little for the boxes and all their fine traditions. He was more concerned for the inhabitants of dead world and dead life caught inside them. He came to free them, not to fit in the boxes. Woe to the boxes.

“This girl is not dead but sleeping.” Little did the boxes know. But the One from the beyond-Life was just beginning to shine. The little boxes had a good laugh. But then the girl awoke into a new horizon and crossed the boundary of death before their very eyes. This was more upsetting than anything to the little boxes. How could they go on living as though nothing had happened? Would their seats of honor at the Temple mean as much as they did in the past? The little girl come back from the dead was going to be very unsettling. The dead do not give up their dead easily. What else had they gotten wrong?