First reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-3
Responsorial: Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5
Second reading: Colossians 1:12-20
Gospel passage: Luke 23:35-43

'Jesus remember me when You come into Your kingdom...'
By Msgr. Richard Henning

This feast dates to the first part of the 20th century, when revolutionary governments were becoming increasingly hostile to the faith. Set against the background of vicious secular ideologies that denied or ignored God, this feast celebrates the sovereignty of God and of His only Son, Jesus Christ. It reminds Christians of their ultimate loyalty and leaders of their accountability to divine judgment.
 
In the first reading today, we hear from 2 Samuel. This book forms part of a larger story of Israel’s movement from a loose confederation of tribes to a centralized monarchy. In that history, there are mixed feelings about the monarchy. When the people, fearing the power of neighboring kingdoms, cry out to have a king like those other nations, they are hoping for a military leader to protect them. But in their desire for a king, they have forgotten that Israel is different from other nations precisely because it is the God Who is king to the people. When the Lord grants their wish for a king, the prophet Samuel warns them of the danger. A king will inevitably become an oppressor because, unlike the Lord, he will serve his own needs and desires.
 
And Samuel’s prophecies come to pass as Saul fails and later kings oppress the people. Even the great Solomon will end his reign in tyranny. The one exception to the warning is David, the shepherd boy anointed by Samuel. David seemed to have the hand of the Lord upon him. Unlike Saul, he won battles and drove off the hated Philistines. David had a personal charm that drew the tribes together and even brought the loyalty of foreign peoples. David had a passionate loyalty to the Lord, dramatically expressed in his dancing and singing before the Lord. And as we see today, David had a gift for ruling with the consent of the people. His rule of the kingdom of Judah attracted the attention of the northern tribes who abandoned the heirs of Saul and invited David to become king of all Israel.
 
While the scriptures make it clear that David was not perfect, they remember him as the ideal of the king who rules in faithfulness to the Lord and for the good of the people. His sins brought great suffering to his house, but the glories of his reign brought a golden age to Israel. And his faithfulness to the Lord brought a promise of an unending dynasty.
 
But this promise became a question for Israel in the centuries to come when few kings had David’s qualities, and invasions and exile repeatedly overcame Israel. From the Christian perspective, the gap between the promises made to David and the reality of life under foreign oppressors was resolved in Jesus Who fulfilled the promises to David in an unexpected way: a Son of David, but more than David. Rather than becoming an ideal earthly successor to David, Jesus’ reign is a return to that earlier ideal of the sovereignty of the Lord. In Jesus, the Lord Himself shepherds Israel once again, and the differences in that reign are apparent in the passage from Luke.
 
The passage presents an ironic contrast between the impotence of those who mock Jesus and the saving power he exercises from the cross. They mock Jesus as powerless, but they fail to realize that Jesus does have the power to deliver himself. But to do so would violate Jesus’ utter faithfulness to the will of God. He offers Himself for the sake of the people, even those who mock Him in their ignorance. He does not save Himself so that he can save us. This is demonstrated in his care of the criminal who receives mercy and salvation even as Jesus suffers a horrific death.
 
The Lord exercises sovereign power on the cross for the sake of everyone but Himself. This truth is beautifully expressed in the passage from Colossians. Christians give thanks for our ruler who is more than any king. He is the one with the right to all power and honor, and yet He is the one who devotes that power to our cause rather than His own. His glory becomes our glory and His power becomes our deliverance.
 
Today, as we acclaim the crucified Lord as our king, the scripture passages address us on several levels. They are a challenge to all men and women who exercise power over others to remember that they remain accountable to the Lord for the use of that power. There is also a lesson for the exercise of authority in the model of our servant king who gives all for His people. Most of all, there is the summons to acknowledge Jesus’ rule and rejoice that we have such a Lord and Savior Who has remembered us as He has come into His kingdom.

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