You can listen here, or read below: Concluding Homily on Luke’s Passion
Homily
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Who is this that hangs upon the Tree? St. Luke is at pains to make us understand that this is the King. Before His passion began, He had told His disciples at the meal "I assign to you as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom."
Pilate asked: "Are you the King of the Jews?"
The inscription posted above His head as He hung upon His cross announced to any who looked: "This is the King of the Jews."
And in the face of this Crucified King, you can go one of two ways when your final hour comes. You can either rail at him as the thief on one side did: "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" For what good, such a man thinks, is such a King, a Christ who lets you die? Useless! Who needs a King like that! Or, in contrast, with the eyes of faith, you can stand with the other thief. Had he read the inscription above our Lord's head? Beholding the Crucified in awe, he rebukes his fellow thief with the words: "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?" A deliciously ambiguous statement, by the way. Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation as....this man or as God? YES! "And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."
There's the crux. We have no right to complain of death (and it arrives to us in countless little foretastes before it finally squeezes out our last breath). Our deeds demand it all. "The wage sin pays," says St. Paul, "is death." Serve sin and that's the result. And you have, haven't you? I have. But this man, this man hanging here between the two, between the one who rails at death and the one who admits it is the just due for our sin, this King of the Jews, well, "this man has done nothing wrong."
Which means He doesn't belong here. Suffering and dying. Three times Pilate told the truth: I did not find this man guilty. I have found in him no guilt deserving death. That was profoundly true beyond anything Pilate ever imagined. And yet he consigns Him to the will of the people and so hands over the Innocent One to suffer right along with the guilty. And this was God's plan and purpose all along. "It was the will of the Lord to crush Him" as Isaiah said. Behold, the King of the Jews. Again Isaiah: He pours out His soul to death and is numbered with the transgressors. Thief, King, Thief.
And yet this other thief, knowing that King Jesus is innocent, knowing that he himself is only getting the punishment that he has deserved, dares to turn his eyes and prayer to the King on his wooden throne and beg: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And He answers: "Today, you will be with me in paradise."
Paradise. Before the Innocent Sufferer, the flaming sword withdraws and the gate swings open wide. Paradise. One only enters it with Him, "with Me" as He said. This beautiful word from His cross was not just for that thief, but for you too. It was for all who turn to their eyes to the King who is establishing His kingdom by His suffering and death, to all who gaze upon the Innocent Suffer in awe at His love in choosing to be there for us. It is for all who in their final hours pray to this King who dares to join us in our misery: "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom." His answer to such a prayer stands forever: "Today you shall be with me in paradise." A King giving out a lordly gift indeed. "You will eat and drink with me in my Kingdom."
A promise to cling to as the darkness grew, as the temple veil tore, as he places His spirit into His Father's hands and breathes his last, as the verdict is heard once more, and again from a Roman, this time the centurion proclaiming: "Certainly this man was innocent." And it is as the innocent sufferer that His Father vindicates Him, and and in Him, you. His innocence is what He dies to give to you; it's how He gives the kingdom. "Not by gold or silver, but by His holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness."
And as a Joseph welcomed Him into his arms at the beginning of the Gospel and carried Him from the womb when He could not carry Himself, so a Joseph welcomes him into his arms at the end of the Gospel and carries Him to a tomb. Joseph of Arimathea, about whom we are told: "and he was looking for the kingdom fo God." So He takes the body of his King into his arms and carries him to the new tomb. And then together he and the women cease their work as sun sets, as Sabbath arrives.
Where Jesus, there the Kingdom. Where Jesus, there your King. In your suffering, in your dying, He will not be far away. He, the Innocent One, has been there for you that He may always be there for you. Never cease turning to your King and praying: "Jesus, remember me." Hear and hold His promise: "Today. With me. Paradise. You." Then you too will be able to die with Your king in peace, whispering: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." And you will enjoy your own little Sabbath rest until the day of Resurrection, the Final Easter dawns, the Easter day that will have no end.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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