The first reading was from Judges 9:6-15. The story follows a narrative about Abimelech, the son of a pagan concubine of a righteous Hebrew military hero. Unlike his father who had declined to be made king, Abimelech was an ambitious and unscrupulous ruler. With the assistance of his mother's pagan relatives, he hired assassins and murdered all but one, Jotham, of his seventy legitimate half brothers. The first reading begins with the pagans proclaiming Abimelech king and ends with Jotham, the rightful heir, predicting God's vengeance on them.

I was disappointed, then, when the pastor interpreted the moral of the first reading, as a general denigration of kings, or perhaps civil authority in general, and unwarranted judgment of the motives, specifically, of President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. I couldn't help recalling the admonition in Matthew 7:1-5, since he could not possibly know whether these public servants are "more for themselves than for their people," which is what he claimed. This is especially true in Joe Biden's case, since his adherence to his faith is well known in this Country. It may be that he has been a dedicated public servant longer than this particular preacher has been alive! He could no doubt earn much more in private practice than he does as President. Besides none of these people are, in fact, kings!

Wikipedia lists some actual kings in the most restrictive sense of the word, what kings of Abimilech's time were, absolute monarchs. They are unlike King Charles III, for example, whose authority is limited by constitution and custom, and who seems to be genuinely concerned for the people he has pledged to serve. No doubt a good bit of moral commentary could be drawn from the reigns of present day absolute monarchs: Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei; Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Sultan of Oman; Salman bin Abdul'aziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia; Pope Leo XIV, Ruler of Vatican City State; Mswati III, King of Eswatini, and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar. I don't know if these people are "more for themselves than for their people," however, and I don't believe that this preacher does, either.

Of course, the Old Testament is full of kings; there are even two Biblical books with that title, Kings of the United Kingdom of Israel beginning with Saul. I think one can find just about any comment about them somewhere in Scripture, pro or con. In the KJV New Testament, the words "king," "kings," or king's" appear 121 times: Matthew 1:6 (twice), 2:1, 2, 3, 9; 5:35; 10:18; 11:8; 14:9; 17:25; 18:23; 21:5; 22:2, 7, 11, 13; 25:34, 40; 27:11, 29, 37, 42, Mark 6:14, 22. 25, 26, 27; 13:9; 15:2, 9, 12, 18, 26, 32, Luke 1:5; 7:25; 10:24; 14:31 (twice); 19:38; 21:12; 22:25; 23:2, 3, 37, 38, John 1:49; 6:15; 12:13, 15; 18:33, 37 (twice), 39; 19:3, 12, 14, 15 (twice), 19, 21 (twice), Acts 4:26; 7:10, 18; 9:15; 12:1, 20 (twice); 13:21, 22; 17:7; 25:13, 14, 24, 26; 26:2, 7, 13, 19, 26, 27, 30, 1 Corinthians 4:8, 2 Corinthians 11:32, 1 Timothy 1:17; 2:2; 6:15 (twice), Hebrews 7:1 (twice), 2 (three times); 11:27, 1 Peter 2:13, 17, Revelation 1:5, 6; 5:10; 6:15; 9:11; 10:11; 15:3; 16:12, 14; 17:2, 10, 12 (twice), 14 (twice), 18; 18:3, 9; 19:16 (twice), 18, 19 and 21:24. They are not generally considered ungodly people. Jesus was not ashamed to admit that he was a king in Luke 23:3 and John 18:33 and to be called "Son of (King) David." He did note in Luke 22:25, however, that the kings of the Gentiles tend to lord it over them, which may be what the preacher was thinking about. Paul thought himself "happy" in Acts 26:2 to appear before King Agrippa, whom he considered a wise and just judge, and Peter tells his followers in 1 Peter 2:17 to honor the king.

One could no doubt draw more appropriate morals of this story. Abimelech achieved his position by murder and treachery, and God repaid the evil that Abimelech had done to his father in killing his brothers. He also brought all the wickedness of the people of Shechem back on their heads, We see Jotham, the only just son, acting in the name of God to curse Abimelech and the people who bought in with him. There are certainly many parallels here to modern times that could have been the basis of this particular homily. There are also valuable lessons to be learned about opposing tyranny, voting responsibly, the unwisdom of substituting homage to an immoral demagogue for responsibility to God, electing criminals, liars and evildoers to public office, What happens to people who do that, and so on. No doubt one could find other themes that go with this reading.

I was an ad hoc chaplain in the Army, because not enough eligible Catholic priests were willing to serve as military chaplains, a situation that persists to this day. My personal experience with the Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy I encountered is that they are all vulnerable to what I call amblyopia prophetis, a kind of occupational blindness common to professional speakers for God. Those of us who do not have wives to confront us when we are acting like horses' asses also tend to suffer from oculitis trabis, irritation of the eye caused by having a plank in it! This appears to be this particular preacher's problem.

I don't go to his church anymore. In my opinion, he should stick to spreading the Gospel, which is his job, instead of judging others, which is not. He doesn't appear to be very good at the latter, and the position has already been taken.

John Lindorfer