Deacon Tom's Homily for Christ the King

TODAY IS THE LAST SUNDAY OF our Liturgical Year. The last Sunday that we hear the Gospel according to Luke.  Luke’s Gospel is called “the Gospel of God’s compassion” and St. Luke himself is referred to as “the scribe of the gentleness of Christ.” 

OVER THE COURSE OF THE PAST year, we have heard the parables of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, and we’ve seen the healing of the ten lepers, all of which are found only in Luke’s Gospel, as is today’s exchange between Jesus and the Good Thief.

BUT IS TODAY’S GOSPEL PASSAGE really the appropriate Gospel for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe?

MISSING IS THE GOLDEN THRONE with it’s scarlet backing and plush cushions; missing is the bejeweled crown of gold and the throngs of followers shouting “Hosanna.”  Instead, we have a cross, a crown of thorns, and the jeers and insults of politicians, soldiers, and a common criminal.

BUT NOTICE, EVERYTHING they say is the truth!  From their mouths, today’s Gospel shouts out to us: “Yes, Jesus did indeed save others”; “Yes, Jesus is the Chosen One, the Christ of God”; and “Yes, He is the King of the Jews.”

BUT, JESUS IS A KING LIKE NO other!  Most kings make sure that everyone in their kingdom pays their share and more.  This King paid for everyone else!

LIKE HIS ANCESTOR, KING DAVID, who once shepherded the people of Israel, Our Shepherd-King, despite the extreme agony of the cross, reaches out one last time to save a lost sheep, carrying him home in His arms across the threshold into Paradise which has been locked to all since the fall of Adam and Eve.

BY FORGIVING THIS REPENTANT thief and guaranteeing him eternal bliss, Jesus reveals to us that He is indeed God.  And we all know that the cross is not the end.  In three days, Jesus will rise from the dead offering us all eternal bliss!

AND SO, TODAY, IT IS UP TO EACH one of us to do as the hymn tells us: “In your hearts enthrone Him.”  His Kingdom is the human heart! 

AND, IN THE DEPTHS OF OUR heart, we each long to hear spoken to us one day, these final words of Luke’s Gospel this year, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”