Enthroned (Good Friday)
Patrick Edwards
Mark 15:1-47
Introduction
Like most Americans, I think, I have been begrudgingly following all of the news and drama surround King Charles III's upcoming coronation in Britain. For me, though, being a lover of history and a slight anglophile, it's not the drama with Harry and Meagan that I care about. I just find all the tradition and regalia fascinating. I mean when I just think of all that when into Elizabeth's funeral one can only imagine what a spectacle Charles' coronation will be.
It's a political and social statement more than anything. Charles is already king; the coronation doesn't change that. Moreover, the monarchy in Britain doesn't really do anything or have any real authority. And so, why all the pomp and circumstance? The coronation will be an event of self-identity for Britain. This is who we are and what it means to be British. This is everything that is great and worthy of praise in our storied history. Here's how we can hold our past and our future together in the present.
Of course, Britain is not the first nation or empire to use such state events as declarations of identity to unify the people and create a deeper sense of loyalty and devotion. In our own nation perhaps, we might think of the victory parades following the conclusion of World War 2, or as we look across the globe and see how nations use military parades as statements of power and solidarity. The Romans of the first century were especially good at this, parading both through the streets of cities they had just conquered as well as hosting victory parades in the capital city when an emperor would return from a successful military campaign. The Romans specialized, you might say, in political symbols, both in a positive, celebratory sense as well as in a tormenting, cautionary sense.
In Mark 15 we see both of these symbols come into play and yet they are turned on their head and subverted. We see a man marching the stre ...
Patrick Edwards
Mark 15:1-47
Introduction
Like most Americans, I think, I have been begrudgingly following all of the news and drama surround King Charles III's upcoming coronation in Britain. For me, though, being a lover of history and a slight anglophile, it's not the drama with Harry and Meagan that I care about. I just find all the tradition and regalia fascinating. I mean when I just think of all that when into Elizabeth's funeral one can only imagine what a spectacle Charles' coronation will be.
It's a political and social statement more than anything. Charles is already king; the coronation doesn't change that. Moreover, the monarchy in Britain doesn't really do anything or have any real authority. And so, why all the pomp and circumstance? The coronation will be an event of self-identity for Britain. This is who we are and what it means to be British. This is everything that is great and worthy of praise in our storied history. Here's how we can hold our past and our future together in the present.
Of course, Britain is not the first nation or empire to use such state events as declarations of identity to unify the people and create a deeper sense of loyalty and devotion. In our own nation perhaps, we might think of the victory parades following the conclusion of World War 2, or as we look across the globe and see how nations use military parades as statements of power and solidarity. The Romans of the first century were especially good at this, parading both through the streets of cities they had just conquered as well as hosting victory parades in the capital city when an emperor would return from a successful military campaign. The Romans specialized, you might say, in political symbols, both in a positive, celebratory sense as well as in a tormenting, cautionary sense.
In Mark 15 we see both of these symbols come into play and yet they are turned on their head and subverted. We see a man marching the stre ...
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