Eucharistic meditation, Sixth Epiphany

2 Kings 11:1: When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal seed.

At the beginning, the story of Athaliah appears to be the story of the destruction of the house of David. Athaliah kills all the royal seed, and it appears that the house of David is going to end. This looks like the first chapter in the story of the destruction of the Davidic dynasty.

But that's not what the story is about. It may look like the first chapter in the destruction of David, but it is really the final chapter in the destruction of Ahab. Chapter 11 is parallel in many ways to 2 Kings 9-10, the story of Jehu’s coup in the Northern Kingdom. In both, a royal house is slaughtered; in both, a queen is killed; in both, there is a destruction of a temple of Baal (cf. 11:18); in both, someone cries out "Treachery" (9:23; 11:14). In important ways, chapter 11 is a continuation of the Jehu story, because Athaliah is the final member of Ahab's house to be killed. 2 Kings 11 is the climax to the story of the Lord's vengeance against the house of Ahab.

The story begins with the apparent death of David. But the real point of the story does not emerge until the end. This is not about of the death of David but of the death of Ahab. This is not the story of David's death – or not the story of David’s death only. It is also the story of David's resurrection.

That tension, the tension between the apparent story and the real story, is at the heart of the Christian gospel: Jesus is arrested; Jesus is tried on trumped-up charges before prejudiced and hostile courts; Jesus is viciously tortured, sentenced to death, and nailed to a cross. For all the world, this looks like the end of the hopes of the Davidic kingdom. It looks for all the world like the casting out of the prince of the house of David. For all the world, this looks like the judgment of Jesus. But Jesus said of His death, Now is the judgment of this world; now is the prince of this world cast out. What looks like the world's vengeance against Jesus is in fact Jesus' conquest of the world. What looks like Satan's finest hour is his final hour.

We celebrate this feast every week in faith that what appears to be the case is not the case. We celebrate this feast in the midst of a world where Athaliahs remain active, bloodthirsty as ever. We celebrate this feast in a world where the church is under severe threat in many parts of the world. We celebrate this feast in the midst of a history that often looks like the history of the church's destruction.

The very fact that we celebrate this feast testifies to our confidence that this is not the case. Our presence at this table is a public profession of our faith that Athaliah has not and will not triumph, that David has been restored, that the Crucified has been raised. It is a confession that we have not yet reached the end of the story, and that when we do, it will be clear that the story of human history was about the triumph of David all along.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, February 12, 2006 at 08:15 AM

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