The glory of a King

"This is Jesus... In His glory... King of heaven, dying for me" - Tim Hughes, in the song See His Love

I recall, not so long ago, watching a Chinese TV drama based on the life of the first emperor of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang (Chinese 刘邦). Like most TV drama series based on historical personalities, it greatly dramatised and elaborated on actual events and legends. Anyway, there was one episode that showed the great emperor in one of his most spectacular defeats early on in his military career. All his 500,000 soldiers had been killed in battle, and he himself had been pursued. His wife and two children had fled (or been captured, I can't remember which), and the only man with him was one of his personal body guards, a young man of about 20.

In the story, the young bodyguard protected the king through enemy lines, and fled with him until they were on a mountain, until he could not go any further. He revealed that he had 2 or 3 arrows in his back, and now that he was dying, his only regret was that he could protect the king no longer.

The king held the dying young man in his arms, and looked down the mountain at the landscape strewn with the bloodied bodies of his 500,000 men.

"Their blood is on my hands," the king cried, "your blood is on my hands. What kind of king am I? All who follow me are dead, how will I ever face the world again?"

"No. Your majesty, you are not a failure." the young man said with his last breath. "Look around - all these 500,000 died for you, for your glory. Look around, this is your glory."

I remembered this scene today when I was at our Easter service today. This is the story of a king, whose glory is shown in the 500,000 men who were willing to die for him... the complete opposite of the story of Easter, where the glory of the king is that he was willing to die for his subjects.

The glory, the power, and the kingdom, for ever. Does a king ever die for his subjects? Does the death of a king ever get termed glorious? What kind of king dies for his subjects? A king who loves his subjects more than his pride or glory. And God knows we don't deserve it.