Glad Tidings to the Poor: Homily for Christ the King

Today we celebrate
the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe,
the last Sunday of our Church year.
Today all of the themes of Jesus’ life and ministry
come together in this one culminating feast
here at the end of the year.

Each liturgical year has its own particular character
because of the fact that we read from one particular gospel.
This year it’s been the Gospel according to Luke,
and it’s good for us to look back over the year
and try to see the entirety of what Luke has shared with us about Jesus.

After all the events of Advent and Christmas last year,
as January was coming to an end,
the weeks of Ordinary Time were beginning,
and the Gospel of Luke turned to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
Jesus returned to Nazareth where he grew up,
and Luke tells us that his first public act
was to enter the synagogue on the Sabbath,
unroll the scroll and read these lines from the prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

And when he had rolled up the scroll he said these key words:
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

These are Jesus’ first words in his public ministry in the Gospel of Luke.
And the entire rest of this past year
has been Luke’s gospel unpacking that scripture passage
and demonstrating how it is fulfilled in Jesus’ life.

Glad tidings to the poor.
Liberty to captives.
Sight to the blind.

We came here Sunday after Sunday this year
hearing Luke’s gospel inviting us
into the life of Christ,
inviting us to see Christ freeing captives
giving sight to the blind,
proclaiming good tidings to the poor.

As we came here weekend after weekend,
we saw opposition to Jesus early in his ministry;
we saw people who wanted to throw him off a cliff.

We saw Jesus approach fishermen who couldn’t fill their nets,
and how he called them to be fishers of men.

We heard Jesus teach,
“Blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry,
blessed are they who weep.”
Glad tidings to the poor.

We heard Jesus say “Love your enemies,
bless those who curse you, stop judging, forgive others.
Remove the log from your own eye
before removing the splinter from your brother’s eye.”
Recovery of sight to the blind.

We saw Jesus appoint the seventy-two and send them
to cure diseases and expel demons.
And in the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan,
we heard his answer to the question,
“Who is my neighbor?”
Letting the oppressed go free.

As the year continued,
spring turned to summer,
and we made our way further into Luke’s gospel.
We saw crowds begin to gather around Jesus
in order to learn from him,
how they asked him to teach them to pray,
and how he told them,
“ask and you will receive,
seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.”
We heard Jesus remind his followers to store up heavenly riches,
rather than earthly riches,
and to be prepared for the coming of the Son of Man.
We heard his challenging words
when he said he had come to set the earth on fire,
and how some who are first would be last,
and some who are last would be first.

Summer became fall,
And we heard Jesus say
“Don’t take the place of honor at a table;
and when you have a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame,
who cannot pay you back.”
More glad tidings to the poor.

We heard him be very clear with his disciples
about what it means to follow him,
and that to be his disciple
we must each carry our own cross.

And through the beautiful parable of the prodigal son,
we heard of Jesus’ care and concern
for those who have lost their way,
slaves of sin,
and how he loves them so much
he would leave the ninety-nine to go in search of the one.
Liberty to captives.

And again Jesus reminded his disciples to serve God
and not the things of this world.
And he told them the parable of the rich man in eternal torment,
and poor Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham,
separated eternally.
And yet more glad tidings to the poor

O how God loves the poor!

We saw Jesus talk about the power of faith,
even if it was as small as a mustard seed.
We saw Jesus cure ten lepers,
but then we saw only one return to give him thanks.

There were several weeks
where we heard Jesus teach his disciples about prayer:
persistence in prayer,
praying always without becoming weary,
and the difference between the self-righteous prayer of the Pharisee,
and the authentic prayer of the tax collector, who prayed
“O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
And more recently we saw the chief tax collector Zaccheus
climb a sycamore tree to get the attention of Jesus,
and we saw his conversion of heart,
and salvation come to his house.
Liberty to captives.

We also saw the Sadducees try to trap Jesus with their trick question
about resurrection and the woman with many husbands.
And last week, we heard Jesus talk about the temple being torn down,
and the end of all things,
and the importance of perseverance.

And so we come now to this day,
the Solemnity of Christ the King.
And of all the scripture readings the Church could put before us
that would synthesize the message and meaning of Jesus’ life,
what image brings together all that Jesus came to do
and all that Jesus came to say?
The cross.
Not a throne; not a scepter;
not a crown, but a crown of thorns.
Today, on this Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe,
we are presented with the image of Christ crucified.

This moment of crucifixion
take us back to Jesus’ first public words
in that synagogue in Nazareth:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.

What are those glad tidings to the poor?
God loves you.
God cares for you so much
that he would send his son to surrender himself up to death on a cross
so that you could have eternal life.

You don’t have to be rich,
you don’t have to be educated,
you don’t have to be perfect.
You can be a broken, humiliated, crucified thief,
and still God loves you.
God loves you so much
that he gave himself up on the cross for you.
Those are glad tidings to the poor.

He came to proclaim liberty to those held captive by sin;
to those trapped in social structures that keep them beaten down.
to those oppressed by prejudice.
He came to proclaim freedom,
the freedom of mercy,
the freedom of love.

He came to give sight to the blind.
to help us see with the eyes of faith,
with divine eyes, rather than earthly eyes.

Who sees with the eyes of faith in today’s gospel?
The rulers who sneer at Jesus?
The soldiers who jeer at him?
The thief who reviles him?

One person sees with the eyes of faith
and recognizes Jesus as King of the Universe.
He is the thief who hangs there crucified with Jesus,
and who asks him,
“Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
He knows Jesus is king.
He has recovered his sight.
He is the poor,
he is the captive,
he is the oppressed.
It is to him,
and others like him,
that Jesus has come to bring glad tidings,
to proclaim liberty,
to give sight,
to set free.
We are the poor, we are the captive, we are the oppressed.
We are on the cross next to Jesus.

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus said,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
At the end of his earthly life Jesus says to the thief,
“Today you will be with me in paradise.”

The message is the same to all those who believe:
Today our King has conquered death,
today our King has brought us glad tidings, liberty, sight, freedom.
Today and always, our King loves us.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS