Christ the King, Cycle C

LUKE 23:35-43
WHEN WE HEAR THIS FAMOUS GOSPEL, WE USUALLY CONCENTRATE ON THE INTERACTION BETWEEN JESUS AND THE SO-CALLED “GOOD THIEF”. BUT THERE IS ANOTHER VOICE HERE, THE VOICE OF THE OTHER THIEF. “ARE YOU NOT THE CHRIST? SAVE YOURSELF AND US.” THE GOSPEL WRITER TELLS US THAT THE OTHER THIEF “REVILED” HIM, WHICH IN SOME TRANSLATIONS, COMES ACROSS AS “MOCKED”. SO THAT BAD THIEF SPOKE THOSE WORDS IN A MOCKING VOICE, A VOICE THAT MADE IT CLEAR THAT HE DID NOT BELIEVE JESUS COULD DO ANYTHING OF THE KIND.
WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH THIS MAN'S MIND? HE KNEW HE WAS GOING TO DIE A MISERABLE DEATH. HE KNEW THAT BECAUSE OF HIS CRIMES AND THE WAY HE WAS GOING TO DIE, HE WAS AN OUTCAST FROM HIS COMMUNITY. IN THOSE DAYS SOME JEWS BELIEVED IN THE RESURRECTION; OF THESE, SOME BELIEVED THAT ONLY THE GOOD WOULD RISE. AND OTHER BELIEVED IN NO RESURRECTION AT ALL. WHAT DID HE BELIEVE, THIS MAN WHO MOCKED JESUS WITH HIS LAST BREATH? WHEN HE BECAME A THIEF, HAD HE ABANDONED ANY HOPE OF LIFE AFTER DEATH? OR HAD HE SORT OF FIGURED THAT SOMEDAY, AFTER HE MADE ENOUGH FROM HIS PROFESSION, THERE WOULD BE TIME FOR ATTENDING TO HIS SOUL?
IN OUR COUNTRY, IF A PERSON IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH, SOMETIMES IT TAKES YEARS BEFORE THE ACTUAL EVENT TAKES PLACE. WE HAVE APPEALS COURTS AND STATE SUPREME COURTS, AND MOTIONS THAT CAN BE FILED, AND APPEALS FOR CLEMENCY THAT MUST BE CONSIDERED. PEOPLE ON DEATH ROW ARE USUALLY THERE LONG ENOUGH TO COMPLETELY CHANGE THEIR BEHAVIOR, TO REPENT OF WHAT THEY DID, AND SOMETIMES, TO WRITE BOOKS. THE PERSON YOU PUT TO DEATH IS SOMETIMES A VERY DIFFERENT PERSON THAN THE ONE WHO DID THE CRIME.
IN JESUS TIME, AS WE KNOW FROM HIS OWN TRIAL, VERY LITTLE TIME ELAPSED BETWEEN WHEN YOU WERE CONDEMNED AND WHEN YOU WERE PUT TO DEATH. DID OUR BAD THIEF EVEN HAVE TIME TO FULLY APPRECIATE THAT HE WAS GOING TO DIE, THAT THERE WAS NO ESCAPE, NO CLEMENCY? OR WAS HE STILL IN SHOCK?
DID HE THINK THAT BY MOCKING JESUS, BY JOINING IN WITH THE CROWDS WHO WERE MOCKING HIM, SOMEONE MIGHT TAKE PITY ON HIM? MAYBE THERE WAS STILL TIME TO GET HIS SENTENCE COMMUTED; MAYBE THE AUTHORITIES WHO PUT JESUS TO DEATH WOULD LOOK FAVORABLY ON HIS OBVIOUS AGREEMENT WITH THEIR SENTENCE. WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH HIS MIND? WHAT WERE HIS THOUGHTS AS HE WRITHED ON HIS OWN CROSS, TRYING TO CATCH HIS BREATH, TRYING TO RELIEVE HIS PAIN?
OR AFTER HE MOCKED JESUS, MAYBE HE SLIPPED INTO A PLACE DEEP IN HIS MIND, A PLACE WHERE HE WAS A CHILD ONCE AGAIN, PROTECTED BY A FATHER, LOVED BY A MOTHER. IT'S NOT UNCOMMON FOR DYING PEOPLE TO DO THAT, TO WITHDRAW AND IMAGINE THEMSELVES IN A BETTER PLACE, A BETTER TIME.
THE GOOD THIEF SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE AWARE OF HIS SITUATION. HE KNEW WHY HE WAS ON THE CROSS, HE KNEW THAT HIS PUNISHMENT WAS DESERVED, AND HE KNEW HIS LIFE WAS OVER. AND MAYBE THIS JESUS REALLY WAS A PROPHET, OR AS SOME SAID, THE VERY SON OF GOD, THE ONE WHO PROMISED RESURRECTION, THE ONE WHO CLAIMED THAT HE HIMSELF WOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD AS EVIDENCE THAT WHAT HE TAUGHT WAS TRUE. AND HE IS THE ONE WHO FIRST OF ALL WITNESSES HIS FAITH BY HIS WORDS; HE RECOGNIZES THAT JESUS IS INNOCENT AND THAT HE HAS POWER, THAT HE IS A KING. AND WITHOUT MUCH HOPE, HE CALLS OUT, “REMEMBER ME WHEN YOU COME INTO YOUR KINGDOM.”
SO THERE ARE TWO THIEVES, EACH OF WHOM HAS REACHED THE END OF HIS LIFE. A DAY OR TWO AGO, THEY WERE FREE, THEY WERE PROBABLY ENJOYING A DRINK SOMEWHERE, PLOTTING THEIR NEXT CAPER. NEITHER HAD THE FAINTEST EXPECTATION THAT HE WOULD BE HANGING ON A CROSS ON THAT FRIDAY LONG AGO.
YOU AND I ARE NOT MUCH DIFFERENT. WE GO ABOUT OUR LIVES, ONE DAY LEADING TO THE NEXT. WE DON'T THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE MIGHT HAVE ONLY A DAY OR TWO. MAYBE WE CONSOLE OURSELVES WITH THE THOUGHT THAT THERE IS STILL PLENTY OF TIME TO GET RIGHT WITH GOD; THAT WHEN THE END COMES, WE WILL HAVE TIME TO REPENT, TO CONFESS OUR SINS, TO RECEIVE THE EUCHARIST ONE LAST TIME; WHEN THE END COMES WE WILL BE SENT OFF WITH THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH IN THE BOSOM OF OUR FAMILY, GOING TO SLEEP IN THIS WORLD, WAKING UP IN THE NEXT.
SO WHY DID GOD ARRANGE IT SO THAT ONE THIEF IS PROMISED PARADISE, AND THE OTHER – WELL, WE DON'T KNOW HIS ULTIMATE DESTINATION – BUT HE CERTAINLY RECEIVED NO PROMISE. BUT EACH HAD THE CHANCE, EACH HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO PROFESS HIS FAITH, TO ASK FOR MERCY. ONE CHOSE TO DO SO, THE OTHER DID NOT.
TO ME THIS IS A FRIGHTENING GOSPEL. I THINK IT FRIGHTENS ME SINCE I AM VERY FAMILIAR WITH DEATH. I'VE SEEN SO MANY PEOPLE DIE OF CANCER, AND I'VE SEEN VERY FEW DEATHBED CONVERSIONS. THE WAY YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE IS GENERALLY THE WAY YOU DIE. LIKE THE BAD THIEF, VERY FEW PEOPLE CAN ACCEPT THAT THIS IS THE END, THAT THERE WILL BE NO MORE CHANCES.
JESUS IS THERE, OFFERING THE MERCY OF GOD TO ANYONE WHO ASKS IT. THAT IS SOMETHING TO HANG ON TO; HE WILL BE THERE AT YOUR END AND MY END AS WELL. BUT WE HAVE TO ASK FOR THAT MERCY. AND EVEN THOUGH JESUS IS THERE, EVEN THOUGH THE BAD THIEF HAS NOTHING TO LOSE, HE CHOOSES TO MOCK JESUS RATHER THAN BEG HIS MERCY.
THE GOOD THIEF, IT IS SAID, STOLE HEAVEN. HE RECOGNIZED THAT THE MAN ON THE CROSS NEXT TO HIM WAS TRULY A KING, THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE, THE ONE WHO WOULD REIGN FOREVER. THE BAD THIEF SAW ONLY A MAN, SOMEONE WHO HAD GONE ABOUT DOING GOOD, BUT ULTIMATELY MEETING FAILURE AND CONDEMNATION. TO HIM THIS WAS NO KING, NO LORD, NO ONE TO PUT YOUR TRUST IN.
THIS IS THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING, CHRIST WHO HOLDS THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM, CHRIST WHO WAITS FOR YOU AND I TO RECOGNIZE HIM RIGHT NOW, AS WE OURSELVES JOURNEY TO OUR OWN CALVARY, OUR OWN MOMENT WHEN THERE WILL BE NO MORE CHANCES. HOW ARE WE RECOGNIZING HIM? HOW ARE WE TURNING OURSELVES OVER TO HIS WILL? GOD FORBID THAT WE WILL BE LIKE THAT BAD THIEF, FAILING TO RECOGNIZE HIM WHEN THAT MOMENT ARRIVES IN OUR OWN LIVES.