Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Cycle C, 11-23-25

 Jesus is truly a King, not of this world, He is the King of the Universe, because he is God.    He rules through his sacrifice on the throne of the cross. He does not rule with power and might, but with mercy and justice.  

 

Today is the final Sunday of the Church year, which we celebrate Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.   The reading this week reference kings and their kingdoms quite often.   The concept of a king is quite foreign to us in the United States.  Our country was founded in protest to the burdens placed on its citizens by the King of England.  Our founding fathers established a republic where we choose our leaders in free elections every few years.  If we are not satisfied with those elected, we have we the freedom to make a choice to make change.  So, with that mindset, how can we relate to Jesus as being our King? 

 

Kings were very important to the foundation of our faith, starting with the people of Isreal.  The first reading refers to David being anointed as the King of Isreal.  He is regarded as being the greatest of the Kings of Isreal. God made a promise thought the prophet Samuel that his kingdom would be everlasting.  While David was a great king, he was not perfect. He committed some very serious sins, committing adultery and having a man killed trying to cover up his transgression. King David repented and asked God for forgiveness.  This link to King David in Jesus’ ancestry was very important to those in the Jewish faith to come to believe in Jesus as Messiah.  

 

Saint Paul’s letter to the Colossians gives encouragement to early Christians who were suffering persecution because they would not worship the Roman King, Caeser, who was thought to be divine.   Those who did worship Ceaser were provided basic needs to survive. But as Christians, they could not worship a false god and were subject to death by crucifixion.   Saint Paul gave them courage reminding them they had been delivered from the power of darkness, the Roman kingdom, and transferred them to the kingdom of the beloved Son, who promised eternal life.  While they may suffer death, they would experience the peace of heaven through the sacrifice Jesus made for them of the cross.  

 

In the Gospel, we hear about sneering, jeering, and reviling of Jesus by the Jewish rulers, soldiers, one of the criminals being crucified with him.  They chose not to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and taunted him to save himself if that is who he truly was. They thought Jesus would be a Messiah who would rule with power and might to overcome the tyranny of the Romans.   But Jesus was not that type of Messiah.   He came to be a savior by his sacrificing his life on the throne of the cross, ruling with mercy and justice.   

 

The other criminal, known as the Good Thief, stood up for Jesus, and corrected the other criminal by defending that Jesus was innocent of any crime. He admitted that they were justly condemned for their crimes and asked Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom”.  The Good Thief did two very important things in these actions. First, ee confessed his sins to Jesus and then asked for his mercy.   Jesus, responded, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.   As Jesus is dying on the cross, he offers his mercy because the good thief chose to be with him. 

 

The Good Thief is known as Saint Dismas.   We don’t know much about him other than what is written about him in the Gospel of Luke.  What we do know is that he responded a different way than the others on the scene.  He did not ask Jesus to come down from the cross or to save him from the cross.  He asks Jesus to remember him, entrusting himself to Jesus as his king to take care of his needs.   In doing so he was saying yes to being with Jesus on the cross.  Through his yes, he was given the gift of God’s mercy to join him in Paradise.  

 

At the end of the Church year, we celebrate Jesus as King of the Universe, who has risen from the dead, and will return for the Last Judgement.  We are reminded that we have the choice to say yes to be with Jesus our King, who suffered for us on the cross, and to be his loyal subjects to bring about the kingdom of God here on earth, by loving God and our neighbor. We will fail at times in doing this, and when we do, we can repent and ask for Jesus’ to remember us like the Good Thief.    

 

We also have the freedom to choose not to be with Jesus, like the rulers, soldiers, a criminal, who refused to believe in him and his kingdom of mercy and justice.  They were following the dominant culture of the times.  Our own culture today is not too different and is quite contrary to the kingdom of God.  Try to resist the culture that does not want us to follow Jesus.  Unfortunately, if we choose not to be with Jesus, it can lead to eternal separation from God, otherwise known as hell.   

 

While we all live in a great country that provides the freedom to choose our leaders, our ultimate choice is to be with Jesus in the kingdom of heaven for eternity.   May St. Dismas, be a model for us to choose to place our trust in the one who rules from the cross with mercy and justice, who will invite us to be with him in Paradise when he returns.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 28, Cycle C, 10-12-25

  

Have you ever had an experience of being an outsider?  

 

Maybe you’ve been the new kid at school and really didn’t know anyone. 

 

Was it a bit lonely at recess as you didn’t have anyone to play with?   

  

When some other kids invited you to play a game with them did that make you feel happy?  

 

Or has anyone here ever moved across country to start a new job? 

 

Did you spend the first few days or weeks eating lunch on your own and felt a bit isolated? 

 

When someone asked you to join them for lunch did you feel more accepted and welcomed? 

 

I’ve had a few experiences like these over the years. 

 

When I first moved back to Indianapolis and started working at IU Indianapolis, I would eat lunch on my own.   

 

There was a food court on campus close to my office, but very few of my co-workers there. 

 

After a week of being on the job, I noticed many of my co-workers left at lunchtime with a gym bag over their shoulder. 

 

I was not a person who typically worked out at lunch, but one of them finally invited me to join them for their mid-day run.  

 

They said it was fun. 

 

At that time, I would never have used the words “run” and “fun” in the same sentence. 

 

Running was something that I really did not enjoy at all. 

 

But eating alone was a bit lonely, so I decided to join them. 

 

I told them I was not much of a runner, so they recommended that I join the slow group that usually only ran about 2 miles. 

 

This worked out well, as the pace allowed us to carry on a conversation, and I got to know the people and felt welcomed. 

 

Within a few months I started to enjoy running and eventually ran a half marathon a few years later with my co-workers. 

 

I was no longer an outsider. 

 

Today we heard two stories about outsiders, both of which had leprosy. 

 

This was a debilitating disease of the skin and people were isolated from the community to prevent it from spreading. 

 

In the first reading we heard about Naaman plunging in the waters of the Jordan being healed from leprosy. 

 

I’d like to share a little prelude to the story of Naaman. 

 

Naaman was an outsider from the people of Israel, being an Aramean army commander, and was not a member of the Jewish faith. 

 

A little girl who was the daughter of Naaman’s wife servant from Israel told him to go to the prophet Elisha to be healed.  

 

Elisha told Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordon River to be healed. 

 

He at first doubted that the Jordon’s waters were any better than his own country and refused to follow Elisha orders. 

 

Naaman’s servants encouraged him that Elisha was a prophet of God and to follow what he prescribed, which brings us to what we heard today. 

 

In his gratitude Naaman wanted to give Elisha gifts for the healing, which he refused. 

 

In response Naaman asked for a token from the land of Elisha’s God, two-mule loads of earth, as a reminder for him to only pay honor to the Lord. 

 

He converted to the Jewish faith in his gratitude for being healed and was not longer an outsider. 

 

 

In the Gospel Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and ten lepers encounter him. 

 

As lepers they were to remain outside of the Jewish community of worship by order of the priests to keep from spreading the disease. 

 

They had heard of Jesus and called out to him to have pity on them. 

 

Jesus must have known that they longed to return to worship in their faith communities and orders them to show themselves to the priest. 

 

The only way they could return, was by the priest’s approval. 

 

The only one who returned to give thanks to Jesus, was the one who least expected, an outsider or the outsiders, a Samaritan. 

 

Samaritans were shunned by the Jews as they did not worship the God of Israel.  

 

But this Samaritan came back to thank Jesus by falling at his feet in honoring him as God.    

 

Jesus tells him that his faith is what saved him.   

 

He was no longer an outsider. 

 

He was now an insider through his faith Jesus, who came to save not only Jews, but all the nations, even Samaritans and Arameans.  

 

All of us are outsiders in some way or another. 

 

We are from many different cultures, nationalities, or political ideologies, which may divide us from the world’s perspective. 

 

We may also feel like we’re outsiders due to sin that we think distances us from God.  

 

We may be struggling with addictions, infidelity, or broken relationships with family that we think as a leprosy to keep us separated. 

 

But whatever we may view that separate us, we come together each week united in our faith in Jesus Christ, in this Eucharistic celebration. 

 

Eucharist, which means thanksgiving, is the gift given to us by Jesus to heal and reconcile us to be one in him. 

 

Each time we come together in the Eucharistic celebration, we can receive the grace of Christ in Holy Communion, which gives us power to become like him. 

 

Like Naaman and the Samaritan, we can choose to follow what he calls us to do and respond in gratitude to Jesus, no longer as outsiders, but as members of his kingdom united in faith to spread his mercy, peace, and most of all love.