Christ the King Sunday
I sometimes complain about the way lectionary passages are cut off before difficult passages, so I thought it might be nice to mention the truly wonderful selection of the gospel for Christ the King Sunday today. The gospel passage is Luke 23:33-43. At our “Lectionary at Lunch” gathering, led by Geoffrey Lentz, a number of folks were questioning this passage choice.
The key, of course is in verse 38, with the inscription placed above Jesus’ head: This is the king of the Jews. It’s placed as an insult, but is wonderfully and ironically completely true! This follows the record of how the crowd is mocking Jesus, and then it’s followed by the conversation with the two malefactors crucified on either side. Then Jesus behaves as a king–a king in the style of his kingdom.
It’s such a good example of the difference between God’s kingdom and our various kingdoms. We encounter the king on a cross. It reminds me of Revelation 5:1-6. There nobody is found worthy to open the scroll. The angel tells John to stop weeping, because the lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy. But when he turns to look, there’s a lamb that looks like it has been slain.
God just doesn’t do things our way!
