Revised Common Lectionary, Cycle C, Colossians 1:10-23, Luke 23:33-43
Hope International Mission
By Young Kim
Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance from God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Tonight, we are celebrating Christ the King Sunday. Through this Sunday, we reaffirm that Christ is the King and Lord of all things. And this is the final Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Sunday before Advent – the season of hope for Christ’s coming again at the end of time.
In the past weeks, we’ve read through much of the Gospel of Luke. Now, we are on the verge of Advent, but before talking about the favorite Advent stories, here we are with this story of Christ on the Cross. You might be surprised because it is an unexpected text to hear about in this late November and not during Lent.
Have you ever thought of why we celebrate and reaffirm before Christmas the fact that Christ is the King, which we all know and believe? Why is Jesus’ crucifixion story selected for this particular occasion? And how does this text give us hope? With these questions, let’s take a moment to deeply think about it.
Jesus was crucified after about 3 years of his public ministry. Despite of this short period of time, he became famous in all Judea, Samaria and even the outside of the country. All of the people had different notion about him. Some believed in him as a prophet, healer, great Rabbi or soon to be King of Israel. Some mocked and made fun of him proclaiming himself as the Son of Man and they thought that he was a liar who dared to blaspheme toward God. People saw the same person but had very contradicting notions on him. This is just like us seeing the same person, Donald Trump but having very different impressions and thoughts about him. Some may trust him to be the savior of our current financial crisis who can make America great again, but on the other hand, some may deny him and even question his capability to become the leader of this country.
If you read today’s Gospel carefully, every character in this scene seemed to know who Jesus was whether they agreed or disagreed with him.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, some of rulers sneered at him and said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, His chosen one!” The Roman soldiers mocked him by saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” Pilate also gave Jesus a name tag on the cross which was written: “This is the King of the Jews.” Moreover, one of the criminals who hung there joined in mocking Jesus: “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
As I just explained, they called Jesus with different names. Some said the Messiah, the chosen one and the others said the King of the Jews while the other criminal called him by his name, Jesus.
Now, look closely at these remarks about Jesus. Do you find any difference or similarity? Even the four groups of people who ridiculed Jesus by calling him as the Messiah and the King of the Jews had different intentions. For Pilate and of course the Roman soldiers, too, they wrote and put the inscription for the political purpose to show the Jewish people that Rome defeated the King of the Jews, their Savior from the oppression under Rome. The criminal who mocked Jesus was trying to take advantage of Jesus so that he can be saved from that situation. He demanded Jesus for salvation without admitting that he was hung on the cross because of his own crimes. What about the rulers? They sneered at the contradicting status of Jesus by making fun of how shabby and miserable he was then, unlike the glorious title, “Messiah of God, the chosen one”. It was as if they were pointing out to the disciples and the followers of Jesus that they have been following the wrong leader until now. Although they had their own different intentions in mocking Jesus, they had the same attitude toward Jesus, which was unbelief and rejection in knowing who he really was.
Then, let’s move on to the other criminal. What was different from the previous groups of people? We know that he called Jesus by his name, and this is a significant difference that we often overlook. Why is it so important to call person’s name? A person’s name is the greatest connection to their own identity and individuality. It is a sign of courtesy and a way of recognizing the person. Contrary to the people who judged Jesus objectively and refused to know him personally, the criminal called him as Jesus out of respect confessing that he knew who Jesus really was and remembering what he taught and how he ministered to his people.
Another obvious difference was his humble attitude. While the people only saw Jesus who was naked, beaten up like an animal, hung on the cross and dying like the other criminals who got what they deserved, this man had the eyes to see beyond the surface reality. He saw something more in him than a helpless loser, a failed religious leader. And amazingly, in such desperate situation, he did not ask Jesus to save him. But rather, he humbly asked Jesus to just remember him. Because he knew how sinful he was, he couldn’t bear to ask Jesus for salvation. And when he said “remember me”, he was affirming his belief in Jesus’ true messiahship, even in the midst of the crowd who mocked and laughed at Jesus. It was as if he was making a confession to Jesus saying: “Even though they all didn’t recognize you, remember that there was one man who knew you are true Messiah from God.” It was remarkable and surprising enough that such confession came out from the mouth of a dying criminal. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” This was more than a personal request. It was a great declaration that Jesus is the King of his Kingdom, not of this world, regardless of his current miserable appearance.
Some people degrade his faith by saying that this is not fair since he was just a lucky man who was saved at his last moment after being sinful all throughout his life. But seriously, would you have had the same faith as him if you were in his spot watching helpless and hopeless Jesus on the cross? Would you shout out, “Save us!” or would you humbly ask him, “Just remember me. That is all I want”?
Keeping silent toward all the mockery and insult, Jesus finally opened his mouth and spoke words of comfort and promise in response to the humble request of the dying criminal beside him: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” What did this answer mean to the man? What kind of hope would this answer have given him? What images would he have pictured when he heard the word, paradise?
Jewish understanding on paradise had several images. First image would be the Garden of Eden in Genesis in which were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. He might have thought that it will be the kingdom of new creation with perfect peace and eternal life. He will be in the place of joy and peace where there is no more torment or toil, freely walking with Jesus, the King.
Second image would be the feast that has been prepared for the righteous in the Paradise. He might have imagined having a banquet with Jesus, with all the heavenly beings and with his ancestors in one table in the Paradise. It is also the place of equality with no more hierarchy or discrimination. When the man said, “When you come into your Kingdom”, the word Kingdom expressed the idea of hierarchy, but in response, Jesus used the word Paradise to reveal the idea of equality that he will enjoy the feast with Jesus in an equal status.
Personally, I had the most difficult time to prepare this sermon throughout the whole week. It is because I had to preach the saddest story in the Bible and apply it to be the most hopeful story for our life.
But before we go into the hopeful and comforting story, I would like us to examine our inner heart, our soul. Among the five different characters or groups of people in today’s story, who do you relate to the most? The crowd who simply stood and watched what was happening to Jesus, curiously spectating how he might act or say? The rulers, the soldiers, Pilate? Or the criminal who was trying to take advantage of Jesus? Or would you be the repenting criminal? Most probably, we hope and vaguely assume that we are more like the criminal who made the great confession to Jesus. But let us question ourselves: do we really have the eyes to see beyond the surface reality? Would you believe in Jesus if he came to us in human form and said I am he? Would you have the eyes to see beyond the outer appearance of Jesus if he took the form of a homeless or a child or a woman which you can’t ever imagine? Would you be able to think and believe outside of the box of your religious tradition or your own belief or your experience or knowledge?
Let’s say that you actually did believe in Jesus who came in front of us in human form. But what if he becomes helpless and hopeless giving nothing but only disappointment? Would you still believe and follow him as your Lord and Savior? Or would you start doubting and questioning whether he is really our Lord or not only by what you see from the surface?
This dying criminal knew who Jesus was, just like everyone else. But he did not look down upon or mocked Jesus after seeing the miserable and about-to-die hopeless man who doesn’t seem at all to be helpful to me. Instead, he still treated Jesus as someone whom he can never walk over, someone whom he should always be humble in front of. Until that last moment, he did not forget his sinful status in front of Jesus. No matter how shabby and helpless Jesus seemed to be, it did not make him feel like he is a better being than Jesus. He was still a sinner, a sinner who cannot easily mention about salvation for himself. He had that unchanging faith within him. He was not shaken by what was seen from his eyes, but rather, he spoke out loud to sharply rebuke the ones who were mocking Jesus. Because he feared God and because he had faith in Jesus, he took a humble posture until his last moment and asked Jesus to remember him. And Jesus invites such humble ones to his table.
Throughout his time of ministry, Jesus diligently went around to meet the ones who sincerely sought and wanted to meet Jesus whether that may be the sick, the poor, the orphans and the widows, the sinners, the marginalized or even the riches with high reputation. Jesus came to this earth for the humanity, but he also came for the individuals; Jesus is the King, but he is also the closest friend we have. How much do we treat Jesus with respect as the King, the King who we feel so close and intimate? And how intimate are we and how much do we love our Lord Jesus who is in his highest place as the King? The two conflicting ideas should not be separate but stay together as we dearly love our Lord Jesus Christ the King.
Many of us have been taught and believed that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the atonement of the whole humanity. But we can also think that Jesus even came to the lowliest place such as the cross, taking the same pain and torture, to meet and save that one criminal who dearly sought for Jesus inside of his heart.
And this Jesus who willingly came to the place of death to meet with the sinner who was about to die, that same Jesus will come to meet with us when we seek Jesus and dearly hope to meet with him, no matter wherever we are, no matter how miserable and sinful we are. And this is our biggest hope. Jesus does not look at our sinfulness, our weakness, or our miserable state; He looks at our humble heart, the fervent and longing heart for Jesus as we sincerely trust in him. And Jesus promises to meet with the ones who carry that longingness and humbleness inside them. And finally takes our hand and lead us into the paradise that he had prepared for the humble ones.