Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Events
When He Was Lifted Up: A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday

When He Was Lifted Up: A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday

Last updated on: November 20, 2022 at 5:36 pm by Mary Pezzulo

When He Was Lifted Up: A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday 2022-11-20T17:36:30-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A reading from the Holy Gospel for Christ the King Sunday:

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.”

Here is the king high exalted above all kings, the God incarnate, all powerful, all knowing, the Glory before which the seraphim hide their eyes.

He promised to gather all people to Himself, once He was lifted up from the earth. And now He is lifted up from the earth.

What does it mean?

Here is the Splendor of the Father, naked, filthy, torn to shreds, dangling from a wooden scaffold by two iron spikes through His wrists. Below Him are the pagan invaders who raped and pillaged the county. They are the ones who lynched Him. They’re waiting for Him to suffocate, but they don’t want it to happen too quickly. With them are the devout, the righteous, the people who believe exactly what they ought, and they are enjoying the spectacle, taunting, heckling. Here at the foot of the cross stand all of humanity.

Here on either side of God are two other human beings, the worst humanity has to offer. They are robbers, criminals who made themselves such a nuisance that the conquerors made an example of them too, and nobody objected. They are being punished, and God hangs among them. God is being punished as well.

God is not on the ground with the conquerors or the people who believe what they ought. He is neither with the spiritually powerful or with those who wield earthly power. He is apart from the ones who have every correct answer and the ones who don’t know their theology. They have to crane their necks and look up to see God. God is being tortured to death among robbers.

They lynched the Son of God at noon, when the sun was right overhead and they had to squint to look up at what they’d done. Now it’s nearly three, and the clouds are gathering. They can look on what their hands have done. They look up at a nauseating spectacle: three naked men, bleeding and strangling in the air. Two robbers and a blasphemer. One of them is God.

“He saved others, let him save himself.”

But God doesn’t save Himself.

One of the robbers, Gesmas, gets in on the act. He wants to be like the people who lynched him. He taunts as well, and well he might. “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us?” and we don’t know what happened to that robber. The Gospel doesn’t actually say he went to hell. God said nothing to him, not on this side of the veil. His fate is a mystery.

The second robber, Dismas, rebukes the first. “This man has done nothing criminal.”

Dismas has no earthly power at all. He is pinned to a rough piece of wood. Pretty soon they’ll shatter his ankles to hasten his death, and that will be the end. He doesn’t have right belief either. He doesn’t know who this blasphemer is. He doesn’t profess a single line of any creed. He only proclaims that God is innocent, because he has the tiniest inkling of a conscience. He knows that preaching a sermon that offends theologians isn’t the same thing as the crimes he committed. He knows that what’s happening to God is unjust.

And then he turns to the blasphemer, the madman hanging between two violent criminals, and he says, “Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.”

Maybe he had a glimmer of faith, and thought that what God said was true.

More likely he was sorry for the crazy blasphemer he saw hanging next to him, and just wanted to say something kind.

And then the madman, the victim obscenely tortured, turned to Dismas.

“Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

And the first of the saints which we know are saints, the first to be declared safe on that terrible Friday when the gates of hell were smashed, was Dismas the robber. Dismas the robber, a man who never did anything good until the last moment of his life, was the first to be pardoned at the fulfilling of the Law. The man who knew nothing and did nothing right until he said a kind word to a madman while they were both being lynched, is the first.

When He was lifted up from the Earth, God gathered all people to Himself, starting with Dismas the robber.

What happened to those other men, the men mocking Him, we do not know. But whatever came next began with Dismas.

What we will be in the world to come has not yet been revealed. But when God made His dwelling among us, the powerful and the knowledgeable tortured Him to death, and He allowed Himself to be tortured to death. The devout and the profane worked together to lynch Him, and He allowed Himself to suffer along with those who were lynched. And the first one He welcomed to the new Creation was a terrible, evil, worthless man who offered a single word of kindness.

Whoever has ears, let him hear.

image via Pixabay

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows and Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Religious Events

Bible story

Christ

Christ the King Sunday

Previous Post

November 18, 2022

You Don't Need a Catechism to Tell You This is Wrong

Next Post

November 21, 2022 A Response to the Responses to the Club Q Massacre

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: In Revelation, Satan is bound in the Abyss for 500 years.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE