Lectionary Notebook Luke 23:35-43

Thoughts on the Gospel Reading
Christ The King
Luke 23:35-43 (see TEXT below)




On Sunday we celebrate Christ as King. This is the moment when the church reminds herself that our loyalty, ultimately, is to the living, risen Christ and not to earthly power and human glory, a very difficult lesson to keep in mind when the enormous social pressure from all sides is to offer our time and allegiance to this party or that important cause.

What is also most challenging is that the Gospel reading for today offers us our King, not on his celestial throne but on his cross of execution. This is the primary moment of trial and temptation, supremely for the man Jesus, but also for we who are his followers as well. For Jesus, the cup that earlier he prayed would pass him by is now passing his lips as he drinks fully the bitter, hateful, violent and resentful pain of the world. For us, the trial and temptation is similar. Will we die, too? Will we offer ourselves to the brokenness of the world as GOD'S image-bearers of peace and hope? Or will we instead live for ourselves and for our own? I think a good argument could be made that the church in the West has not done well here. (for more on this see a Douglas John Hall's work on the Theology of the Cross)

To open the TEXT we might ask how we would expect a king to act as he was being executed? What we find are the Gospel accounts offering little in the way of description. Mostly, the King is silent in the face of hate and ridicule. Which leads me to the thought that the Gospels want us to see that there is a dignity to Jesus, even in this moment of extremity. Jesus is composed and willing to let the force of evil hammer him. There is a beauty here that occasionally we find coming out of the frail human flesh under pressure, a beauty that brings a quietness to our spirit. We pause in silence and behold the man, our King.

Said another way, what we see from the cross is an inner endurance in Jesus, an endurance that offers direction for our own lives, such as a strength found in humility, and a strength of purpose and calling. Perhaps the endurance we see in Jesus, as he struggles fixed to a Roman cross, is the strength the church in the West needs to mourn the death of Christendom, and wait for the rebirth of the church.

Here are the lessons I see from this:

Doing GOD's will doesn't mean you always win; sometimes you die. Now, to be sure, resurrection for Jesus is mere days away, but that promise had little to do with the present moment, as he endured the taunts and the shame.

Doing GOD's will doesn't mean all will agree with you; sometimes you are alone. One wise sociologist once said, in a world of people it is very difficult to believe anything by oneself. Should you doubt the truth of this try it sometime. Try standing for something when all around you think truth lies in the other direction.

Doing GOD's will doesn't mean GOD has left you just because it is a struggle; sometimes the struggle is the goal. Remember this: in the midst of the struggle GOD will often offer small, subtle reminders that he is present. I wonder what the 2nd thief's conversation with Jesus meant to the King? Here, in the midst of all this grief and doubt, here as he hangs abandoned, here quietly a frail faith is expressed from the most unlikely source. I simply cannot imagine what this must have done for the man Jesus.

Luke 23:35-43

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said,
"He saved others, let him save himself
if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God." 
Even the soldiers jeered at him. 
As they approached to offer him wine they called out,
"If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." 
Above him there was an inscription that read,
"This is the King of the Jews."
 

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying,
"Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us." 
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply,
"Have you no fear of God,
for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal."
Then he said,
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
He replied to him,
"Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise."