A Cross for a Throne
Gospel: Luke 23:35-43

Fr. Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
Claretian Missionaries

The Israelites were expecting a great, rich, strong and eternal king who would defeat all the enemies of Israel. In the gospel passage today, God’s response to these expectations is presented. We are on Calvary. Jesus is crucified with two bandits at his side, and above him has an inscription: this is the king of the Jews. No throne but a cross, no servants but insults, no royal garments, just naked. What a strange kingship Jesus has! It is the opposite of what people are accustomed to imagine about kings. Unfortunately, many Christians harbor hopes like the Jews. They identified the kingdom of Christ with victories and triumphs. A defeated king on the cross destroys all our projects.

One of the two thieves does not understand anything. The only thing he expected from the Messiah is freedom from torture he was subjected to. Jesus does not help him; he shows himself unable to meet his request.

The second thief is the only one who recognizes in Jesus the expected king: “Jesus, remember me when you enter into your kingdom.” He calls him by name. He considers him as a friend, the friend of someone who has had a devastated life. He does not consider him a “gentleman” but a traveling companion, someone who agreed to undergo, despite being right, the fate of the wicked. He does not expect a miraculous deliverance from Jesus. He asks only to accomplish with him the last steps of his life that has been a succession of mistakes and crimes. Jesus promises him: Today you will be with me in paradise.

That was a judgement of the king as in the judgement scene of Mathew 25. He divides them into sheep and goats. The ones one the left could not recognize when God passed their way. The ones on the right recognize when the Lord passed their way and treats him well. To the one on the right of his cross, he promises a place in his Kingdom. The history of these criminals is that of every person: who has not acted like them? Who has not panned sometimes the life of a brother with hatred, slander, and injustice? Who has not provoked small or big disasters in society, in families, in the Christian community? It is important to trust in the mercy of this King!

At heart, many continue to think that, on the cross, the kingship of Jesus is not well celebrated. That was just only an unfortunate moment. The real manifestation will take place at the end of the world. Then the glory of Christ will shine: he will come with his army of angels and will show to all, especially to those who crucified him, his power.

Before he died, Jesus gave a judgment of acquittal to his executioners. Will it also be valid at the end or is it a provisional statement, susceptible to revision? Are there some who believe that Jesus on Calvary was not in the ideal condition to objectively assess the responsibilities of those who were crucifying Him, still less, to manifest all his glory.

Well, if we still cultivate such thoughts, we have not captured the face of God that Jesus has revealed to us. The trial against those who killed Jesus—let it be clear—will not be reopened. He absolved his executioners, saved them in the most glorious moment of his life when, on the cross, he showed the utmost of his love. For us, a king triumphs, defeats, humiliates. We try in every which way to conform Christ to this image of kings of this world. We do not want to believe that he wins in the moment in which he loses, in the moment he gives his life. This ruler who reigns from a cross disturbs us because he requires that we offer an unconditional forgiveness to all those who do us harm.

In this perspective, the final judgment too should not be feared, but expected with joy. Stripped of miseries, meanness and pettiness with which we had burdened our minds and hearts, cured of spiritual blindness that prevented us to understand the Scriptures we will learn to forgive everyone without conditions and be able to see him as he truly is.

Indebted to Fernando Armellini SCJ for textual analysis

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Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2022