Royal Obituaries
November 25, 2012 | Patrick Preheim | 2nd Kings 21:19—22:1

I want to be one of the good kings. I know we can’t all be a Josiah or Hezekiah, but God forbid that I descend to the ranks of Ahab or Omri. In the end I do want to be known not as a perfect person, but as a person who took his imperfections seriously enough that they did not cause too much damage. In the end I do not want to be known as a powerful person, but as a person whose weaknesses made room for the strength of God. In the end I do not want to be known for what I did, but rather as a person who valued honesty, relationship, and integrity. This journey to be a good King entails great humility. In addition to clear vision forward I need clear vision backward. I do well to confess my errors and seek to make things right where there has been transgression. And I must leave shame and guilt at the cross so that the garbage doesn’t clutter my steps forward. This is how I want to be remembered. How does God want remember us?

As we look at Kings consider those attributes God remembers. For instance I find it so interesting that Omri, who is known from extra-biblical sources to have been a powerful monarch, warrants only passing notice in Kings. To the narrator he was merely an unfaithful king who was a failure in the eyes of God. Likewise, Ahab is known to have accomplished much politically and militarily, but the narrator presents him as a bungling and rather weak king (Choon-Leong Seow, Books of 1 and 2 Kings (The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary series (volume III)), p. 6-7). When our earthly life finally ebbs away God will not ask about the size of the business or farm; God will not be concerned with our academic, athletic, or political prowess. No, God will remember the ways we have striven to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. Housewives, businessmen, and the unemployed all have the opportunity to be remembered as royalty whose intention was to do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

And intention, I think, is important. None of us has been, is, or will be perfect. We will make mistakes; we will hurt people; we will fail God. And yet God’s memory is different than the way we chronicle history. Even when we have forgotten our identity as being children of God and acted badly, the Lord has not forgotten that we are sons & daughters and we are welcomed home when we choose to return. Despite idolatry, a series of terrible kings, and exile God still remembers the people fondly. God endures the worst his chosen people can offer and then begins work on restoration. Even when we have lost our memory of God, old friends or places of this world, the Lord does not forget us. God’s memory is so much grander than anything we can imagine, and that is good news for us. It is grace. We are remembered for whom we want to be and who we are becoming rather than for our frailties.

Worship liturgy is filled with movements designed to help us remember the memory of God. Once a year we speak aloud the names of our deceased loved ones reminding ourselves that they are now held in the hollow of God’s hand. More often we celebrate communion together; the table itself is inscribed with “in remembrance of me”. Almost weekly we speak together the Lord’s prayer. To remember that God remembers has the potential to change our lives. It has the power to make us good royalty who will be remembered with a different measuring stick than that which the world uses. This is, truly, good news. Amen