Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 20th November 2022

Today we keep the feast of Christ the King, not an ancient feast but one instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925, at a time when the royal families of Europe were losing their importance or disappearing altogether. The Pope quite rightly wished to emphasise the fact that for Christians, Jesus Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life, the Lord of Creation and Messiah, the Anointed One of the Father, who saved mankind from sin and death and opened for us the gate of God’s eternal kingdom, was indeed our only king, whose kingdom is justice, peace and love. Originally kept on the last Sunday of October, for over half its existence it has been kept on the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year, that is today.

 

​It might seem strange that the Gospel passage chosen for Mass, taken from Luke, (Lk 23: 35-43), is that of the Crucifixion and, more specifically, the conversation between Jesus and the two criminals between whom he lhangs dying. Here is the Gospel reading:

“The people stayed there before the cross, watching Jesus. As for the leaders, they jeered at him. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.’ The soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer vinegar they said, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.’ Above him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

  One of the criminals hanging there abused him. ‘Are you not the Christ?’ he said. ‘Save yourself and us as well.’ But the other spoke up and rebuked him. ‘Have you no fear of God at all?’ he said. ‘You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case, we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus,’ he said ‘remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ ‘Indeed, I promise you,’ he replied ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’”

 

Three crosses. Three men condemned to die. Jesus is in the middle, the star attraction, with criminals on either side. In this way, Jesus is portrayed as the king of criminals. As Isaiah had prophesied, Jesus was “numbered with the transgressors.” This means that Jesus came to be identified with us, for the men on either side of Jesus represent the entire human race. We have all taken up arms and rebelled against the Lord and his Anointed. We have all sinned: we all deserve to be punished. Hanging on the cross, Jesus evoked two kinds of response. One says, “If you’re the Christ, then save yourself and us as well.” The other says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ The first is an insult that implies, “If you are the Christ, but I don’t believe you are, what are you doing here?” This is not a prayer, but a curse. However, the words of the second criminal are the prayer of a believer, a disciple. This man confesses that Jesus is truly a king, and he addresses him by his Holy Name, the only person in the Gospels to do so. He also confesses that Jesus and his Kingdom are greater than death and that good is more powerful than evil. In response, Jesus promises him new life in paradise, not as some vague hope for the future, but today, today. “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

 

Death stares us all in the face. We have all sinned and got it wrong, one way or another. We all need a Saviour: Jesus Christ to be our King. Have you asked him to remember you?