Christ the King Sunday

Below is the reflection that I wrote for soon-to-be subdeacon Ryan to read at the early service this past Sunday.

And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ 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 railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? 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 justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." 

 Luke (23:33-43)

As today is Christ the King Sunday, many would consider the Gospel selected something of a strange choice. Why would you select the crucifixion for the Sunday in the year where our focus is especially on Christ on his throne in heaven. The choice of Gospel is reminiscent of a scene from C.S. Lewis’, The Great Divorce.

The scene is in the outskirts of heaven – not quite to the Promised Land, and the presence of God – two bishops are having a conversation about the tragedy of the crucifixion, and how much good Jesus could have doe had his life not been “cut short”. In earthly terms, Jesus’ death on the cross at the young age of 33 is a tragedy, especially considering the promise that he showed as a young rabi.  We cannot fault these two bishops their fantasy about the great teacher Jesus might have become, had he been given a life of 60, 70, or even 80 years. Or, can we?

We must never forget that Jesus was born into this world to be the Christ – the Messiah – not to be a great teacher, preacher, or social activist.  We can never allow ourselves to forget that God loved the world so much that he gave his only son so that all that believe in him should not parish, but have everlasting life. Jesus sole purpose for taking human flesh was to open the gates of Heaven for us by paying the price for our sins.

If Jesus had been merely a man, his early death would have been a tragedy. He was a great teacher with a solid following, although many fell away, and one turned him over to be executed. He was a worker of miracles – the lame were healed, the sick were cured, the deaf could hear, the blind could see, and even the dead were raised. But, he was not just a man, he had another mission. He came into the world to save those whom he had made – us – from the punishment that they deserved – death. In this light, his crucifixion is far from tragic, it is his ultimate victory. When he cried out from the cross, “It is finished,” he is declaring victory over the enemy. So, let’s answer the question that the mockers asked on that fateful day.

“The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’" Why did he not call a legion of angels down from heaven to defeat those who were killing him? He could have stopped the whole process at any time, but at what cost. Jesus, the eternal Son of God knew exactly what he was doing. He had submitted his human will to the divine will he was, in the eternal sense, taking one for the team. He did not have to die, but he accepted the punishment that we deserved. By doing this, he won the victory for us, for all eternity. It is through this sacrifice that Jesus allows us to enter into his eternal kingdom. When he told the repentant thief, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise," he is not only making a promise to a single sinner on a single day, but he is promising all sinners – that would be everyone – that, if they accept him as their Lord and Savior, on the day that they leave this life, they will be with him in his kingdom.

Jesus’ death on the cross is tragic for the ruler of this world. Through this act of obedience, Satan is defeated once and for all. And that, we should celebrate. So, let us rejoice in our King, Jesus Christ who has won the victory.

11.19.13 Luke 21:5-19

And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." And they asked him, "Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?" And he said, "See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is at hand!' Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke (21:5-19)

So, I'm beginning to wonder if God is trying to tell me something. For the second consecutive week there was an event that led to my not delivering a homily at our 10:30a.m. Mass. This week it was the sound of cellular devices announcing that there was a tornado warning in effect -- with the thick walls and rain falling on the church's aluminum shake roof we could not hear the sirens -- that drove us underground and cancelled the sermon. We at St. Andrew's are praying for those who lost houses and possessions in the storm, including one of our families, but at the same time, we are grateful that the human loss was light relative to storms of this magnitude in other places.

The devastation wreaked by a single weather episode, however, causes me to look at the Gospel that was read Sunday in a different light. Jesus says to those who are marveling at the Temple,  "As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." Everything that we have in this life, even a building as spectacular as the Temple, is temporary. 

Now it is worth mentioning that the Temple of Jesus' day was actually the third Temple to be built on what we would call the "Temple Mount". The first Temple, built by Solomon, was the most spectacular, as described in I Kings, was destroyed when the Babylonians invaded around 586 B.C.. The Temple was rebuilt under Zerubabbel around 515 B.C. That Temple was in ruins when Harod  rebuilt and expanded it shortly before Jesus was born. Each Temple had fallen into the hands of the enemies of the Jews as they had fallen away from obeying God. I should also note here that the third Temple would be destroyed by the Romans in due time.

 We regularly come face-to-face with the fact that everything in this life is temporary, and that is the first point of this Gospel. The second point is that we just don't get to know when things will come to an end.

Jesus says that many will try to predict the end, but we are not to listen to them. He predicted that there would be those, both con-men and the sincerely misguided, that would spend their days trying to predict the end, but we are not to listen to them, or try to predict ourselves. But, we are to be ready to face the trouble that is to come. And, trouble will come.

The conflict here, as it was in Jesus' day, is between the understanding that we are not made for this world, and that which believes that this is all that there is -- the eternal vs. the temporal. The evil one works very hard to convince us that we should seek comfort and pleasure in this world because eternity doesn't matter. Jesus, on the contrary, came into the world to secure the eternal, not the temporary. This conflict becomes violent for us, as it did for Jesus. We need to remember, however, that it was through the violence of those that opposed Jesus that he won the eternal victory. 

We are here reminded that following Christ is not easy. Bad things regularly happen to good people, and, worse yet, good things happen to bad people. Here, Jesus reminds us that there is nothing that anyone can do to us in this life that can take eternity away, and the eternity that He offers is better than anything that we can imagine.

For that reason, we are to endure the suffering that might come in this life with patient endurance. We are to witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of our lives, especially when we are persecuted. It has been under persecution that the Church has seen its greatest growth throughout history as the blood of the martyrs has long been its seed. We must carry the Gospel to the world that desperately needs to hear it, no matter what the personal cost, depending on Jesus to give us the courage to endure and the words to say in every situation. We do this not out of any masochistic tendency, but because we know that whatever the suffering endured, the reward is worth it, even to the point of drawing others to Christ through our suffering.

Let us live our lives with our eyes focused on eternity. Not that we should ignore the things of this life, and those who suffer, but that everything that we do should be done with a focus on Jesus as the only way to enter eternity where pain and suffering are no more, only the joy of being with the One who created us aswe were created to be, forever.