Queen Mother And The King
Sermon
Here Comes The King
Sermons And Children's Lessons For Advent, Christmas And Epiphany
A couple of years ago, a theological journal that is published in Hong Kong had a beautiful pen and ink Christmas drawing on its front cover and a second Christmas painting on the inside of the rear cover. Both of them were of Mary and the baby Jesus. Both of them depicted Mary as a queen. On the front cover, she is dressed in regal robes, has a large halo around her head; she is standing barefoot upon a cloud, holding the infant Jesus, who has a halo around his head. On one side of her is the corner of a sumptuous palace, several angels lean from its balcony. A whole cloud of angels, playing all sorts of instruments - flutes, harps, pipes, horns, lutes, even a drum - are to her right and above her. Other angels are at her feet.
Mary is the "queen of the angels," but their attention is on Christ, just as it was when the angel chorus sang at Jesus' birth. One angel holds a cross over the halos of Mary and Jesus to remind people that Jesus, the King, must die in pain and agony. Interestingly, all of the angels' faces are Oriental, and while Mary is in Oriental dress, apart from her eyes, her face does not seem to be Oriental. Jesus' hairdo is Oriental, but his face could be the face of any infant.
The other painting is almost stark by contrast. Mary, dressed in modest Oriental dress under a single branch of a peach tree in blossom. She holds the baby Jesus, whose arm is outstretched to the world. Both have halos over their heads. This woman had definite Oriental features; Jesus could be a baby of the Orient or another part of athe world. He is claiming the world for himself - asserting by a simple gesture that he is the King of kings - forever. Mary may be queen of the angels and queen of the peach blossoms, but Jesus is the King at his birth!
How did the shepherds see the infant Jseus and his mother? What would a painting of the Christmas scene be like if they could have painted it? We will never know. But we know this: An angel told them that Jesus, the Lord and King of all people, had been born and they went to Bethlehem to see him, as well as his mother. They praised God for showing them Jesus and they told every person they met that they had seen Jesus their king.
Mary is the "queen of the angels," but their attention is on Christ, just as it was when the angel chorus sang at Jesus' birth. One angel holds a cross over the halos of Mary and Jesus to remind people that Jesus, the King, must die in pain and agony. Interestingly, all of the angels' faces are Oriental, and while Mary is in Oriental dress, apart from her eyes, her face does not seem to be Oriental. Jesus' hairdo is Oriental, but his face could be the face of any infant.
The other painting is almost stark by contrast. Mary, dressed in modest Oriental dress under a single branch of a peach tree in blossom. She holds the baby Jesus, whose arm is outstretched to the world. Both have halos over their heads. This woman had definite Oriental features; Jesus could be a baby of the Orient or another part of athe world. He is claiming the world for himself - asserting by a simple gesture that he is the King of kings - forever. Mary may be queen of the angels and queen of the peach blossoms, but Jesus is the King at his birth!
How did the shepherds see the infant Jseus and his mother? What would a painting of the Christmas scene be like if they could have painted it? We will never know. But we know this: An angel told them that Jesus, the Lord and King of all people, had been born and they went to Bethlehem to see him, as well as his mother. They praised God for showing them Jesus and they told every person they met that they had seen Jesus their king.
