The King and His Bride...and the Shepherds: Part Three

 

From this point forward every day brought new delegations to the pastors, new offers for them to lend the future queen to various ventures (all of course with the very best intentions, for the greater good; and if the pastors should benefit, well, so much the better.)

 

The pastors formed their own company, King and Queen Enterprises. They had a marketing department, a fashion department, they launched a music industry, a construction company, an entertainment division, an investment firm. They used the images of the King and Queen to be on their letterhead and marketing material.

 

They kept the betrothed so busy and in motion that she could no longer think, all she could do is what she was told to do, with the learned pastors saying, “We know best. Trust us, we know best.”

 

Her ladies-in-waiting, who served out of love for both her and the king, were replaced by women from the City of Fashion, the City of Marketing, the City of Politics, and the City of Dollar. Her food was laced with sedatives one meal and stimulants the next meal. She was never allowed to rest. She was never allowed to contemplate the return of her beloved King. Her heart was never permitted to behold Him.

 

As the pastors’ wealth and power accumulated, they became convinced that the king would not return, at least not in their lifetime. Why not align themselves with the political and national and military powers of the region? Why not endorse them – of course endorse them in the name of the King – why not insist that all people give their hearts to power and might and national identity – rather than allegiance to the King of kings?

 

Well, dear reader…again, my heart breaks.

 

Now to be sure not all pastors and shepherds got caught up in the insanity, but if you had traveled to this land you will not have found them at the royal court – which had become an Imperial Court with an Imperial Cult, with its leader from the City of Dollar and its council from the cities of the World.

 

The faithful pastors could be found walking the streets and looking for the disenfranchised, the hurting, the sick, the refugee, the hungry, and those who remembered the good and kind and gentle King (Matthew 12:18 – 21). These pastors were binding up wounds and carrying the hurting to the inn for healing at their own expense (Luke 10:30 – 37).  These shepherds were giving their lives for the sheep (John 10:1 – 18).

 

And the bride-to-be? She was cast out of her royal lodgings in rags after she was used up by the faithless pastors (they had no shortage of women to replace her as a figurehead). She wandered the streets, eating from dumpsters, sleeping under bridges in cardboard boxes.

 

Yet, as the Father of the Great and Good King would have it, she was discovered by some nondescript faithful pastors in their search for the untouchable and unlovable, and they and their little flocks brought her in and clothed her and fed her and gave her shelter and love and care. Most importantly of all they spoke of her beloved, of the Great and Good King…for they loved Him with all that they had and all that they were.

 

The King and His Bride ...and the Shepherds: Part Two

 

Soon a delegation from the great city of Dollar arrived to speak to the pastors of the royal court. The rulers of Dollar had heard of the betrothed’s appearances at regal balls in the surrounding lands and they had a request. They were not requesting the beloved’s attendance at a ball, but rather a trade festival, for their city was all about commerce and making money – they loved money. They thought that if the queen-to-be would attend their upcoming trade festival that it would attract people far and wide.

 

They also had another request; they had brought with them various products their city was known for and wanted the young woman to try them and to endorse the ones she liked. In return, the leaders of the city would make a payment to the pastors.

 

By this time, the pastors were accustomed to displaying the betrothed to others, and they were enjoying the attention they received when they brought her with them to grand functions. Furthermore, compared to the pastors she was a child, and a trusting child at that. She was convinced that these learned men whom her beloved husband-to-be had entrusted her to meant the best for both her and the king.

 

The pastors saw no problem with the offer from the City of Dollar, instead they saw opportunity!

 

Needless to say, the Festival of Dollar was a great success for the merchants and manufacturers and…to the pastors. Within days of their return to the royal residence in the land of the great and good king a delegation from another city arrived to seek audience with the pastors; they were from the City of Fashion.

 

The City of Fashion was having its annual grand festival in just a few weeks and having heard of the astounding success of the City of Dollar, they had an offer for the pastors that shouted of innovation and opportunity. They would triple the payment the pastors had received from the City of Dollar, plus give the pastors a percentage of the profits from the sale of every dress and gown the betrothed modeled at the City of Fashion.

 

Furthermore, in order to ensure that the young woman displayed fashion in its best light, they brought make-up artists with them, and dress designers, modeling coaches, and dance instructors.

 

The offer was immediately accepted.

 

However, this time there were questions from others within the royal court. While there had previously been murmurings, now the questions were louder, the concerns more forcibly expressed. Why were the pastors doing this? Why were they putting themselves and their agendas ahead of the king and his beloved bride-to-be? What were they doing to her? Why were their bank and investment accounts growing? Why were they not being transparent about their finances? Why were they not paying attention to the welfare of the people? The poor, the widow, the immigrant seeking refuge, the sick, the prisoner, the hungry?

 

The pastors had a stock response, “You don’t understand. These things are best left to us” (John 9:34).

 

To those who continued to protest, the pastors and their servants paid them special visits and suggested that perhaps they would be better off moving to another land, to another kingdom; they need not think about returning.

 

Well, dear reader, my heart breaks as I write this, the visions in my head make me sick as Daniel was sick (Daniel 7:28; 8:27). For by the time the betrothed walked down the runways of the City of Fashion you could not recognize her as the innocent young woman who had once faithfully endured the imprisonment of the evil prince, she no longer looked and moved as the bride-to-be of the great and good king – I will venture no more description – considering our own society it probably would not shock us, but it should.