Jesus, our King, offers love and life to all.
Lord, thy Kingdom come!
In the desert, after tempting Jesus and failing, the devil “departed from him until an opportune time.” The devil visits him again, in a much more disguised way. While Jesus is on the cross, the temptation comes through the crowd surrounding him, mocking him and demanding that he prove himself King by coming down from the cross—a temptation no different from the one in the desert where the tempter asked him to jump down from the Temple to prove that he was the Son of God.
Jesus refused to do so when he was tempted in the desert, and now, on the cross, he refuses to do so again. He refuses because his Kingdom is not a Kingdom of grandiose spectacles for self-serving purposes, nor does his Kingdom have to prove anything to anyone. Rather, the Kingship of Jesus, and therefore his Kingdom, is about making himself vulnerable and powerless out of pure love, a kenosis (self-emptying) unto death in order to give life to all.
What a King we have! A king mocked while dying on a cross for saving humanity. Even from the cross, our King said to a repentant bandit, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Hanging there with open arms, he embraced the whole world in a gesture of love and reconciliation. This is the King we acclaim today at all the Masses this weekend and in our lives.
May the Lord always give you his peace.
Fr. Lalo Jara, OFM
Pastor, Mission San Luis Rey Parish
Sign up for free class
It’s easy and free!
