Gospel Reflection for Nov.20, 2022, The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
On the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, we observe the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. The title of this solemnity indicates the truly universal saving significance of the Paschal Mystery. All of creation is restored to its original intention in and through Jesus Christ. The culmination of all of history is the full realization of the Kingdom of God as all is made new in Christ.
For the many from our Diocese who made the pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on Nov. 12, the magnificent mosaic of Christ in Majesty that dominates the Great Upper Church was both awe-inspiring and jarring at the same time. One cannot enter the church and not be struck by the power of the image. If you are unfamiliar with it, I suggest finding the image online. Powerful enough in its own right, the pictures do not quite carry the same impact as it does in person.
That icon, along with many others that represent Christ as King, stands in stark contrast to the image of Jesus present in the Gospel passage for this feast.
Reflecting the Old Testament imagery of the suffering servant, the Gospel we hear is the Crucifixion of Jesus as accounted in Luke’s Gospel is certainly not triumphant and victorious; this image leaves us with a weakened, beaten and dying Jesus. Nothing in this moment would lead us to see Jesus as a king. Indeed, we see a man executed as a revolutionary by the prevailing power of the world and those who conspired with them to bring Jesus to suffer a deformed sense of justice.
While perhaps most people who walked past Mount Cavalry that day were oblivious to Jesus hanging there, those who sought his life stood by to revel in their destruction of his movement. Some of his followers, women mostly, stood by lamenting his pending death.
The Gospels tell us that two other revolutionaries were executed along with him that day, one on either side of Jesus. While one of those men regards Jesus as a failed messiah, the other man, penitent and moved by his experience of Jesus through the trial and sentencing, has a totally different and unexpected response to Jesus, as he appeals: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
This plea, really a prayer from his heart, is one of the most profound statements in all of Scripture. While we have no real sense of his crime — likely related to some violence exacted against the Romans — he was clearly penitent for the crime he committed. We do not think of him as a man with a family, friends, hopes and dreams. A young man, he is well-aware that what may have been a rash act has terminal consequences. His prayer is a model for all of us as we seek healing from the Lord.
As we reflect on the Kingdom of God, and certainly our owl place within salvation history, we can be drawn in divergent directions. Some of us are comfortable with the image of the triumphant Church and Christ as the conqueror of sin and death, much the same as is expressed in the aforementioned mosaic at the National Shrine.
For others, the image of the suffering Christ, languishing abandoned on the Cross, dying for our redemption and the opening of the gates of heaven, has a deeper meaning. Clearly both images, and other variations in between, are richly a part of our faith tradition. Whichever image of Jesus most appeals to your own spiritual journey is the one that you should meditate on this weekend but also allow yourself to be challenged by the other images as well. Not only does this offer us a richer balance of understanding Jesus in our own lives, but it also helps us to grasp more fully the majesty of Jesus Christ, as King of the Universe, and more importantly, as the king, or master, of our own lives.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.