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.
