Today’s Scripture Reading (April 29,
2013): Song of Songs 5
In 1840,
Queen Victoria of England married her first cousin, Prince Albert of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The story is told of an argument that occurred between
the newly married couple soon after the wedding day and at the end of the
argument Prince Albert left the room and went and locked himself in his private
quarters. The story says that the Queen went to his quarters and knocked on the
door. Albert knew who it was that was at the door, but he still asked “Who is it?”
And the response that he heard back was that “it is the Queen of England and
she demands to be admitted.” Apparently, Albert ignored the knocking at the
door until Victoria finally went away. A little later she came back and he
asked “Who is it?” and the reply was once again that “it is the Queen of
England and she demands to be admitted.” This process went on for a while and
Albert remained firmed and refused the Queen the admittance she was demanding.
Finally, Victoria returned to the locked door and gently tapped on it. Albert
asked the question “Who is it?” But this time the Queen of England replied “It
is your wife, Albert” and the door was opened.
In the middle
of this love poem that is the “Song of Songs” we find on act of insensitivity.
There is a sense in a marriage relationship where we often expect our beloved
to be ready for us at any time – and sometimes our attitudes can be very
demanding. It is a lesson that we all have to learn in all of our
relationships. We may have expectations of the other, but when we come
demanding we will very seldom find that the door is opened and that we are
welcomed into the presence of the ones that we love. So often we do the Queen
Victoria thing, demanding admittance into the others lives. But even if we gain
admittance, it will not be the experience that we want it to be.
Solomon
comes knocking on his bride’s door. It is not the best time. She has already
moved into bed, she has completed all of the rituals that have to be done
before a person goes to bed - and she is asleep. The request comes and she
finds the request inconvenient. It is not that she does not love her husband,
but there is a pause in this moment as she considers the request of her
husband, the king of Israel. But while she was asleep, we are reminded in the
poem that her heart was awake.
It is the
state of the heart that will always move us to do what is inconvenient – we do
it because of the love that we have for the other. In our spiritual lives, we
know this truth. God never comes to us saying that he is the Creator of the Universe
and that he demands admittance. Rather he comes softly with the request, and
often he comes in the moment that is inconvenient and leaves us the choice of
whether or not we will respond. And when we do respond, it is only love that is
our motivation – we respond only because our heart is awake. But we are also
aware of the inconvenience that we must be to him, and yet he responds to us
anyway because his heart is awake - and he loves us.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Song of
Songs 6
No comments:
Post a Comment