Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C CHRIST THE KING 2 Sam 5,1-3; Col 1,12-20; Lk 23,35-43 A very unusual King A
Gospel of God’s mercy.
Today, Feast of Christ the King, closes the Church’s Year & the reading of
Luke’s Gospel. We close it with the story of the ‘Good Thief’, which sums
up his message of mercy. I hope, we’ve learned much & enjoyed ‘Lucan
dissonances’: those strange ironies & unexpected paradoxes, which make of
Luke a master story-teller: his art of implication teaches that no matter the
odds, God’s mercy comes to meet our shattered expectations. He assumes nothing
as coincidence: even if it seems impossible, God is visiting his people & is
vindicating his promise. From start, God promises peace to the human race: &
Jesus’origin is traced to the first man to imply that all humans have a right
to God’s salvation, if only they ask to receive it. If any class is
privileged, it’s the sinners, outcasts, foreigners, enemies & poor: so
piercing is the appeal for mercy, that Jesus is kind to all of the above: he
forgives the sinful woman, tells parables of lost coin, lost sheep & lost
son, Pharisee & Publican, Good Samaritan; and honours people like the
‘foreigner’ who came to say thanks, Zaccheus & the Good Thief. But, more
moving than the tears of these people, is the moving, exuberant joy of God who
forgives, his surge of fatherly tenderness, his astounding revelation of the
heart of God. No one stresses more clearly & forcibly, the duty of the rich
toward the oppressed, yet he never stirs up the wretched to revolt, His sad
circumstances will be reversed in the ‘after-life’. Still the rich does well
to find friends among the poor who are the special favourites of God. A
Gospel of prayer & gentleness. Luke talks about a new life in the Spirit, who is received in prayer
& gives Jesus as the perfect example: prayer must be frequent &
persevering like the importune friend at midnight or the widow demanding justice
of an unjust judge. It must be humble, like the Publican’s cry for mercy,
& unlike the self-advertising & complacent prayer of Pharisee. Yet, it
must not be selfish, as if we think only of ourselves & healing our
wretchedness. Most of all, our prayer, must give glory to God, & Luke has
written the beautiful canticles we pray at Mass (Gloria in excelsis - Magnificat
- Benedictus - Nunc dimittis). Luke promotes the dignity of both single &
married life, teaches holiness in the family, & assigns special roles to
women: there’s Mary with the Angel (“Hail Mary, full of grace”), pondering
all things in her heart, and Elizabeth, mother of John Baptist, as a person of
faith & humility - one who is full of welcome & prophecy: (‘Blessed
are you among women’). There’s Anna in the Temple and at Naim, the widow who
was desolate and comforted. There are women who out of their resources provide
for Jesus & the apostles, and the sinful woman who wipes the feet of Jesus
with her hair. There’s Martha, the good hostess and Mary who listened to the
word of Jesus; just as there is a courageous woman in the crowd who extols the
mother of Jesus and women in Jerusalem who wept for Jesus on the way to Calvary.
Finally, the women from Galilee stood by the cross & first saw &
proclaimed him as Risen Lord. ‘Lord,
remember me in your kingdom’. Today’s Gospel is powerful. Jesus
is dying on the cross. Above his head are affixed the mocking words: Jesus of
Nazareth King of the Jews. Amazingly from the cross Jesus gives no impression
that he is swept into despair by blind forces. On the contrary he is in the know
and in control as Saviour and Messiah- King; and while everyone is mocking
Jesus, a criminal crucified next to him, is the first to proclaim Jesus as Lord
and King, receiving in return the promise of Paradise. ______________________________________ |
