All the evangelists quote the inscription on the cross of Jesus, with the reason for the condemnation. They refer to different texts, but in all of them appear the words "the king of the Jews".
The scene of Calvary described by Luke, which we read today, includes three groups of mockery of the "king of the Jews": by the leaders of the people, by the soldiers and by one of the evildoers.
In contrast, Luke is the only evangelist who describes the people as not participating in the criticism: they watched to understand the meaning of what was happening.
In fact, after his death, "all the crowd that had attended this spectacle, when they saw the things that had happened, turned away beating their breasts".Jesus' saving action was already bearing fruit. The three phrases of mockery, paradoxically, emphasize the role of Jesus as savior: you who saved, save!
The leaders of the people wanted to hang him on the cross to show that he did not come from God, according to what is written in Deut 21, 22: "One hung on the tree is a curse from God.". They say to him: "Let him save himself, if he is the Messiah of God, the Chosen One." words reminiscent of demonic temptation: "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down."from the highest point of the temple.
The temptation to use faith, one's standing before God, for personal gain. The demand of the soldiers: "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." appeals to the king understood as political power, and can be compared to the temptation of the devil in the desert that offered him in power all the kingdoms of the earth. That of the evildoer, "save yourself and us."is comparable to the temptation to turn stones, through hunger, into bread: it proposes to Jesus a use of his saving power for a contingent earthly salvation separated from justice.
By his silence, Jesus reiterated what he had told his own: "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it.". The evildoer who is converted has understood that Jesus is saving him and everyone else precisely by offering to God, as an innocent person, his own torture. He is the only character in the entire Gospel who addresses Jesus by his name, without any other appellative: "Jesus"Salvador. She has a simple and trusting relationship with him. She tells him "remember me"as in the Psalm: "Remember me with mercy, for your goodness' sake, O Lord." (25, 7). He understood that for Jesus this is a step towards his kingdom, which is not of this world: "When you come into your kingdom.".
That Jesus is with him and at his side is the way to save him, as it had happened with Zacchaeus and as it will happen with the disciples of Emmaus, and from the beginning of his life. "today"becomes an eternal being: "you will be with me in paradise". Thus Jesus is with us, at our side, always, to be with us, always, in paradise.
Homily on the readings of the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaa small one-minute reflection for these readings.
