Christ the King
Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 46; Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43
The gospel reading for this Christ the King Sunday Festival feels like a second holy week before the Holidays. The King of Kings literally has no clothes. He is betrayed, shamed, accused, beaten, mocked, and about to be killed. Through the crucifixion, he receives the punishment of common criminals.
Here, in this scene, the Messiah, the Son of David promised in Jeremiah (21:5), challenges everybody and everything by completely emptying himself of all greatness and power. He indeed executes justice and righteousness in the land, not by making himself and his people first and triumphant, but by trusting that the kind of faith he demonstrates at the cross will be enough to change the hearts and minds across time and place.
How befitting it is that our liturgical season ends this way. Through the death at the cross, the space is created for a new beginning that anticipate the holy and true shepherd-king, born the lowest, from a place where nothing good can come. Yet, among endings and beginnings, the fullness of God insists on dwelling with us, beggars of his mercy.
Bridging Faith 