He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

— Colossians 1:18

Honeybees and human beings have a fascination with royalty. Queens and kings rise and fall, and it’s a mystery that we get so interested in them. With honeybees, there’s a life-and-death fixation on the queen bee. A colony cannot survive without a queen. Beekeepers learn this quickly, and their hope for a yield of honey depends on having a healthy queen.In each hive there is only one queen. She has been described as “the mother of all the bees,” “the matriarch,” and “the one in charge of the hive.” The queen is the only fertile female, and a healthy queen will lay up to 2,000 eggs per day!The queen is at the center of the hive’s life—until she can no longer perform her duties. When the colony senses that its queen is ailing or preparing to leave, the workers begin a special process to raise a new queen. They feed a young female “royal jelly” to activate her reproductive system. Soon she will be able to lay eggs to ensure the future growth and survival of the hive.It may be tempting to view the rise and fall of royalty as an unbreakable pattern. But our Bible reading today makes clear that there is one glowing exception. Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is the eternal King over all things. He is our head, and we, his people, are his one body. No replacements. We can trust the Son of God to be the King of the universe and the Savior of our lives forever.

King Jesus, thank you for rescuing us from darkness and bringing us into your marvelous kingdom of light, love, and forgiveness. Amen.