Is God a king or a congressman?

The scriptures speak of God as a king. Christians in the ancient East and medieval West had no trouble with this image. But it is hard for us moderns, who have little or no working experience with monarchy, to imagine God as king.

Instead, we tend to think of God as a congressman.

What does a congressman do? Primarily, he represents us. He secures special benefits for the citizens of his district. We write him when we are irritated by events in the world. If we face an intractable problem, we contact him as a means of last resort.

The king has subjects; the congressman has voters. The king rules; the congressman caters. We expect the congressman to do what we want, and if we don’t like him, we can vote him out of office.

Of course this is less about God than us. The real point here is not that we are unable to imagine God as king — though that’s true enough. The point is that we think we deserve to be catered to, that we are somehow entitled to his service.