Aeticon, The Thief on the Cross.

Then (the crucified thief) said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”   Luke 23:42-43.

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The name of today’s feast puts everything into perspective, don’t you think? When you are styled “King of the Universe” there isn’t much left to be king of! Yet quite a few ancient monarchs styled themselves exactly that, the first being Sargon of Akkad about 4200 years ago, and the last was Antiochus I Soter, about 270 years  before the birth of Christ:

                                 

                                          Sargon                                  Antiochus

But apart from scholars of the distant past, who would know? Those remarkable titles seem to have died with them. So we celebrate the true King of the Universe today and bow before his majesty knowing that this title depicts the actual truth.

However, the King we celebrate is radically different from Sargon and Antiochus. They no doubt had their jewels and crowns and armies of servants catering to their whims. And there our King is radically different. When King Charles was crowned in 2023, the regalia was prominently displayed for all to see. The throne, the crowns (two of them), the magnificent robes, the congregation crying “God save King Charles” and so on. Now take a look at our King, suggested in the picture above. His crucifixion was his coronation. His robe was stolen by the soldiers. His greeting that day from the crowd, standing next to Roman governor, was “Crucify him!” And then afterwards they shouted “If you’re the Son of God, come down from that cross”. His crown was made of thorns, and his throne was the cross itself. This was not a King of pretension or apparent power; this was a King of stupendous suffering, who took all our sins on his bruised and bleeding shoulders that we might be free of sin and guilt and be made worthy of heaven. This was the ultimate sacrifice made solely for our salvation that we might be able to follow him through who-knows-what and still gain eternal happiness. So the goal is worth anything that fate, luck, circumstances, accidents, health etc., can throw at us. With our eyes fixed on the ultimate destination, we should be able to tolerate just about anything. Remember that Jesus went through what could be described as hell to ensure we received his message down to today. Also recall that he was utterly human, hence terrified of the fate which awaited him (he sweated blood in his terror, a rare condition called hematidrosis). He was also aware that he could repudiate everything he stood for by simply denying he had claimed he was the Christ, the Anointed One, and the Son of God, and gone back to Nazareth and act as though nothing had happened. But he didn’t. He considered his message to be critically important to us all, to be universally significant, eternally relevant and completely human, meaning anyone could adopt his teachings (and challenges), live happily and be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven. He had made sense of the human condition and given an identity of what it means to be a human being in the world in ways pleasing to God our Creator. In a nutshell, he demonstrated that to be utterly human is to be completely acceptable to God our Creator. One step away from being human is a step in the wrong direction requiring correction. We are here to serve God, to serve each other, and develop our gifts in order to be able to do exactly that to the best of our ability. If we succeed in that, we can expect to be invited into paradise to live in joy and peace forever. It is in our power to do that. And so we should. Therefore when we are called from this life, we may justifiably expect to be invited to share in the happiness of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe forever. 

Suffer Little Children to Come Unto Me, Juan Urruchi 1854, Museo de Arte de Querétaro, Querétaro, Mexico.

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