King on a Cross or Paradise Now

St. Andrews Church of Scotland

Luke 23: 33-44

   It’s Christ the King Sunday or the Reign of Christ Sunday if you prefer a less triumphal phrasing. Many claim that we should get rid of all language and symbols related to kingship; that it is outdated in our more multi faith world, that we Christians can no longer claim God’s universality in terms of God’s presence in the ministry and mission of Jesus of Nazareth in a world of multiple truths. Does saying Christ the King mean other religions are false?

     This issue comes up every few years in my denomination, the United Church of Christ. You see our symbol is a cross on a world with crown. By the way, the symbol for the gang the Latin Lords looks very much like our UCC symbol. It too has a cross and a crown. We have even had resolutions to get rid of it and find another symbol that reflects more accurately our inclusive understanding of God. For you see we believe that God’s word did not stop with the Bible but is continuously revealing itself or as the comedian Gracie Allen said, “Never put a period where God has put a comma. This is the reason some use the coma instead of the cross. We wanted a symbol to reflect our belief in a still speaking God.

So whether we say this is Christ the King Sunday or the Reign of Christ Sunday, it is the Sunday where we get to explore what kind of kingdom or kin-dom Jesus is inviting us to be part of and what are the qualifications we need to get in. It is also the end of the church calendar with the Gospel writer Luke who is writing to a Christian community in great need of assurance that their sacrifice to be part of this new religious community under great persecution will be worth it.

In Luke’s version of the end of the story, we find a tortured Jesus dying on a cross as a Jewish martyr killed by Rome and its hired collaborators which included the religious leaders. He has been tried and condemned for sedition, for saying He is a King, for talking about another kind of kingdom, for being his Sabbath breaking and all loving self.  For if Jesus is King or Lord then Cesar, Herod, Pharaoh or Pilate are not. If Jesus is Lord then we owe our allegiance to him and not to other forms of power including imperial powers.

 Jesus is crucified for crimes against the imperial state.  He may have deeply challenged the Jewish authorities but only Rome could crucify someone. Crucifixion is intended to teach a political lesson: Rome can crush you. It was a very public way to show the people what will happen if you cross the line. So Rome is doing what Rome does, and the faithful Jews as distinguished from the leadership are doing what they can do in response: they gather and they bear witness. Throughout Luke’s gospel Jesus has been surrounded by faithful and courageous Jews including even tax collectors.

I want to underscore or highlight this part because my Muslim friends have asked me many times here if I believe that the Jews killed Jesus. I am not exactly sure where this question is coming from but I always answer No and think of the many ways Luke especially shows us how the faithful Jews show up to help, repent, watch, wait, and mourn. Jesus is in community even up to the moment of his death.

His Roman torturers take Jesus to their chosen spot called place of the skulls, Calvary in Latin or Golgotha in Aramaic. In the Holy Sepulcher, this place, Station 11, stands above the place where Adam is said to be buried. It is said that when Jesus finally died, “The earth shook and the rock split” and a drop of blood from Christ’s wounds seeped through the fissure and touched Adam’s skull thus Jesus bringing redemption to the first sinner.

This man who was said to be born King of the Jews, who even those Wise people from the East bowed and knelt to, who triumphantly entered Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives is now hanging on a cross with other criminals of the state. Luke invites us to see Calvary as the center of scared space and time for this is how Jesus claims his relationship to God’s shalom in maelstrom of violence.

Jesus is crucified with two other criminals, one on his left and one on his right. These are not thieves or bandits as is sometimes translated but rather revolutionaries who like him went up against the Roman Empire. Like Jesus these two criminals have been arrested, locked up, sentenced. They are linked by a common bond. One taunts him while the other recognizes him and asks, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

German theologian Karl Barth says that this threesome constitutes the first Christian community for they are the first to be affected by his promise and assurance. This king on a cross is the only one who can save us from redemptive violence. Jesus is a king who gathers us even while he himself is hanging on the cross.

Some say he welcomes the criminals as a sign that all are welcome in the kingdom, that this is a final sign of peace and reconciliation.

But Jesus is a criminal too; he is one of them. Jesus did not just come to walk with us; he came to be one of us in our suffering. And though he does not believe in violent resistance to war or empire like the two next to him, I believe he dies ministering to them out of that sea of compassion he has always been part of even unto the end, “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise now (Luke 23:43).

Last week I was in Haifa and attended a lovely Anglican service. After the service I was talking to the minister about this gospel reading, about Jesus on the cross and his assurance of paradise.  The minister advised me to remember that it is a heavenly Jerusalem we aspire to, a paradise yet to come. But I think this is not an accurate reading of the text, of Jesus ministry or his call to us because we live in a world of the already and the not yet in the possibility of a “paradise now.” I believe Jesus wants us to support not only those who are suffering and condemned like him but those who are resisting the death grip of empire and its violence. Paradise is not only for a time in the future but can happen here and now when we recognize and accept this call to join him in this mission that often leads to the cross. The criminal joins Jesus in paradise the moment he realizes he stands before God. This is paradise.

Do we recognize that we too are standing before God?

Do we accept that it isn’t about our faithful actions or good deeds that lead to this awareness but rather our condemned status as fellow resisters?

Jesus remember us when you get into your kin-dom. Help us to willingly pick up our crosses or help others carry theirs. Help us to worship you not only as our sovereign who has reign over our lives but as our brother and mentor who can show us the Way.  Jesus give us eyes to see you in the face of all those who are suffering and condemned, in the faces of all those who are resisting empire and her deathly ways. Give us the courage and strength to join you whether it is on the Via Dolorosa or the road to Emmaus. Liberating One, you have given us not only signs but also the keys to your kin-om.  You have invited us to be co-creators of your Beloved Community---paradise here and now. Let it be so and may it begin with us.