"Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise."

SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST,

KING OF THE UNIVERSE

[ Luke 23: 35-43 ]

“Today you will be with Me in paradise.” These are the words that give the sinner hope. But only if the sinner is willing to recognise that Jesus is the Christ, whose Kingdom will come and God’s will be done.

The last Sunday of the liturgical year appropriately ends with the Solemnity of Christ the King since we started it with the first Sunday of Advent last year. Having gone through an entire year in a spiritual journey with the Lord, from the anticipation of His birth to His journey to Jerusalem where He enters like a king, riding on a donkey with the crowd cheering His arrival, shouting, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, we find ourselves at the inevitable place that marks Jesus’ Kingship – on the cross at Golgotha and we, at its foot with the Blessed Mother, the other women and the disciple John. 

We celebrate a king whose throne is the instrument of His excruciating death and whose crown is a ring of thorns. As disciples, we are asked to see in these terrible objects, the means of our salvation. We are asked to see hope where the world sees despair, to see victory instead of failure, to gaze upon the promise of life eternal in place of a life senselessly sacrificed. Only with faith can we do this. Those without it will see as the world sees: a good man, a hero for many, the champion of truth and justice whose life ends horrifically in crucifixion.

So, what is this Solemnity all about? Well, I can tell you what it is not.

• It is not about romanticising suffering especially the senseless one that our Lord went through in His passion.

• It is not about belittling death or treat it as a matter of no consequence.

• It is not about making light of Jesus’ title as “Christ the King” in the same way the soldiers mocked Him by dressing Him in a purple robe, putting a reed in His hand (in place of a sceptre) and mock-bowing to Him.

The readings suggest what it is about.

• It is about making the connection between Jesus and His ancestor, the great King David, whose kingship by divine appointment was given this mandate: “You are the man who shall be shepherd of My people.” King David united all the twelve (12) tribes of the chosen people and started a glorious period in the history of Israel. But the kingdom soon fell apart after the reign of Solomon, David’s son and it was all downhill from there. That is, until God promised the people that a Messiah will be sent, a shoot from David no less.

• It is about how Jesus’ kingship triumphs over sin that, until the Lord’s arrival on earth, held humanity captive. Taking the form of a human being, Jesus thus becomes “the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation”, with the Church as His body and He, its Head, as a king should be. By taking on the sins of the world and embracing death on the cross, Jesus brings together what is heavenly with what is earthly, thereby reconciling humanity and God.

• Last and perhaps most poignant, the Gospel reading tells us that this Solemnity is about how the last shall indeed be first and the first, last (cf. Mt.20:16). Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. His title as King is tied to His title as Christ. Being the King, He is at the apex and the first of all reality. Yet, by bearing the sins of all humanity, He goes to the very bottom of it (“He descended into hell” as the Apostles Creed states) choosing to be the last so that He can bring all who are lost back to the one fold of His Kingdom.

No one; not even the greatest sinner, who believes in Christ and asks to be remembered when Jesus comes into His kingdom will be lost. For this King is the Christ who will never abandon His subjects who call to Him and assures them of being with Him in the bliss of Paradise.

Let our fervent prayer be:

   “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom!”

Let us also pray that God’s justice, peace, truth and love may prevail in Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua.

   [Note: This Gospel reflection is by Fr Alvin Ng, SJ, published in the Jesuits of the Malaysia-Singapore Region on 19 Nov 2022.]