Grace and Peace to you from our Good and Gracious God, and our Savior Jesus, who is our Christ. Amen.
"Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left."
There is something about a child in power, in the spotlight, with a message, that makes us want to love them, root for them, see their gentleness and innocence triumph where adult authority has faltered. When the artifacts from King Tut’s tomb toured this country, millions flocked to be part of the event, to see these treasures and imagine the life of this young Egyptian pharaoh. Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper is a much-loved children’s story about two boys with vastly different stations in life, trading places in 16th century England. Eight-year-old Mari Kopenny, better known as Little Miss Flint, became the face of a public health crisis in the water system in her hometown. At age 8!
So, today’s lesson about 8-year-old King Josiah in seventh century Judah invokes IN us the competing emotions of wonder, and realism. We know what some 8-year-olds have accomplished. But we know what MOST 8-year-olds are like. Perhaps we can recall a few memories of ourselves or our kids or grandkids around age 8.
On the long trip back from southern Wisconsin Friday, I had the chance to reflect on some family stories: the stray football that landed in the middle of a pumpkin pie came to mind. Delivered by a pre-teen who should have known better. I also recalled two girls, ages 8 and 9, who managed to uncover the stash of presents weeks before Christmas. As my sister’s accomplice, I broke my own doll before it was even placed under the tree. (Sorry, Mom…) So, I know a little bit about 8-year-olds. And, I know my first question when reading about an 8-year-old king was, “Who was REALLY running the show?”
Some have speculated that the same group of men who assassinated Josiah’s father, after only two years on the throne, held the real power. Others believe the reason Josiah’s mother Jedidiah is even mentioned in this passage is her faithfulness to the Israelite God. One way or another, King Josiah invokes the memory of his wise and steadfast great-grandfather, King Hezekiah, and his ancestor King David.
Through the 14 generations of kings from David through the fall of Judah to the Babylonians, the refrain about this king or that one often reads the same. “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Eleven times the Book of Kings tells the stories of rulers who were cruel, worshipped any god if it would help them politically, and who failed to listen to the words of prophets sent to right their ways.
Just three times, Judah had kings with 5-star reviews: David, who God called a man after God’s own heart, Hezekiah, who “did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God,” and now Josiah, who “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD … not turning aside to the right or to the left.”
"Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left."
There is something about a child in power, in the spotlight, with a message, that makes us want to love them, root for them, see their gentleness and innocence triumph where adult authority has faltered. When the artifacts from King Tut’s tomb toured this country, millions flocked to be part of the event, to see these treasures and imagine the life of this young Egyptian pharaoh. Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper is a much-loved children’s story about two boys with vastly different stations in life, trading places in 16th century England. Eight-year-old Mari Kopenny, better known as Little Miss Flint, became the face of a public health crisis in the water system in her hometown. At age 8!
So, today’s lesson about 8-year-old King Josiah in seventh century Judah invokes IN us the competing emotions of wonder, and realism. We know what some 8-year-olds have accomplished. But we know what MOST 8-year-olds are like. Perhaps we can recall a few memories of ourselves or our kids or grandkids around age 8.
On the long trip back from southern Wisconsin Friday, I had the chance to reflect on some family stories: the stray football that landed in the middle of a pumpkin pie came to mind. Delivered by a pre-teen who should have known better. I also recalled two girls, ages 8 and 9, who managed to uncover the stash of presents weeks before Christmas. As my sister’s accomplice, I broke my own doll before it was even placed under the tree. (Sorry, Mom…) So, I know a little bit about 8-year-olds. And, I know my first question when reading about an 8-year-old king was, “Who was REALLY running the show?”
Some have speculated that the same group of men who assassinated Josiah’s father, after only two years on the throne, held the real power. Others believe the reason Josiah’s mother Jedidiah is even mentioned in this passage is her faithfulness to the Israelite God. One way or another, King Josiah invokes the memory of his wise and steadfast great-grandfather, King Hezekiah, and his ancestor King David.
Through the 14 generations of kings from David through the fall of Judah to the Babylonians, the refrain about this king or that one often reads the same. “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Eleven times the Book of Kings tells the stories of rulers who were cruel, worshipped any god if it would help them politically, and who failed to listen to the words of prophets sent to right their ways.
Just three times, Judah had kings with 5-star reviews: David, who God called a man after God’s own heart, Hezekiah, who “did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God,” and now Josiah, who “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD … not turning aside to the right or to the left.”
* * *
However…
There’s something that rings untrue about these labels. Not that Josiah wasn’t a good king – our lesson today shows Josiah as a person with a servant heart, a person who longed to lead Israel back to worship God alone. It is clear that Josiah was a young man who loved the Lord and wanted to follow God’s commandments, from his childhood to the discovery of the Book of the Law, and until he was killed in battle.
It's the extremes with which the stories paint these people that stop me short.
Evil. Wicked. Sinful. Good. Righteous. Faithful.
Is anyone REALLY like that? Always??
Is anyone you know perfect, making incredibly good choices every moment?
Is anyone you know vile, without one shred of decency or kindness?
We mature when we realize the people closest to us, and by extension, every person, is some mixture of gifts and deficits. The people that I idolized came off their pedestals and became real colleagues, mentors and friends when I found that they made poor choices and had moments when their words and actions were ill-advised and unjust.
In short, they were a lot more like me than I wanted to admit.
And I had to figure out what to do with that, both in them, and in myself. I know that there were so many people I left in the dust because I didn’t have the maturity to see outside the binary of “either you are consistently good, or I don’t want anything to do with you.” It is the work of a lifetime – to grow into a person who can love people as they are, Both beautiful AND flawed.
* * *
I think this story, particularly on this Sunday, the final Sunday of the church year, called Christ the King Sunday, or Reign of Christ Sunday, is this pivot in the lectionary. We move from hearing about the history of God’s people, and begin the lessons that point us to the promise of a Messiah. We hear about a good king, a faithful king who grieves his people’s sins, who wants to do everything to heal their wayward ways – Josiah actually means “God has healed” – and finds that he cannot halt the tragedy that has already been put in motion. Judah will fall to the Babylonians less than 25 years after Josiah’s death.
Does that make Josiah a failure? Josiah’s choice to cling to the discovered Book of the Law provided a model for Israel’s leaders, as they taught Jewish history, faith and Law to the generations that were born in exile in Babylonia. Six centuries before the birth of Jesus, King Josiah was the hope his people needed to cling to their faith and each other as the world began tumbling down around them. Not a perfect, faithful, always “just” king – that King, that Messiah, Jesus – was coming soon. But King Josiah was a good king. Josiah was the king Judah needed, creating the reforms Israel could re-iterate when they needed to restore their people’s faith in God.
The world is filled with leaders. History will rank them, label them good and bad, humane and cruel, wise and foolish. King Josiah was a good king, as good as they come, and a standout king for his youthful reign. But even he couldn’t offset the unfaithfulness and sin that had taken hold of the hearts of the people.
The remedy for that was still to come, and required a different kind of king. Not a royal – a radically different kind of king that taught the meek would inherit the earth and that love – not might – was the answer. Not a king who died in battle, but a king whose life, death on a cross, and victory over death set our wandering hearts free.
