Feast of Christ the King (C)

The gospel passage that we have just heard may seem a strange choice for this feast of Christ the King. It does not correspond to our ideas of royalty. We have recently seen great crowds of people queueing up to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II. These people spent many hours for just a few seconds in the presence of the mortal remains of their sovereign. The gospel tells us that “the people stayed there watching Jesus” as he was dying a horrible death on the Cross, but they were there not to pay their respects but to mock Jesus. Even the religious leaders joined in the mockery. They were radically against the one whose preaching had, in their opinion, rocked the boat, had risked disturbing the status quo and their own position. They challenged Jesus to use his power for his own sake: “He saved others, let him save himself.” But Jesus does not use his power in this way. He had declared that he came to serve, not to be served.

One of those crucified with Jesus had the same expectation of the “King of the Jews”:

“Save yourself and us as well.” He was thinking of his own benefit. Whereas the other seems to have had compassion for Jesus who had not deserved this awful punishment. He asked only to be remembered when Jesus would come into his kingdom. Jesus promised that this man would be with him in Paradise. This was surely a sign and gift of mercy, the prerogative of kings.

Of course, we know from the Gospels that other people “stayed” at the foot of the Cross, suffering with Jesus: some women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene, and also the Beloved Disciple. They serve as our models. We too are called to look on Jesus as he dies on the Cross to save us from sin. We can speak to him and ask him: “How did you come to this, you our Creator and our King? How much must you love us, because you have given your life for us.”  And each one of us can ask himself or herself: “What have I done for Jesus; what am I doing for Jesus; what ought I to do for Jesus?” With the Good Thief we can ask to be with Jesus, not only in Paradise, but already during our lives on this earth. We can ask for the grace to see Jesus in our brothers and sisters and to be ready to serve them in any way we can.

We have been reminded by the Letter to the Colossians (the second reading) that Jesus, by his death on the Cross, made peace. We can pray that this peace of Christ may be established on the earth; that it may be established in our hearts and spread through us, as we seek to be reconciled with those people with whom we have difficulties and differences, and as we strive to spread this spirit of understanding and reconciliation.

At the foot of the Cross stood Mary, the mother of Jesus. She has been given to us as our mother, as our Queen. We can ask her to help us to love Jesus, our King, who has loved us so much that he has given his life for us. We can ask her to help us to love and serve all her children, for the sake of Jesus. Mother of the Afflicted, Queen of Peace, she can help us along the way traced out by Jesus, our King, a way of truth and life, of justice, love and peace.