JOHN DEMPSTER: Jubilee stirs something in all of us – regardless our views on the Royal Family

This weekend, we’re celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. As followers of Jesus, we acknowledge Her Majesty’s Christian convictions and the quiet, faithful way in which she has acted on them over seven decades of service. The Coronation of 1953 was a thoroughly Christian ceremony.

Politicians may dream that this weekend will draw the four UK nations together, but for some the Royal Family by its very existence emphasises injustices which are regrettably prevalent in British society.

I wonder, however, if celebrations like the Platinum Jubilee give us an inkling of a deep longing within us all for someone to unite us, someone even, to worship?

This Jubilee reminds us as Christians that Jesus Christ can be seen as a king, not a constitutional monarch, nor a tyrannical dictator, but a servant king, tender in meeting our deep needs and walking with us towards the light.

Jesus is just as likely to be sitting on the pavement with down-and-out people than in a palace. You’ll find him in the pub, celebrating; you’ll find him beside you as you struggle under your cross, This King Jesus heals broken lives, and broken societies if only we will walk with him.

The very word ‘Jubilee’ comes from ancient Jewish history. Every fifty years there was to be a ‘year of release’: slaves were set free, debts forgiven, property restored to the original owner. Work would cease, the fields lie fallow. It was a year of liberation, freedom, rest. A reminder that there’s a greater principle to follow in life than the imperative to busyness and financial gain.

But it seems that this divine vision, this inkling of a more just way of ordering society was rarely, if ever implemented.

Are we, as Scots, as Brits silencing God, or imagining God conforms to our choices rather than listening to the quiet promptings of Jubilee Jesus who makes all things new?

As Christians, we are enormously thankful for the Queen’s influence. ‘Long live the Queen,’ we proclaim, but even as we say it our hearts sing a deep ‘Hallelujah! Jesus, King for ever.’ We look forward with longing to a coming Jubilee in which what now is dimly-glimpsed becomes reality.

As we, like Her Majesty at her Coronation, commit to follow the Servant King, something of Jesus, some inklings of Jubilee will be evident in our lives as in hers.

More from John Dempster's Christian Viewpoint columns

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.