OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE
20 NOVEMBER 2022
According
to the Second Book of Samuel, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron,
because they want him as their king. The
Kingship of Saul had just ended in disaster with his death in battle. They come to David for three reasons. First, they acknowledge their kinship with
him. They use the same words that Adam
had used when God created Eve from his rib: “This one, at last, is bone of my
bones and flesh of my flesh.” Second,
they assert the truth that it had been David, and not Saul, who had led the
Israelites out to victory and then back again.
Third, they know that God himself had chosen David to be king. As king, David was certainly not
perfect. But he was the model king for
centuries, and the faithful of Israel looked for a messiah who would to be a
successor to him.
In today’s
Gospel, we encounter Jesus Christ, not reigning on a glorious throne, but dying
like a common criminal on a Roman cross.
Above his head is written, “The King of the Jews.” The rulers of the
people, who had demanded that Pontius Pilate condemn Jesus to death, mock him
in his weakness. In mocking him, they
actually speak the truth. He is the
Savior. He has been chosen by God as the
suffering servant to save others, and not himself. He is the Christ, the promised successor to
King David. There is only one person who sees beyond the horrific appearances
on Good Friday: the criminal we know as
the “good thief.” He admits his own
sinfulness and proclaims Christ’s innocence.
Instead of mocking Jesus in his weakness, he asks him to remember him
when he comes into his kingdom. He seems
to understand the distinctions Jesus has made during his public ministry
between his kingdom and the kingdom of this world. In defeating death, Jesus will open the Paradise
that Adam had lost through his sin. The
new Adam promises the good thief: “today you will be with me in Paradise.”
On this
last Sunday of the Liturgical Year, we can ask some questions as disciples of
Jesus Christ. When we suffer on our
cross, do we side with the mockers and doubt his kingship? Or do we side with the good thief? Do we expect him to save us by taking us off
our own cross? Or, like the good thief,
do we recognize Jesus’ kingship with us in the crosses we carry? Do we appreciate that he is bone of our bones
and flesh of our flesh and has chosen to experience the trials that are part of
every human life, especially the battle that all of us must face with
death? Do we see him as the good thief
does in offering us life in his eternal kingdom? Does our desire to be with him in the
fullness of his kingdom override our fear of death? Are we living and dying on a daily basis in
ways that show us to be worthy of his companionship and his kingdom?
These are
tough questions to answer. But if we are
to embrace the saving reality of Christ the King, we must do what we can to
respond to them. Saint Paul gives us a
direction in his letter to the Colossians.
He says that Jesus Christ was present at the creation of the world and
is present in the world’s recreation through his death and resurrection. He says that all the fullness was pleased to
dwell in Jesus. That word “fullness” is
used in the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. After feeding 5,000 people, twelve baskets of
fragments were left over. They are left
over for us, who feast on the Lord’s real presence at this Mass. The risen Jesus who died on the cross is the
Lord of all creation and reigns with the fullness of grace.
Next
Sunday, we enter into Advent. We begin a
new Liturgical Year inviting us to deepen our faith in the fullness of Jesus
Christ. We begin a new season of
reflecting on the kingship of Jesus Christ, visible only to eyes of faith at
the crucifixion on Good Friday.
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