Love is a traitor

O Clavis David

O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel, Thou that openest and no one shutteth, and shuttest and no one openeth: Come, and loose the prisoner from the prison-house, and him that sitteth in darkness from the shadow of death.

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) was an Oxford mediaevalist, Inkling, crime writer, theologian and opinion columnist of deep spiritual insight. Known best for her Lord Peter Wimsey stories, she also began a noted translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy, ambitiously rendering it in verse triplets. She wrote essays for any number of church publications, many of which are collected in Unpopular Opinions. But it was her radio play The Man Born to be King, aired on the BBC in 1941, which attracted controversy for its depiction of the Gospel in modern, even casual language. The extract below relates the meeting of the Magi with King Herod, as they follow the star to the boy born of the House of David. There, they will find the Key who frees them and all men from slavery to sin and death. But Herod cannot see it and cannot believe in it. To him and to those like him, who live in fear of any power that might destabilise the certainties of their office and station, that key — the key of love — is a treacherous threat to be subdued at any cost. —T.P.

From The Man Born to be King, by Dorothy L. Sayers

Herod: Now, tell me: when exactly did this royal star appear?

Balthazar: Twelve days ago we beheld its light in the east.

Herod: Twelve days. (musingly) In the House of the Lion – the Lion of Judah – the House of David. It may be so. Bethlehem is called the City of David – did you know that? And the Scriptures speak of Bethlehem. Priest and king. Have you calculated his horoscope? What sort of man will this be that is born to be King of the Jews?

Melchior: Prouder than Caesar, more humble than his slave; his kingdom shall stretch from the sun’s setting to the sun’s rising, higher than the heavens, deeper than the grave, and narrow as the human heart.

Caspar: He shall offer sacrifice in Jerusalem, and have his temples in Rome and in Byzantium, and he himself shall be both sacrifice and priest.

Herod: You speak mysteries. Tell me this; will he be a warrior king?

Balthazar: The greatest of warriors; yet he shall be called the Prince of Peace. He will be victor and victim in all his wars, and will make his triumph in defeat. And when wars are over, he will rule his people in love.

Herod: You cannot rule men by love. When you find your king, tell him so. Only three things will govern a people – fear and greed and the promise of security. Do I not know it? Have I not loved? I have been a stern ruler – dreaded and hated, – yet my country is prosperous and her borders at peace. But wherever I loved, I found treachery – wife, children, brother – all of them, all of them. Love is a traitor; it has betrayed me; it betrays all kings; it will betray your Christ.

O Lord Jesu Christ, to Whom is given the throne and sceptre of David Thy father over the house of Israel,
that Thou mighest extend his kingdom over all peoples:
Thou didst come in our nature,
as the Son of man forgiving sins,
dispelling sickness and loosing bonds:
to Thee now is committed all authority in heaven and on earth,
and the powers of hell cannot withstand Thy word:
Come, we pray Thee, by Thy grace, and through the instrumentality of Thy Church,
to loosen the prisoner from the chains of sin,
to enlighten with the glad tidings of Thy word all who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
that they may rejoice in the deliverance which Thou hast wrought.

(The Advent Antiphons With Scripture references and paraphrases. By A.C.A. Hall, Bishop of Vermont.)