Today, on this last Sunday of our liturgical year, we celebrate the Feast of Jesus Christ our King. We reflect on how blessed we are to have such a benevolent King, such a personal and loving God, a God who deserves a response of love and obedience from us.
In today’s gospel (Luke 23:35-43) Luke uses the events of Calvary to help us understand what the Kingship of Christ is really about. We hear how the throngs mocked Jesus as he hung on the cross. We hear from the two thieves hanging on either side of Jesus. The first thief, like the crowd around him, misunderstands Jesus’ claim of Kingship, and goes on to challenge and mock Jesus. The second thief, sensing that Jesus’ Kingdom was beyond this earth, acknowledges Jesus as his Savior, repents, and asks Jesus to save him. And Jesus does exactly that – exactly what he came to do for all of us – he forgives and promises new life beyond this world.
It really is amazing when you stop to consider all this. Through the ages, in all the kingdoms of the world, one thing is pretty consistent – the king’s subjects are called to serve the king and if necessary to die for the king. Disloyalty or disobedience to the king resulted in harsh penalties. But Jesus reverses this logic. In Jesus we have a King who comes not to be served but to serve, not to penalize but to forgive. In Jesus we have a King who came to die for his “subjects” – to die for each and every one of us so that we might live. Out of infinite love Jesus does all this to save us so that we can live with him forever. Jesus is a King of love, mercy, and forgiveness – all of which he shows even while dying on the cross – most especially while dying on the cross.
And our King shows us one more very important thing while hanging on the cross – that in the course of our lives there will be times of suffering – hardships that we must bear faithfully. At Calvary most in the crowd were blind to this. All they saw in Jesus was the suffering man. They were blind to the redeeming God. But the second thief was able to see this. And like that repentant thief, we know we can find our redeeming God in our own suffering and hardships. With eyes of faith fixed on our loving King we can see the glory that awaits us beyond this world.
So we go forward with Jesus by our side. We go forward in imitation of him. We go forward living lives of love, mercy, and forgiveness, lives of joy and hope, lives of fortitude and endurance. As a friend of mine likes to say – “with Christ as our King, we know all is well.”