The Gospel for Christ the King Sunday (November 21, 2004)
Luke 23:35-43
And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah?Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (NRSV)
A Study
No more compelling vision of the Passion exists for me. This is, for His enemies, their victory.
His victory, on the other hand, which He shares with us, waits for the Third Day.
A Reflection
And this Sunday, with this text, is "Christ the King" Sunday?
Screwtape cultivates the vengeance weed in our gardens far too well.
My gut reaction to this reading is always that Jesus made a big mistake by not coming down and cleaning all their clocks. But of course I'm terribly wrong, every time. And I wish that by now, I wouldn't have that reaction.
God gave us the ability to distinguish right from wrong instinct, and -- thankfully -- to hold off on acting on instinct until we've had a chance to ponder.
I told my elder son this afternoon that this text brings up the scene in The Magnificent Seven in which Yul Brynner has his gun-slinging hand lashed to a hitching post and crushed by a bad-guy using a rifle butt. And then some time later, Brynner -- with his hand rehabilitated -- wreaks his vengeance on all the bad guys and rides off into the sunset. I just have to re-remember, every time, that it's not the Best Ending.
The Best Ending is in carrying out the great commission: preaching the gospel and baptizing in His name. It's in carrying out the great commandments. We don't love one another as He loves us when we kill, regardless of the reason. "Getting even" is not in Jesus' playbook.
Yes, this is exactly the right text for Christ the King Sunday.
Many scholars think that Jesus actually became the Christ at the moment His earthly life expired, and this text leads us right into it.
Who was the King with when He died?
Common sinners. On one hand He had someone who hated him and mocked him; on the other, someone who recognized His Kingship, but only at the last possible moment.
Jesus is not the King who sets everything right so that us good people can go on about our good business. He is the King who teaches us that good people don't wish bad things on other people. He is the King who upholds all the theology of the Law and all the wisdom of the Prophets and shows us how some in Israel had mis-applied it.
Who is this King of Glory?
He is the One who tells us that we, too, will be in Paradise with Him.
The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
3:34:02 PM 
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