Gospel Reflection Nov 23 – Kim VanHuffel
Sunday, November 23
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Luke 23: 35-43
Gospel:
The rulers sneered at Jesus and said,
“He saved others, let him save himself
if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.”
Even the soldiers jeered at him.
As they approached to offer him wine they called out,
“If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.”
Above him there was an inscription that read,
“This is the King of the Jews.”
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying,
“Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us.”
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply,
“Have you no fear of God,
for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal.”
Then he said,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
He replied to him,
“Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Gospel Reflection:
This weekend is the last of the liturgical year. It is our opportunity to see the totality of all Jesus has done for us, and to recognize him as King of the Universe. In the irony of this passage, Jesus’ throne is the cross, and our sinless King dies for our sins. He forgives the sins of the criminal next to him and welcomes him into Paradise that very day! In our Adult Faith Formation series we have been doing a study on forgiveness for the past couple of weeks. A few things have hit home for me in this study. First, if our King can give his life for us in a brutal death to forgive our sins and allow for our salvation, how can we withhold forgiveness from others? He gives us a model to follow, and his forgiveness is so vast and so great, surely any forgiveness we are holding in our hearts is very, very small in comparison. Secondly, forgiveness is really for us and not for the person who hurt us. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation, what it means is that you are letting that hurt go. There is a saying that says not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and expecting the other person to die! Unforgiving only hurts us. The other person probably isn’t even thinking about the hurt, or may even be unaware of it. As Jesus says in the verse right before this Gospel passage “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” The third thing is that if we say we are followers of Jesus, then we need to listen to his words. In Matthew 6:14-15 he tells us that “if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” That alone should urge us to try to forgive. It is not a one-time decision, it is a process. It may take 7×70 times (Matthew 18:21-22) to forgive with our brain, until it finally reaches our hearts, and we are freed from the burden.
I’m grateful for the study we have undertaken and I think many of us have grown to understand forgiveness better and are willing to take on the work, with God’s grace, to get there. It is definitely something to pray on as we enter the holidays and all of our family gatherings.
I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Kim VanHuffel
Pastoral Associate