Christ the King

 This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday and I can't get this image out of my head. I don't think of a King hanging on a cross between two criminals, but there he is.

It's such a contrast between good and evil. And yes, I play my part in all the evil and God plays his part in all the good. There is such a difference between the righteous and the wicked. I see myself hanging with Jesus sometimes to his left and sometimes to his right. 

There he is next to me on his own cross, Jesus, the very image of God on this earth.  I must stop, be still and think and know that God is God and here he is right next to me, suffering, bleeding, gasping for air and dying... right there next to me.

As I hang to Jesus left side, I make fun of him and mock him and join in with the crowd and soldiers in my usual smartass way. I know I deserve death and this guy, this phony, surely deserves death too! Jesus, if you think you're so much, save yourself and us. Save me from suffering, pain, death, cold, heat, labor, illness, thieves, murder, war, pollution...  and sin. Save me from this awful world I live in with all of these awful people around me that do nothing but stand by and watch us all die. Useless people that revel in the punishment and death that we deserve. Exhale a little blood from your lungs and curse these people that kill you and me. Come on Jesus, curse God and die!

As I hang by Jesus on the right side, I know that I'm a sinful man. I know that I deserve death. Yet, as I look at Jesus, I realize that his death is about something much different from my own. From the middle cross I hear words of forgiveness to the crowd and all people in this time and throughout time and into eternity.  You say, "Forgive them..." 

From the right side of Jesus I can see a sign declaring Jesus as King. But I also now know that this King next to me is a King of something far beyond me and this world. It occurs to me that Jesus is King of something beyond death and the grave. 

So, I speak... some kind of faith and hope wells up from within myself as I have visions of this King. I ask Jesus to remember me when he comes into his Kingdom.

And shortly thereafter, it happens! Jesus promises so much more than I could ever imagine. I didn't deserve his promise. I didn't do anything for what Jesus was doing for me. 

What I saw on that middle cross was no longer bloody flesh, but a beautiful Spirit that took me in his arms and escorted me into Paradise, the resting place of the saved before the final judgment and resurrection. Jesus promised me so much more than I ever asked! And my King gave it all to me this very day.!

So what am I to think of all of this?  Some days I'm hanging on the left and ask God to turn me around so that I can see his face and do his will and move me to the cross on his right, where I hear his promise and see his will for me in life. 

A place on the right of Jesus as I die to myself and bleed out in death to live with my King eternally, praising Jesus my King with all his Children in Paradise.

It's definitely Christ the King! My King, my God, my Savior!

… and yours too... come along with me in Jesus arms to Paradise... this very day!

Thanks be to God and Christ my King... today... tomorrow... and forever!