The Dance Of Fools

The Dance of Fools

She stands aloof, like an eagle perched high above lesser creatures, looking down her haughty beak at the streets below. A celebration has broken out, and the riffraff celebrate with vulgar gusto. But her deepest disgust is in her husband, who has thrown off his royal robes and is dancing like a fool with the household maids.

It wasn’t always like this. Once upon a time she was in love with the shepherd who had slain a giant. It was the stuff of fairy tales: the princess and the shepherd. When her daddy, the king, gave her to him in marriage it was headline news: “Royal Marries Commoner.” But they did not live happily ever after. When her shepherd grew too popular, her father tried to kill him. She risked her life helping him escape. Lonely weeks turned to long months. When the king forced her to marry a mousy shadow of her shepherd, the princess prayed fervently that her hero would return to rescue her.

But disturbing news filtered back to the palace. Her fugitive first husband was now a Robin Hood, his band of outlaws living off the land while leading the king’s men on a merry chase. He also took on new wives. When she heard the devastating news, her passions shriveled, and she walled off her heart until it became as cold as ice.

Then her father and brothers were killed in battle. A civil war erupted between her first husband and her father’s royal house. When his rivals were eliminated, the shepherd demanded that she be sent back to him. Yet he reclaimed her not as a returning lover, but as a king taking back stolen property. Her second husband trailed behind, wailing hysterically and further humiliating her.

Weep for Michal, the proud daughter of King Saul. The shepherd once thought himself the luckiest man alive to marry her. Now she is his trophy wife, a political commodity to solidify his reign by connecting it to the old royal house. Weep for dreams dashed and for the bitterness that has robbed Michal of her joy in her king.

The Ark of the Covenant has been returned, bringing the very presence of God into Jerusalem. David has disrobed and is dancing like a mad fool in unbridled joy before his Lord. But when he returns exhausted from his worship, he is met by the ice queen who used to be a princess. She spits out pent-up anger: “How dare you disrobe and dance like a vulgar fellow?” She has forever shut the door to her king. He walks away, never to return to Michal’s bedroom again.

A thousand years later, the great Son of David rides through the same gates of Jerusalem. As with the Ark of the Covenant, God’s presence is in him. Indeed, Jesus is God in the flesh. The crowds dance like joyous fools before him. Soon this king, too, will disrobe to hang on a cross. High above in the Temple, the icy spirit of Michal lives again in religious leaders. They don’t want their king either. So they shut the door to his love. How about you? Don’t let Michal’s sad story be yours.

The King has come! Open your heart and join the dance!

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. . . . that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.

Psalm 30:11-12