The Jubilee of Mercy is coming to its conclusion on this Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Even if the title evokes a great splendour and authority, the Gospel for this celebration confuses us. St Luke takes us to the Hill of the Skull, Golgotha, where the crowds of people are entertaining themselves watching a painful death of three men on the crosses. The torture which the three crucified have already undergone makes it difficult to tell them apart. The suffering makes them alike, at least physically. However if we make an attempt to hear their voices amidst jeering and laughing of the elite we find the true meaning of splendour and authority. But first let’s look up. Above one crucified man there is an inscription: “This is the King of the Jews.” Although this inscription was fixed there as a joke it proclaims the truth. The man on the cross is the King of the Jews. He is the fulfilment of the ancient dreams treasured by generations of Jewish men and women to be given again a king who would resemble that young man David who brought the divided tribes of Israel together for the first time, a king who would be their good shepherd. A king who would care for them in such a way that they could feel the loving hand of God rested on them.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! Those people dreamt big but God exceeded their big dreams. God has given his only Begotten Son “the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth.” God like that owner of the vineyard sent his Son so that his own people could have life and could have it to the full. That Son didn’t claim his rights for the royal palace or even to be in the most sacred room of the Jerusalem Temple. But he was where the beloved king David was in the first years of his reign: among the people. The whole Gospel tells us of Jesus going where no one else wanted to go: to the poor and the sinners, to the alienated and the discouraged, to the doubtful and to the cynical. He was there. He was the good shepherd of his people. He was the good shepherd to the end. Let’s watch and listen carefully to what is happening on the unusual throne: on the cross. A criminal turns to the Lord and says: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” What a prayer it was! The man knew that he couldn’t get to that kingdom on his own. He knew that the choices he made and the actions he took before took him far away from that kingdom of justice and peace. However looking into Jesus’ eyes he sees the kingdom where God is all in all. He bursts into the spasm of longing and contrition. It is not a result of a simple realisation of his bad life. He encounters in the crucified Jesus the king who doesn’t run away from the battle field. The criminal lost many battles to the evil one during his life but now by the grace of God he desires to loose for the last time. He wants to lose to the looser on the cross next to his. He desires to be won by Jesus. What he doesn’t know is that he has been already won. To put him at peace, the King of the Universe concludes the prayer of the criminal saying the word we all know. St Luke wrote that Jesus said: “Amen” which means “So be it.” If I woke you up in the middle of the night and said: “Through Christ our Lord.” You would most certainly answer me: “Amen.” That is how we conclude our prayers, isn’t it? Bu the man who turned to Jesus wasn’t a churchgoer. Probably he didn’t know what “Amen” meant that’s why Jesus pushed himself up, as the excruciating pain intensified in his pierced wrists and feet, and spoke in the language which the lapsed believer could understand: “I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
My Dear Believers and My Dear Lapsed Believers! At the conclusion of this Jubilee of Mercy I want to tell you that Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, is the King of the Universe. That’s why there is neither forgotten corner nor forgotten person in the whole Universe. May the scene of the crucifixion of the great king of heaven and earth awaken in you and me longing and contrition for being with Jesus and them you and me will also hear the most precious word from Jesus: “Amen.”
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! Those people dreamt big but God exceeded their big dreams. God has given his only Begotten Son “the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth.” God like that owner of the vineyard sent his Son so that his own people could have life and could have it to the full. That Son didn’t claim his rights for the royal palace or even to be in the most sacred room of the Jerusalem Temple. But he was where the beloved king David was in the first years of his reign: among the people. The whole Gospel tells us of Jesus going where no one else wanted to go: to the poor and the sinners, to the alienated and the discouraged, to the doubtful and to the cynical. He was there. He was the good shepherd of his people. He was the good shepherd to the end. Let’s watch and listen carefully to what is happening on the unusual throne: on the cross. A criminal turns to the Lord and says: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” What a prayer it was! The man knew that he couldn’t get to that kingdom on his own. He knew that the choices he made and the actions he took before took him far away from that kingdom of justice and peace. However looking into Jesus’ eyes he sees the kingdom where God is all in all. He bursts into the spasm of longing and contrition. It is not a result of a simple realisation of his bad life. He encounters in the crucified Jesus the king who doesn’t run away from the battle field. The criminal lost many battles to the evil one during his life but now by the grace of God he desires to loose for the last time. He wants to lose to the looser on the cross next to his. He desires to be won by Jesus. What he doesn’t know is that he has been already won. To put him at peace, the King of the Universe concludes the prayer of the criminal saying the word we all know. St Luke wrote that Jesus said: “Amen” which means “So be it.” If I woke you up in the middle of the night and said: “Through Christ our Lord.” You would most certainly answer me: “Amen.” That is how we conclude our prayers, isn’t it? Bu the man who turned to Jesus wasn’t a churchgoer. Probably he didn’t know what “Amen” meant that’s why Jesus pushed himself up, as the excruciating pain intensified in his pierced wrists and feet, and spoke in the language which the lapsed believer could understand: “I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
My Dear Believers and My Dear Lapsed Believers! At the conclusion of this Jubilee of Mercy I want to tell you that Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, is the King of the Universe. That’s why there is neither forgotten corner nor forgotten person in the whole Universe. May the scene of the crucifixion of the great king of heaven and earth awaken in you and me longing and contrition for being with Jesus and them you and me will also hear the most precious word from Jesus: “Amen.”
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