OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE
20 NOVEMBER 2016
On most
Sundays during this Liturgical Year, we have heard from the Gospel of Saint
Luke. Throughout the year, we heard
Jesus speak often of the Kingdom of God.
He announced the coming of the Kingdom of God through his teaching and
parables. He demonstrated the power of
the Kingdom of God through his miracles.
He has invited all to become part of that Kingdom. But as much as he called our attention to the
presence of the Kingdom of God in our midst, he never identified the word
“king” with himself.
On this
final Sunday of this Liturgical Year, he is identified as a king. Pilate places the inscription “This is the
King of the Jews” above his body hanging in shame and utter pain not to honor
him, but to mock him. He is placating
the religious leaders who had demanded that Jesus be crucified, and he is
warning other potential enemies of Rome not to become a zealot.
There is a
great irony in this situation. The
mockery of Pilate and the negative reactions of those surrounding the cross
actually speak truth in a way that they never would have intended. The rulers sneer at him and tell him to save
himself if he is the chosen, the Christ of God.
Jesus is the chosen one, the Christ of God. But he has not come to save himself. He has come to give himself to others. The soldiers jeer and say the same
thing. But Jesus has dedicated himself
to serving others and dying to himself.
Even one of the criminals speaks in contempt and wants Jesus to fix this
mess like the world fixes things. He wants
Jesus rescue him from the cross. But
Jesus has always insisted that the first will be last and the last will be
first. He is willing to put himself
last, trusting in the Father’s promise that he would be the firstborn of all
creation.
The only
person who sees the truth in this horrible spectacle is the other
criminal. We know him as the “good
thief.” He sees the truth of the Kingdom
which Jesus had proclaimed. He
understands that he is suffering the results of very bad choices he has made. He is dying because of his sins. He sees through the mockery of Pilate and the
crowds. He recognizes the image of the
invisible God and asks to be remembered when he comes into his kingdom. At the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, the
angels had announced to the shepherds that “today in the city of David a savior
has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.”
Now, at the end of the Gospel, Jesus responds that “today you will be
with me in Paradise.”
The “good
thief” helps us understand the ways in which Jesus has become king in the line
of King David. A thousand years before
the birth of Christ, David united the tribes of Judah and Israel into one
kingdom. Christ the King is the source
of the unity found only in the kingdom of God.
David had been the warrior who had defeated the enemies of his
kingdom. Christ the King is the warrior
who has defeated the power of sin and death and transfers us from one dimension
of reality to another. David had ruled
from his royal throne. Christ the King
rules from the throne of a cross, holding all things together.
If we
understand these realities about the Kingdom of God and Christ’s central place
in that kingdom, then we can begin another Liturgical Year next Sunday with great
hope. The Kingdom of God is not about
the realities of Pilate, or the rulers, or the soldiers, or the other
criminal. The Kingdom of God belongs to
us when we take care of others, when we die to ourselves, and when we put
others first. Even more importantly, the
Kingdom of God belongs to us when we have failed to do these things and ask the
Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. As Saint
Paul reminds the Colossians, Christ the King has delivered us from the power of
darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of Light.
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