Henry V and John 17

One of my favorite, if not my favorite story in all of literature is William Shakespeare’s play, Henry V. In it, Shakespeare depicts what many have called “The Righteous King”. The role of the Good King in battle engaging the enemy for the sake of his beloved brothers, his “few”, his “happy few”. What beauty there is in strength, and yet perhaps the greatest strength is found when the truly good and righteous king falls to his needs and pleads to a greater king, a more sovereign Lord.

Today in church we heard about the priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17. This tremendously powerful time in which Jesus retreats to the garden awaiting his betrayal and arrest, and he cries out to his father, pleading on behalf of his followers. And the startling part in all of this is that Jesus does not just mention those following him in his time, but all those who would know him but not see him. He prays for us.

John 17
20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them

I do not want to say that Shakepeare’s mind was only on the model of Christ when he wrote the character of Henry v, but it was there. The Good King, who pleads on behalf of his people, to his father, being the perfect mediator, the perfect high priest.
The writer to the Hebrews in the New Testament puts it like this, “ 14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,[e] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

How true, how gracious, how beautiful. King Henry’s cry in the face of the French army at Agincourt is one of beauty, and pleading…

O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts;
Possess them not with fear; take from them now
The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them. Not to-day, O Lord,
O, not to-day, think not upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown!
I Richard's body have interred anew;
And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears
Than from it issued forced drops of blood:
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay,
Who twice a-day their wither'd hands hold up
Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built
Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests
Sing still for Richard's soul. More will I do;
Though all that I can do is nothing worth,
Since that my penitence comes after all,
Imploring pardon.