On this last Sunday of the liturgical year, Christians celebrate the solemnity of Jesus Christ as King of the universe.

The main theme is drawn from the following readings: 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Psalm 122; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43. These texts present three different aspects of the kingship of Jesus Christ. The first reading presents it as an alliance of unity between all the tribes of Israel who recognize David’s kingly authority as God-given. Psalm 121, on the other hand emphasizes that Jerusalem is the capital city of that kingdom whose main purpose is the worship of the Lord.

Lastly the Gospel of Luke presents this idea as the greatest challenge in human history where a man dies a criminal’s death on a cross to become an object of derision but above his head is scrawled a message: this is the king of the Jews! When those around took it for a mistake, Pilate did not share their view: ‘What I have written is written.’ He retorted. 

When St. Paul teaches on Jesus Christ’s universal Kingdom, he explains it tactfully in terms of its redemptive power. He goes on to explain the reconciliation it brought about between men and their creator through forgiveness of the sins of men.

While it may not be so easy for many people to think of God as King, for many tribes of Israel it was so conceivable. The Book of Samuel presents David as king of all the tribes of Israel who looked at his authority as God-given.

That is why they took the authority of David as a delegation from Yahweh, "shepherd my people Israel and be leader of Israel.’ With this understanding, they knew that their ultimate king is Yahweh to whom they rightfully owed faithfulness and submission through their earthly king David.

That is why they felt the authority of Yahweh over their lives as a fundamental and sacred reality.

For us at this material time, it is hard to imagine what went through the mind of the Israelites in front of what looked like a pitiful sight of a criminal’s death on a Roman cross.

It must have been a religious scandal that defied understanding. The kingship of Jesus would still have been a great puzzle for us had it not the benefit of our possible hindsight, which is the most important fact in the universe: Christ is the Son of God.

He died to atone for men’s sin, and after three days rose again. Without this knowledge, we too the idea of the King of the Universe on the cross would have continued to shatter all our ideas of power and justice as it did to one of the criminals whose cross was next to the one of Jesus.

In all the confusion which surrounded the event, he chose a safer course: ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And the answer of Jesus caused some tension to those who were near the cross. It was as sure as fate: ‘today you will be with me in paradise”. 

This lucky criminal recovered quickly the vision he had lost in life. He must have used his last breath contemplating what it was going to feel in the promised paradise and thanking his stars because a single world from Jesus had changed his destiny.

We too like the criminal who asked Jesus to enter with him in the kingdom, when faced with the kingship of Jesus, our understanding is greatly challenged. And what matters most is to ask him: ‘would you remember me when you come into your kingdom?’ Both the Gospel account of the death of Jesus and St. Paul’s discourse present to us some essential realities for our meditation:  the requirements to be part of the kingdom as a life turned to God in mind and heart, and how to receive God’s gift of the kingdom.

Such a meditation introduces us into the drama of man’s life without God and what the free gift of redemption really means, and how we may receive that gift to make it effective in our lives and finally reach the kingdom of heaven.

As we meditate on the meaning of Christ the King of the universe, we should not become immune to the scandal of the cross. It is that death on the cross followed by Jesus’ resurrection that testifies that our Christian faith is not some human thinking and that the Kingship of Christ is real.

Hence to search for its meaning we need to go beyond our own standards and criteria. We can glimpse this in the cross that something great has happened and is happening for humanity.

God is giving a new and greater meaning and possibility to man’s life. In order to understand this we must turn to "the wisdom of the cross.”  All God’s projects have the mark of the cross on them. 

Ends