Sit at the shore of the lake. See the skiers, the waverunners. See every boat. And behind every boat is a wake. A ripple trailing behind, bobbing everything else on the water behind it until it laps in waves on the shoreline at your feet.
This story today sparks all kinds of curiosity. Who is this lady? Where is she coming from? How did she hear about Solomon? What did she hear? Why is this even in the Bible?
Did you know that Solomon gets mentioned twice by Jesus in the gospels? Yeah, twice. Once when Jesus is talking about how we shouldn’t worry because God makes the lilies of the field look even better than Solomon, despite all his wealth. (It’s in both Matthew and Luke.)
The second time is this story about the Queen of Sheba. (Again, it’s Matthew and Luke who mention this.) Jesus is lambasting the scribes and Pharisees. For Jesus, even a foreign ruler from the “ends of the earth” (and a woman, at that) could recognize Solomon as God’s Anointed One, the king of God’s people, and worship God because of it. The irony is these Jewish religious leaders can’t recognize Jesus as God’s new Anointed One.
Something special is happening in this story of Solomon and the queen. Solomon has become such a person that his character and quality of life reflect the character of God. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Solomon is a picture that reflects the majesty of glory of God to others. His reputation communicates God’s reputation.
I hope that I can be that kind of person that causes others to notice the goodness of God. All of us leave a wake behind.
Question: What kind of “wake” do you leave behind you today?
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