The final season of Game of Thrones began this past Sunday on HBO. I find it very intriguing that they chose this past Sunday of all days because it was Palm Sunday.
If you don’t know, the title “Game of thrones” refers to the machinations, backbiting, and betrayal involved in this medieval fantasy game of politics in the ascent to the Iron Throne. In this light, I can’t help but reflect on the juxtaposition of the significance of this past Sunday on the Christian calendar relative to what the show represents. You don’t need to have read the books or watched the show to recognize the Stark contrast with the person of Jesus.
On Sunday we celebrated Jesus’ “regal entry” into Jerusalem. The designation “the triumphal entry” is filled with irony. Israel was ready for the showdown; now the revolution will begin. Jesus will reclaim the throne of the Kingdom of David. “Hosanna!” they shouted—God saves. This is politically-charged language. The Messiah will destroy our enemies, “save” us from Rome, and restore us to our former prosperity.
It’s finally time for Israel to reclaim the throne, and at last her Messiah enters into Jerusalem. Yet there is an even greater enemy who oppresses and rules over Israel. And it is this greater enemy, who is also a greater threat to humanity as a whole, that Christ defeats on the cross. And he receives an even greater throne than the one in Jerusalem—the one at the Father’s right hand.
In the first episode of the final season of Game of Thrones, we began with an epic procession into Winterfell, which to my mind intentionally echoes the triumphal entry celebrated by Christians that same day. Here you have the known heir to the Iron Throne, Daenerys Targaryen, entering into Winterfell for the first time with Jon Snow by her side. Although he does not know it yet, the viewer knows that this regal entry for Daenerys is filled with its own irony because Jon is actually the true heir to the Iron Throne—Aegon Targaryen. By the end of this episode he finds out this truth, and it’ll be interesting to see what he decides to do with this knowledge and the implications this has for his identity and destiny (and perhaps for most viewers it’ll be particularly interesting to see what Daenerys does with this information). Will Jon abdicate to Dany? Will he decide that he’d make for a better ruler than Dany? Will he propose a co-regency? These are all tantalizing questions that will make the next couple of episodes particularly interesting.
Regardless of what Jon decides to do with this information about who he is, I love the way that Paul reflects on Christ’s exaltation in Philippians 2 relative to his identity, which flies in the face of how regal figures ambitious of power were expected to act in the ancient world, and how many political figures continue to act in our world and in the worlds of our imaginations.
“[T]hough he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (ESV).
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