Monarchy in the 21st century. Does it exist? In the world where democracy and voting prevails, monarchy is rarely heard of or talked about anymore. Somehow, some kind of way, something interesting struck my senses tonight regarding this topic. National Geographic presented a documentary about Royalty in this day and age. My first impression was rather surprising because I thought I would just tune that off but as I gave it another second or so, I was swallowed by it. It’s been a while since I blogged some random thoughts but I would have to say this was pretty random.
There are only a handful of royal families that are reigning today. My king from my country being one of the few, I realized that might be why I was intrigued. I never quite paid much attention to that while I was growing up for the 17 years of my life while I was there. Now I’m in a country where democracy virtually found an experimental lab to create itself. As I saw the different kingdoms that were represented in the documentary that I mentioned earlier, there was some sort of feeling of pride for the kingdoms that have kings, England being one of the most famous one but the one that captivated me was Uganda. This kingdom was ruled by a king until the people decided that they need to overturn the King due to political reasons. He was attacked and was put in exile by his own people. When he saw what the ruthless ruler that overturned him did to his people, his heart broke and died 3 years since the exile. Now the interesting twist to this was that the people realized that the massacre had to end and they fought back to get the monarchy back in place. A few bloodshedding years later (Think "Hotel Rwanda"), the son of the deceased king was enthroned. He’s been ruling ever since. The people love him. He has no executive power to rule but rather was in place as a symbol of parliament. The people had security knowing that the king was alive and well even though he does not rule them directly. However, his schedule everyday is filled with charity and endorsement of cleaner water, sanitary system, education, etc. The people revered him. They are not forced to bow down but one man puts it the best “It’s like if the ground that I’m kneeling on before him was to crack open, I would want to make sure my face is at the lowest point of the pit before my king.” When was the last time you have heard of that from somebody’s mouth freely and willingly toward an authoritative figure?
What about the Kingdom of God? It reminded me of Jesus when He walked on this earth. It also brought light to the many books in the Old Testament about kings and kingdoms. It breathed life and sense into what we would blabber lightly during a typical old traditional hymn on Sunday. What does it really mean to have “every knee bow, every tongue confessed that He is Lord.” and “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”?
Perhaps in the 21st century our desire to be independent and have our ignorant uneducated opinions about how a country should be ruled, has tainted what was meant to be sacred, revered and above all, secure in Freedom itself? Perhaps there is something truly magical about serving a king and seeing the kingdom prevail? Perhaps we were wired to yearn for a King to rule in our hearts, to have a sense of pride and wait in long hours in miserable weather with presents only for a king just to catch a glimpse of the King himself?
