November 21, 2004

Mindekirken, Nov.21, 2004
Pastor Jens Arne Dale

Luke 23:33-43

On this last Sunday of the church year, we meet Christ the King. One might have expected a text featuring victory, glory and power. But the Golgatha text doesn’t look like it’s concerned about triumph. Here it’s about dishonor, defeat and suffering. Or might it be seen differently…?

A crucifixion was a terrible act. The victims were laid on their back with their arms stretched out before they were nailed to the cross bar. The feet were often bound to a piece of wood which was supposed to carry part of the body weight when the cross was raised vertically. Jesus’ feet were nailed firmly. A crucifixion was pure terror. The pain was intolerable. There are stories of people who lived for a whole week before thirst, hunger and exhaustion killed them. Jesus had been through such torture and psychological terror that he died the same day as he was crucified.

Jesus was deliberately crucified between two criminals. This was done as a last humiliation. Whoever had seen a potential Messiah in Jesus would then see the ultimate dishonor. Spiritually seen, the crucifixion displays rejection by God. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, we read in Gal 3.13. The cross is blasphemy. Defeat was apparently limitless.

Throughout the history of the church several legends have been made about the crucifixion. Some of them are concerned with the criminal who asked Jesus for a thought when he came into his kingdom. This penitent robber has even been named, Demas, Dismas or Dumchus. One of the legends makes him a Judean Robin Hood. He robbed from the rich and gave it to the poor it says. In that way it’s logical that we get sympathy for him.

The most beautiful legend tells that the holy family was attacked by robbers when they fled from Bethlehem to Egypt with the child Jesus. Jesus was saved by the son of the captain of the robber band. The child was so lovely that the young robber could not bear to lay hands on him but set him free, saying: O most blessed of children, if ever there come a time for having mercy on me, then remember me and forget not this hour. That robber youth who had saved Jesus as a baby met him again on Calvary; and this time Jesus saved him.

The legend is beautiful, but at the same time it disturbs the message of grace which is so crystal clear in St.Luke’s text. In the legend Jesus is portrayed as someone who owes the robber a debt of gratitude. But the love of Jesus is never an answer to something he owes us. Grace isn’t grace, unless it’s undeserved.

In spite of all the legends which have been made, the criminal on the cross is unknown to us except for the text of St.Luke. That one of the criminals prays for his life and the other curses his, mirrors one of the big existential mysteries. Why are destinies so different in this world, and even more, in the world to come? How may I relate to a God who opens the gate of paradise for one, but shuts his mouth for the other? We’ll never get a fully satisfying answer to that question. But at least we may say that the answer is different than in the legend. It’s never due to our merit that God opens the gate of paradise.

The two criminals were under the same sentence of condemnation. Capital punishment wasn’t given without a reason. Both's lives had come to an end. Even so, they went different ways. One of them mocked, the other admitted his guilt. Here arrogance stands against humility, curse against repentance. The last words we hear from the lips of one of them are these: Jesus, remember me when you come in to your kingdom. It was not an impressive confession of faith, but we may sense that he trusted Jesus to be different. For his own part, the robber faced the kingdom of death. But he understood that Jesus belonged to a different kingdom, a kingdom which was denied him. But Jesus opened it up: Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.

We’ll not find good answers to why only one of them got to hear Jesus’ saving words. But for our own part, when we pray for mercy, we have to acknowledge that even that is a work by God. Prayer is ultimately the result of the fact that God has done his work in us. For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and work for his good pleasure, Paul says in Phil 2:13. Salvation is never God’s receipt for our repentance and prayer. When God opens the gate of Paradise and envelopes us in his fellowship, it’s only because of his mercy alone. It’s the mystery of grace. It’s not for us to understand, but to be grateful about.

Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing, Jesus prayed at the cross. The executors he prayed for might be classified with the criminal who cursed Jesus. Do we here suspect that no sin is too serious to keep us out of the kingdom of God? The love of Jesus isn’t meant only for some few… Golgatha shows that God is God. Despite the fact that humans killed him who called himself The Life, eternal life is conveyed to them. Or is the paradox that because they killed The Life, they may receive life as a gift through Jesus Christ?

We do know that life and dignity are abused in our world. The pictures form Iraq are frightening. We hear about genocide in Sudan. The reports tell about suppression, famine and disease in many places in the world, sometimes nearer to us than we like to think about. After all, we by ourselves that humankind is imperfect.

Even so we declare today: Christ the King, you reign! Christ reigned with the power of love, even when his throne was a cross. Christ won when he defeated evil with good. The cross measures the depth of the human riot against God. And it tells us clearly that where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Rom 5:20. The victory belongs to him who when he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten…by his wounds you have been healed, 1Pet 2:23-24.

Christ is King in spite of us. He makes us free from ourselves. The bath of baptism rescues us from the power of darkness and transfers us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, Col 1:13 The kingdom of Christ is near in this world even though it’s far from perfect. His forgiveness is never a compromise, but it’s fully present by the Word and in the wine and bread which are given us in the sacrament. And we are called to proclaim this grace in words and deeds.

Glory be to God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716