Beloved in Christ,
The liturgical year comes to an end with the solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. In this Sunday's gospel, the criminal crucified next to Jesus acknowledged Jesus as king when he said, "Jesus, remember me when you get into your kingdom" (Lk 23:42). A couple of verses earlier, the other crucified criminal said mockingly, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us." Unknown to him, the unrepentant thief was unveiling the truth that Jesus is the saving king of all the universe. He reigns; he has dominion over a kingdom of the saved. What goes against the grain here is that Christ did not establish the kingdom of the saved by physical, brutal power but by accepting death on the cross. On the cross, in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, is inscribed "The king of the Jews." In an attempt to mock Jesus, like the unrepentant criminal did, Pilate inadvertently acknowledged that Jesus reigns over his kingdom by way of crucifixion.
Our first reading from Second Samuel 5:1-3, on the anointing of David as king, links Jesus, the Son of David, to David's kingship and, more broadly, to Adam's kingship over the garden of Eden. As king like Adam. Jesus has dominion over all things, and he leads broken humanity back to paradise, to the original state of grace and bliss. In the gospel account, the repentant thief is transferred to the kingdom of God's beloved son, Christ, the savior who redeems and forgives sin (Col 1:13), Christ who makes "peace by the blood of his cross" (Col 1:20), the suffering king with the cross as his throne.
In the same way, our thrones are crosses, like Christ. We must yield lordship to Christ by accepting to share in his suffering to be glorified with him. Is Christ the Lord of our lives? Is he the king we adore? I once heard Bishop Ronald Gainer preach at a forty-hour Eucharistic service that if we are not adoring the Lord, we are adoring something else, we are adoring ourselves. Such must not be the case with us. Instead, we must adore the King of Kings by surrendering to redemptive suffering in union with his on the cross. Our king reigns over his kingdom from his throne on the cross; let's be subject to his dominion from our own crosses. Let us adore him, the king of the universe, by lovingly entrusting our lives to him.
As we get ready for the first Sunday of Advent, may Christ the King reign over us!
Happy Thanksgiving! All thanks to Christ, our King.
In His Love,
Fr. Alayode Bernard Oniwe, OP
The liturgical year comes to an end with the solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. In this Sunday's gospel, the criminal crucified next to Jesus acknowledged Jesus as king when he said, "Jesus, remember me when you get into your kingdom" (Lk 23:42). A couple of verses earlier, the other crucified criminal said mockingly, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us." Unknown to him, the unrepentant thief was unveiling the truth that Jesus is the saving king of all the universe. He reigns; he has dominion over a kingdom of the saved. What goes against the grain here is that Christ did not establish the kingdom of the saved by physical, brutal power but by accepting death on the cross. On the cross, in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, is inscribed "The king of the Jews." In an attempt to mock Jesus, like the unrepentant criminal did, Pilate inadvertently acknowledged that Jesus reigns over his kingdom by way of crucifixion.
Our first reading from Second Samuel 5:1-3, on the anointing of David as king, links Jesus, the Son of David, to David's kingship and, more broadly, to Adam's kingship over the garden of Eden. As king like Adam. Jesus has dominion over all things, and he leads broken humanity back to paradise, to the original state of grace and bliss. In the gospel account, the repentant thief is transferred to the kingdom of God's beloved son, Christ, the savior who redeems and forgives sin (Col 1:13), Christ who makes "peace by the blood of his cross" (Col 1:20), the suffering king with the cross as his throne.
In the same way, our thrones are crosses, like Christ. We must yield lordship to Christ by accepting to share in his suffering to be glorified with him. Is Christ the Lord of our lives? Is he the king we adore? I once heard Bishop Ronald Gainer preach at a forty-hour Eucharistic service that if we are not adoring the Lord, we are adoring something else, we are adoring ourselves. Such must not be the case with us. Instead, we must adore the King of Kings by surrendering to redemptive suffering in union with his on the cross. Our king reigns over his kingdom from his throne on the cross; let's be subject to his dominion from our own crosses. Let us adore him, the king of the universe, by lovingly entrusting our lives to him.
As we get ready for the first Sunday of Advent, may Christ the King reign over us!
Happy Thanksgiving! All thanks to Christ, our King.
In His Love,
Fr. Alayode Bernard Oniwe, OP
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