Gospel Reflection on Luke 23:35-43

November 23, 2025

And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

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The world we live in equates human identity with the freedom and power to do whatever you please. And we can see this in the world of influencers. We're surrounded by women and men who tell us constantly how they are free to do what they want.

And here's what that looks like, what makes them worth noticing. There, world made up of personal trainers, chefs, fashion consultants is dedicated to making them a perfect human being.

And in the Greek mindset, perfection basically means without flaw or error. And this is how the influencers around us present themselves as perfect and in subtle ways seduce us into following this model.

The message of our culture is that to be a real human person you need followers, admirers, the freedom to do as you please. And these qualities become the measure of human identity. And the more we watch, the more dissatisfied we become. Because we're not free to do as we please.

In fact, most of us find our lives very limited, often marked by suffering of some sort, some kind of limitation. Often the end result is we turn inward feeling sorry for ourselves and envious of others.

The Hebrew understanding of perfection is vastly different. And in the Hebrew tradition perfection simply means to walk together, to be in community despite our flaws, shortcomings, limitations. The perfection is to journey together. And this is how we are made whole.

Jesus uses the word blessed to describe this life. Blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry, blessed are those who grieve.

It's safe to say that Jesus is not suggesting that suffering is a blessing from God or that a good life will lead to punishment. He's saying that when we're rooted in love, we'll find ourselves in community; community walking together is where we discover that we're truly human.

The good news of the Gospel is found when we too root ourselves in love. We're made whole when we are accepted with our flaws and faults.

On this feast of Christ the King we're presented with a scene that describes our situation so well. Here is Christ with no followers, crucified between two thieves. This is our reality.

We are either being unfairly treated by the world or we're suffering because we have failed.

In either case, we're helpless, far from being free.

And yet here on these crosses, we find this remarkable exchange. One criminal turns to Jesus and asks not to be set free, but to be remembered in his helplessness.

And surprisingly, Jesus responds, this day you will be with me. You will accompany me. I will accompany you.

Here is the act of the truly free person: to remember others despite our suffering, to choose to embrace the suffering of others even when we are in pain, to build community wherever we are.

Today, let us celebrate the only King who deserves our obedience, the only power before whom we should bow. That is not bow to others who seek to exploit us. That is bow to the One who loves us to the end. The only Lord who is capable of making us whole.