Homily for the week of November 21, 2010

The Solemnity of Christ the King, 2010

2 Samuel 5:1-3

Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5

Colossians 1:12-20

Luke 23:35-43

During the past week I stopped by one of the local stores. I happened to overhear a woman who was standing not far away who apparently met someone whom she had not met for a long time. She said: Henry, I am so happy to see you after all these years. My, how you have changed. I remember you as being tall and you seem so much shorter. You used to have a pale complexion and it is really so ruddy now. Good grief, how you have changed in five years. Finally, the man got a chance to talk, But my name isn't Henry. To which the woman calmly responded: Oh, so you've changed your name too.

If the importance of a word or concept in the Bible were to be judged by the number of times it was used, then certainly the word KING would the greatest place of honor. There are no less than 6,318 references to kings or kingdoms in the Bible. However, for nearly all of us the notion or idea of king has little meaning since this country broke away from England in 1776. In the United States we've never known a king. Perhaps the only remnant of kings and queens is in our American high schools when students chose a classmate to be crowned the king and queen of the Junior Prom.

Many years ago an Italian artist worked for a long time on a very large piece of marble. After years he gave it up, saying I Can't do anything with this. He threw it away. Forty years later another Italian artist from Florence by the name of Michaelangelo found the marble in a pile of rubbish. He immediately saw that he might be able to do something with it. After three years of carving he produced one of the world's greatest sculptures known as David.

This is the King David, son of Jesse, who lived 2500 years before Michaelangelo, who is talked about in the book of Samuel. He is the David that wrote many of the prayers known as psalms. In his early life David had no faith. He murdered persons whom he did not like, and went against most of the 10 commandments that had been given to his Jewish ancestors. His father did not think he could be a leader so he left him in the fields to take care of the sheep. But somehow God saw the possibilities in the young farmer David. He changed his way of life, and decided that he could do good for the people in his country. He brought enemies together to talk about peace, and they did. He led them to God. David never wanted to take this honor for himself praying that everything is from God. But they insisted that he be known as their King David.

In a few weeks from now we will hear the Bible tell us that a person by the name of Jesus will be born in Bethlehem who will be from the kingly line of David.

Normally when we think of kings and queens we picture castles and crowns, jewels, pomp and ceremony. We think of riches, power, and glamour. Today we honor Jesus as our King. The first public record of Jesus being publicly named a king was the cross on which he was nailed. The Romans placed a sign above his head as he hung on the cross. Written were the lettersINRI, which in Latin mean: Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews. When you go home today, look at the crucifix on the wall in your kitchen or living room and you will find those letters: INRI.

We honor a person who has none of the ways of those kings. Just recall the scene: his throne was a cross, his crown was made of thorns, his servants were his executioners, and the people closest to him were common criminals. The cross shows us the kind of king Jesus is: he is one who cares for us right to the end. He cares enough to suffer and to even give up his life for those he loves. He cares enough to be misunderstood and rejected. He cares enough to seem a failure. He is a king who cares, and is prepared to make any sacrifice for the sake of those he loves.

Jesus was and is a contradiction to any who try to live as he taught us. His disciples thought they would get all kinds of power from him. He would give them the best letter of reference, or best jobs, or make them MVPs on His team. But what does he tell them: Anyone who would be first must be last, the servant of all.

Today's Gospel reminds us just how personally Jesus fulfils his saving mission on earth. Only in Luke's' Gospel do we find this incident in which Jesus guarantees the salvation of one of the criminals crucified with him, the familiar Good Thief. This thief, referred to as Dismas, prays to Jesus as both are dying and says to Jesus: JESUS, REMEMBER ME WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR KINGDOM. Jesus remembers him and tells him YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.

Jesus focuses on the necessity for us to follow him day by day. In the midst of all difficulty and bad times, we find hope, words of encouragement, new life comes to us. Within ourselves we find a renewal when new ideas let go of the bad and painful. Old habits of sin must be destroyed if the newness of Jesus is be part of us. Our future is one of constant renewal. We are always in the process of renewing our responses to the will of Jesus for us. We renew our spiritual life, not by world shaking actions, but by actions that show we are thankful and loving: by reading a book to a child; by listening to an elderly parent; by listening to a young person who feels alone; by leading prayers at home at meal time; by teaching your children or grandchildren about Jesus; by making Advent a time of preparation for the birth of Jesus, and not just a time to buy more and more gifts.

If Christ were in this church today he would be advising us that in God's kingdom even the guilty can find welcome, no matter what their crimes, lifestyles and misdeeds.

On the cross Jesus gave comfort to repentant thief even as he extends comfort to us as we hang on our own crosses. No matter what we have to bear in life, no situation is beyond Christ's healing power.