Lift up your heads! - Psalm 24

The way a group of believers chooses to design and adorn their buildings is interesting to me.  For example the cruciform footprint that lays out the worship space in the shape of a cross conveys a sense of sacrifice and the vault of a ceiling that draw the eye up to heaven conveys a sense of transcendence, and the use of stone and brick to convey feelings of timelessness and permanence and the use of stained glass windows that bath the worship space in light and convey feelings of innocence and purity. 

There is an adornment that is not as common in our modern houses of worship as it once was but still today can be seen in many Eastern Orthodox houses of worship.  The adornment is called the "Pantokrator" (παντοκράτωρ).  Pantokrator is a Greek word that means “all-mighty”.  The Pantokrator is a depiction of Jesus Christ which emphasizes his role as the supreme judge and all-mighty ruler over the universe.  This depiction of Jesus as our sovereign Savior is almost as old as Christianity itself.  The oldest surviving Pantokrator dates to the 6th century and is preserved at St. Catherine's Monastery in the remote Sinai desert.  The Pantokrator was typically painted on the ceiling of the worship space, often it was a massive painting filling the entire dome of the sanctuary.  The idea was, no matter where you were in the house of worship you could lift up your head and be reminded that your Savior is sovereign. 

The Pantocrator is typically painted in the Byzantine iconographic style of art which is a bit to bizarre and bold for my taste.  I am not at all suggesting that we should paint a massive mural of all mighty Jesus on the ceiling of our worship space.  However, as I studied the 24th Psalm, I could not help but think of the Pantokrator.  Twice in this Psalm we are encouraged to lift up our heads and behold the Almighty King of glory and I can’t help but think, as we enter the season of Advent, it is helpful for us to remember we are worshipping a sovereign Savior.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the way we adorn our house of worship during the season of Advent.  I like the tree, I like the Advent wreath (this year an upgraded wreath – thank you Lemkes), I like the lights and the garland, and I like the nativity scene in the Narthex.  There is nothing like a good nativity scene to set the mood for Christmas.  The crude accommodations of the nativity are modest and meek, but more than anything else it is the sight of the little baby laid in a manger that stirs within us feelings of fragility and humility.  That is why the hymns we sing are about “the little Lord Jesus”; we refer to Him as “tender and mild”, “weak, and helpless”.  I like singing hymns about the little Lord Jesus as much as the next guy, but I can’t help but wonder if in the season of Advent, we spend too much time focusing on our Savior’s fragile humility and not enough time seeing Jesus as the "Pantokrator"; our all-mighty King of Glory.

Seeing the Savior as all-mighty was not difficult for Christians in the first century.  In fact, for many of them all-mighty was the only way they saw the Savior.  The first century Christians had been raised to see the Savior as a powerful ruler who would defeat their enemies (in this case the Romans), reunite the tribes of Isreal (who were at that time scattered all over the Mediterranean), and restore the nation of Isreal to the glory days when men like David and Solomon sat on the throne.  However, the first century Christians were so focused on a sovereign Savior that at first and for a time they struggled to see Jesus as their Savior.  They were looking for a sovereign Savior like the one described in our first lesson who exalts the LORD’s temple above the hills, establish peace among the people, and beat swords into plowshares, they were looking for a sovereign Savior like the one described in our Psalm who was “strong” and” mighty in battle”, they were looking for the Pantokrator.  Instead, what they got was the Savior who rode into Jerusalem bare back on a beast of burden.  Riding bare back on a beast of burden was just the tip of the iceberg.  The first century Christians saw Jesus betrayed into the hands of the enemy, beaten like a dog, and hung on a cross.  They were looking for a sovereign savior but all they saw was a suffering savior. You can understand why the first century Christians were tempted to take one look at Jesus and look around for someone else. 

I try not to be too critical of the 1st century Christians who struggled because instead of a sovereign savior they saw a suffering savior.  I try not to be too critical because I think if they had the luxury of observing us from their vantage point in history, they would probably wonder why we seem to be so focused on a suffering savior that we forget that we also have a sovereign Savior. 

I think we do a really good job seeing Jesus as our suffering Savior.  It starts in the season of Advent as we worship the little lord Jesus; so meek and so mild, but it continues in the days that follow Christmas as we see Jesus suffering the temptations of the devil, the ignorance of His disciples, and the opposition of the people.  Then we arrive at the season of Lent during which we almost exclusively worship a Savior who was stricken smitten and afflicted. We tend to focus on the lowly birth, humble life, and disgraceful death of our suffering Savior because from His suffering comes our salvation. This is why instead of a Pantokrator on our ceiling the most prominent of adornments in our house of worship is the cross.  The cross reminds us of our suffering Savior who paid for our sins and secured our salvation.

We do a really good job focusing on the suffering of our Savior, perhaps sometimes we even do such a good job focusing on our suffering Savior that we lose sight of our sovereign Savior.  I say that because of the incredible amount of stress and worry and anxiety most of us carry.  I understand the world we live in is full of opportunities to have stress be worried and feel anxious.  I watch the news.  I see what is happening.  At times I am worried granny was right when she said this world is going to hell in a handbasket and at times I am discouraged and depressed and downright afraid because I live in that handbasket.  I, like you, fear the unknown. I, like you, have learned to be sinical and suspicious of most people.  I, like you, have disappointments and problems and struggles in my life.  I, like you, have questioned my savior’s interest and involvement in my life.  I, like you, have thought of my savior as an absentee landlord who will no doubt one day return but until that day has left me all alone.  I, like you, have unsuccessfully tried to manage my stress, cope with my worry, and reduce my anxiety all without the help of my savior.

Which is why I, like you, need the encouragement to lift up our heads, not to see the Pantokrator painted on our ceiling but to see our LORD Jesus as He is described in Psalm 24.  In verses 7-10 of Psalm 24 the poet rather obnoxiously reminds us and reminds us again and reminds us again and reminds us again and reminds us again that the LORD Jesus is “the king of glory”.  The LORD Jesus is “strong” and” mighty in battle”.  The LORD Jesus is our sovereign Savior.  Which is incredibly comforting to us because the poet began Psalm 24 by telling us.  “1 The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it”.

 The earth and everything in it belongs to our Sovereign Savior.  He created it and He continues to control it.  Space and time, matter and molecule and photons and forces and every law that governs the behavior of the smallest of particles and the largest of galaxies are ruled by our sovereign Savior.  The world and all who live in it belong to our Sovereign Savior.  He created them and continues to control them. That means every man woman and child, those who are wise as well as the simple, those who are kind as well as the cruel, those who strong as well as those who are weak, those who are friends as well as those who are foes, those who are powerful as well as those who are vulnerable all people who have been, are, and are yet to be are ruled by our sovereign savior.    

Our sovereign Savior rules over the Gaza strip.  Our sovereign Savior rules over all three branches of our government. Our sovereign Savior rules over commerce and industry, employer and employee.  Our sovereign Savior rules over our schools and communities.  Our sovereign Savior rules over you and He rules over me.  Whatever it is that is causing you to have stress be worried or feel anxious I encourage you, lift up your heads and see your sovereign Savior.

We are really good at seeing our suffering Savior and to the extent that our stress and worry and anxiety has caused us to sin it would be good for us to see that our suffering Savior has paid for and forgiven those sins like all our other sins.  I am not at all advocating that we dismiss our suffering Savior replace the cross with the Pantokrator.  Every week as I enter this house of worship I find I have a great need to see my suffering savior as I am sure you have a great need to see your suffering savior.  I am just saying every now and then it would be good for us to lift our eyes from the weak and helpless baby who was laid in the manger as our perfect substitute, lift our eyes from the one who was stricken smitten and afflicted in order to atone for our sin, lift our eyes from our suffering savior and see our sovereigns Savior ruling over everything and everyone as the all-mighty King of Glory.  Amen