Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 24, 2019: Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom...

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom…

Do we recognize and accept Jesus Christ as our King?

   To call Christ our King is to recognize in him a myriad of attributes, some of which may seem odd when juxtaposed.  In the Second Book of Samuel, David’s role both as commander and shepherd of the Lord’s people make him a logical choice to be anointed king of Israel.  Not only was David a good leader of Saul’s army, he also brought the Israelites back safely.  As shepherd, the king must lavish care on Israel, protecting the people; they in turn will recognize and follow him because there is intimacy and trust between them.  David will be a strong and dedicated leader, uniting the tribes with power and authority.  Psalm 122 adds to this portrait of David as king with its reference to the judgment seats set up for the house of David:  David, Jesus’ forbearer, is also a just king, basing his judgments on wisdom from God, and acknowledging his responsibility to serve the people with justice.

  All of the attributes given to King David will be Jesus’ attributes as well, but in their most perfect form, because, as Luke’s Gospel reminds us, Jesus, King of the Jews, is crucified, suffering humiliation and death for the sake of his sheep, conquering death by dying out of love.  The cross is God’s love made visible, making entrance for all possible with Jesus’ death.  As he embraces the criminal crucified next to him – today, you will be with me in Paradise, he tells him – Jesus embraces all of creation, forgiving all and opening access for all to that Paradise, to his beloved kingdom with God the Father.  Paul adds to this portrait of the king of forgiveness by reminding the Colossians that Jesus is the image of the invisible God who rules over all creation; Jesus is the origin and keeper of creation, head of the mystical body, yet for all that, remaining in intimate relationship with all those joined to him in faith and baptism, that we too might share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.  Jesus’ words to the good thief are the last words of our liturgical year and should resonate for us as well:  today you will be with me in Paradise.  May we hold to that truth as we celebrate Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe!

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Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 20, 2016: If you are King of the Jews...

  If you are King of the Jews…  

How do you understand the power of God?  

   In Luke's Gospel, as Jesus suffers on the cross before the rulers and soldiers of Israel, they mock him because of the inscription above his head; If you are King of the Jews, save yourself, they say.  What they fail to understand is that God’s power lies precisely in the apparent weakness, or foolishness, of the cross:  the crucifixion is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise of love, and so Jesus dies in the ultimate expression of that love.  We have been brought into a kingdom that is not ruled as the world rules, because the world’s definitions do not include the fullness of God, God’s infinite love.  We can’t comprehend that love, but we can begin to experience it when we allow the power of the love of God to transform us.  One of the thieves hanging on the cross beside Jesus comes to understand this:  dying to his own past sin, he is transformed as he acknowledges that Jesus is King:  Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

   This understanding of strength in conjunction with apparent weakness is present as early as the stories of David told in 2 Samuel, where Israel invites David, already the King of Judah, to be its king as well; David and Israel share bone and flesh, strength and vulnerability.  In accepting to be king, David is accepting full responsibility; as shepherd, he must embrace humiity as well, so that when he takes his judgment seat, as Psalm 122 reminds us, he will proffer justice grounded in the wisdom and love of God.

   Thanks to that love, Paul reminds the Colossians, we, too, are fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.  Why?  Because Jesus, God’s beloved Son and the firstborn of all creation, has made peace by the blood of his cross.  Only through the cross can we come to be transferred to the kingdom, that kingdom of inversion in which the values of power and possession beloved by the world are turned upside down.  From a place of humility, then, Let us give thanks to the Father for the gift of this inheritance, an inheritance of love, the true and infinite power of God, and the single most important indicator of God’s kingdom.

Happy Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe!

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle