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OUR LORD JESUS ​​CHRIST KING OF THE UNIVERSE

The title of king referring to Christ emerges with strength and frequency precisely in the Gospels of the Passion. It will be the Johannine Gospel that will make this theological theme one of the decisive arguments for understanding in depth the meaning of Jesus' saving death on the cross and its universal value.

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Pope Pius XI, on December 11th 1925, with the encyclical What a first established the feast of Christ the King. One of the purposes set by the institution of the solemnity was to counteract secularism, defined by that pontiff: «plague of our age». He saw the exclusion of God from society as the main cause of the evils that afflicted the world of the time:

«And so that the fruits are more abundant and last more stably in human society, it is necessary that knowledge of the royal dignity of our Lord be disseminated as much as possible. To this end, it seems to us that nothing else can be more beneficial than the institution of a particular feast dedicated to Christ the King.".

However, as almost always happens in the Church, also this pronouncement of the pontifical magisterium, for the topics covered, it favored both the exegetical study of Scripture on those themes, as well as the consequent theological reflection. Thus new horizons have opened up, and useful and in-depth reflections were offered to the faithful on Christian testimony and spirituality. But here is the evangelical passage of the Solemnity:

From the Gospel according to Luke - «In that time, [after they had crucified Jesus,] the people were watching; the leaders instead mocked Jesus saying: “He saved others! Save yourself, if he is the Christ of God, the chosen one". Even the soldiers laughed at him, they approached him to hand him some vinegar and said: “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself". Above him there was also a writing: “This is the king of the Jews”. One of the criminals hanging on the cross insulted him: “You are not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”. The other instead rebuked him saying: “You have no fear of God, you who are condemned to the same punishment? We, rightly, because we receive what we deserved for our actions; but he didn't do anything wrong.". And said: "Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom". She answered him: “Truly I tell you: today with me you will be in paradise" (LC 23,35-43).

For this year's Solemnity a passage taken from the passion of the Lord is proposed in the liturgical proclamation, According to Luca, which we had previously already encountered during Holy Week. In fact, the compilers of the Lectionary could have also drawn on other texts to highlight the idea of ​​the kingship of Christ. For instance, that of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, where is that, According to Luca, He is proclaimed king:

«Blessed is he who comes, the king in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!» (LC 19,38).

But it is equally true that the title of king referring to Christ emerges with strength and frequency precisely in the Gospels of the Passion. It will be the Johannine Gospel that will make this theological theme one of the decisive arguments for understanding in depth the meaning of Jesus' saving death on the cross and its universal value.

Who, in the Lucanian narrative of the passion, we are inside the section that describes the culminating phase of Jesus' execution, or his crucifixion, which includes vv. 32-49, a portion, so, broader than that proposed by the Liturgy of the Word. The lectionary focuses on two frameworks: a) The derision of religious leaders and soldiers; b) The dialogue of the two thieves, where again appears a derision and Jesus' response to one of the two that only Luke reports among the evangelists. Not only, Saint Luke is also the only one to record and offer readers the extraordinary words of Jesus on forgiveness:

"Dad, forgive them, for they know not what they do " (LC 23,34).

They are absent in some prestigious manuscript manuscripts, like «B», The Vatican, perhaps eliminated by the copyists due to anti-Jewish controversy or to underline that the subsequent fall of Jerusalem will be the work of divine punishment, according to the words of the Lord:

«Daughters of Jerusalem, don't cry over me, but weep for yourselves and for your children […] Because, if this is how you treat green wood, which will happen to dry wood?» (LC 23,28).

For those who don't know, in the Bible it sometimes happens that the most beautiful expressions are also those with the greatest problems from the point of view of the witnesses of the text who pass them down, so much so as to become a "cross" for textual critics, the scholars, that is, who dedicate their time and knowledge to offer us that text closest to the original, which is then reported in the critical editions which are the basis of the translations of the Holy Scripture into modern languages. Returning to the dialogue between Jesus and the thief, it was said that it is not found in the oldest text of the gospels, Marco's, nor in the two other lessons, that of Matthew and Saint John. On the contrary, in Mark it is clearly said that both those who were crucified with Jesus insulted him:

«And even those who were crucified with him reviled him» (MC 15,32).

The historical question also intrigued the Church Fathers, including Origen, Saint John Chrysostom, San Girolamo. They provided a simplified solution by imagining that both criminals initially attacked Jesus, as Marco reports; but then one of the two understood and then changed his opinion, while the other one continued to insult. The other solution instead, maybe more logical, is to believe that Luke drew the news from a different source and therefore consciously distances himself from Mark, knowing of the change of one of the two thieves.

But who are Luke's "thieves".? This evangelist does not use, like the other gospels, the term thief, but rather that of a malefactor, literally "who has caused damage through fraud or deception". In Mark and Matthew they are instead two bandits, weighted in Greek, a term that was also used to indicate rebels, as is the case with Barabbas, in the gospel of John. But as one commentator writes: «On every page of his story, Luke avoids any possible confusion between the Christian movement and the rebels who rose up against Rome" (François Bovon). An 8th century Latin manuscript. he also gives us the names of the two criminals: Joathas e Maggatras, while in the apocryphal Acts of Pilate we find different names: Weaning and Gestations. In short, at the end we notice that Jesus finds himself between two evildoers; rather, in v. 32 Luke writes that "two other criminals were also led to the gallows", making it clear that Jesus was assimilated to criminals.

The dialogue, in is beautiful and moving, it starts from the criminal who turns to the other crucified, rebuking him and admitting his sin. He makes a real act of repentance and by claiming to have made a mistake he demonstrates his conversion. Then he turns to the Lord, repeatedly. CEI translates «e disse», while in the Greek text we have an imperfect, as if to indicate an action repeated in the past: «And he said», maybe several times. Calling the Lord by his proper name, "Jesus", the crucified criminal turns out to be the only one in the gospels who addresses Him in such a direct way. It's a sign of confidence, perhaps because on the cross, while dying, there are no more formalities. The criminal continues: "Remember me", asking what the person praying asks of God in the Psalms, but we can also remember Samson dying in the book of Judges:

«Then Samson called upon the Lord, saying: “Lord God, remember me! Give me strength just this once again, oh God" (Gdc 16,28).

In the end, here is the reference to the Kingdom, the evildoer says: «in your Kingdom»; demonstrating that he understands which kingdom it is, of that of Jesus and not of any one of this world.

Jesus' response shows the typical Lucanian trait, thanks to the adverb «today», which occurs many times in the third gospel. He says that salvation is now, from now and it won't be until later. Jesus then expresses an extraordinary relationship if we think about who his interlocutor was, using the companion complement: "with me"; and finally he speaks of a "paradise", a term of Persian origin, which means garden and which recalls the book of Genesis. In fact, in an ancient Syriac translation we read that Jesus promised the criminal to stay with him "in the garden of Eden".

We have mentioned the importance of the theme of Jesus' kingship in the fourth Gospel, that of San Giovanni. But what is Luca telling us on this topic? We must consider that while telling a story, the evangelist Luke does not offer us a chronicle of what happened: «it does not describe the procedure of fixing the condemned man on the cross, rather it illustrates the theological and soteriological significance of what happened", which has to do with God and salvation. In fact, it is in the extreme moment of weakness that the kingdom and kingship Jesus has chosen is most evident. God carries out his will precisely in the moment of greatest weakness of his Son. It is with his death that the true liberation that Jesus spoke about and for which he came occurs, as Luca says in Blessed:

«To give to his people the knowledge of salvation in the remission of their sins» (LC 1,77).

The prophecy about the life of Jesus also comes true on the cross, engraved in the very name it bears; Jesus means "God saves", as the angel explains well to Joseph in Mt 1,21: «Ella (the Virgin) she will give birth to a son and you will call him Jesus: in fact he will save his people from their sins" This word is realized above all by the cross, on which the same name is engraved, accompanied by his royal title. Even from there, even from the cross of the Son, God is capable of saving. On the contrary, it is Jesus himself who, with the little breath he has left in that circumstance, announces salvation to one of the many sinners he encountered during the time of his ministry: "Today you will be with me in Heaven" (LC 23,43).

What salvation is Jesus capable of?? Naturally of a global salvation, which embraces the entire life of the criminal crucified with him, liberation from his sins, but also the promise to let him enter his kingdom. To do this, Jesus also expresses power, but not as the powerful people of the world exercise it, because it is disinterested as only the grace that entirely saves man can be, because its horizon is the ultimate good. Today's celebration thus helps us to put things back in the right order and to have a typically Christian vision of life and history. Even if everything around us is shaking, Governments and powerful people change and what happens sometimes scares us, Christians know that it is they who hold the reins of history, mysteriously, the Providence of God. On the contrary, precisely in moments when reality seems to deny the presence of God, as Pius XI underlined in the Encyclical mentioned above, Christians have a model that explains how things work: through the kingship exercised by Jesus Christ in the folds of history.

From the Hermitage, 22 November 2025

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OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE

The title of King, applied to Christ, emerges with peculiar force and frequency precisely in the Passion narratives. The Johannine Gospel will make this theological theme one of the decisive keys for understanding in depth the meaning of Jesus’ salvific death upon the Cross and its universal significance.

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Pope Pius XI, on 11 December 1925, instituted the feast of Christ the King with the encyclical What a first. One of the purposes he intended in establishing this solemnity was to counteract secularism, which that pontiff described as “the plague of our age”. He perceived in the exclusion of God from society the principal cause of the ills that afflicted the world of his time:

“And that the fruits [of the Jubilee] may be more abundant, and may last the more securely in human society, it is necessary that the knowledge of the regal dignity of our Lord should be spread as widely as possible. To this end it seems to Us that nothing would be more efficacious than the institution of a special feast in honour of Christ the King”.

Yet, as so often happens within the Church, even this pronouncement of the pontifical Magisterium — given the themes it touches — fostered both a deeper exegetical study of Scripture on these subjects and the consequent theological reflection. Thus new horizons opened, and useful and penetrating insights were offered to the faithful for Christian witness and for the spiritual life. And here is the Gospel passage of the Solemnity:

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke — “At that time, [after they had crucified Jesus,] the people stood by watching; but the leaders 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 to offer him sour wine 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 hanging there reviled him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Have you no fear of God, you who are subject to the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what our deeds deserve; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (Page 23:35-43).

For this year’s Solemnity, the liturgical proclamation presents a passage taken from the Lord’s Passion according to Luke, a text we had already encountered during Holy Week. Indeed, the compilers of the Lectionary might have drawn upon other passages to highlight the theme of Christ’s kingship. For example, the account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, where, according to Luke, He is acclaimed as King:

“Blessed is he who comes, the King, in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!” (Page 19:38).

Yet it is equally true that the title of King, applied to Christ, emerges with peculiar force and frequency precisely in the Passion narratives. The Johannine Gospel will make this theological theme one of the decisive keys for understanding in depth the meaning of Jesus’ salvific death upon the Cross and its universal significance.

Here, in Luke’s Passion narrative, we find ourselves within the section that describes the culminating moment of Jesus’ execution — namely, His crucifixion — which spans verses 32–49, a portion therefore broader than that offered by the Liturgy of the Word. The lectionary focuses on two scenes: a) the mockery of the religious leaders and of the soldiers; b) the dialogue between the two criminals, in which mockery appears once more, together with the reply of Jesus to one of them — a detail recorded only by Luke among the evangelists. Not only so: Saint Luke is also the only one to preserve and offer to readers the extraordinary words of Jesus on forgiveness:

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Page 23:34).

These words are absent from certain prestigious manuscript witnesses, such as Codex Vaticanus (“B”), perhaps removed by scribes either out of anti-Jewish polemic or in order to underscore that the subsequent fall of Jerusalem would be an act of divine punishment, according to the Lord’s own words:

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children… For if this is what is done to the green wood, what will happen to the dry?” (Page 23:28).

For those unfamiliar with the matter, it often happens in the Bible that the most beautiful expressions are precisely those that pose the greatest problems from the point of view of the textual witnesses that transmit them — to the point of becoming a cross for textual critics, that is, for those scholars who devote their time and expertise to offering us the text closest to the original, upon which the critical editions used for modern translations of Holy Scripture are based. Returning to the dialogue between Jesus and the criminal, it was noted that this episode is absent both from the oldest Gospel text — that of Mark — and from the other two traditions, those of Matthew and John. Indeed, Mark states explicitly that both of the men crucified with Jesus reviled him:

“And those who were crucified with him also reviled him” (Mk 15:32).

This historical problem intrigued the Fathers of the Church — among them Origen, Saint John Chrysostom, and Saint Jerome. They proposed a simplified solution: that at the beginning both criminals attacked Jesus, as Mark reports; but that one of the two, at a certain point, understood, and then changed his attitude, while the other continued to insult Him. The other solution, perhaps more plausible, is that Luke drew this account from a different source, and therefore deliberately diverges from Mark, being aware of the change in the disposition of one of the criminals.

But who, then, are the “thieves” of Luke? This evangelist does not employ, as the other Gospels do, the term thief, but rather malefactor — literally, “one who has caused harm through fraud or deceit.” In Mark and Matthew, instead, we find two bandits — freight in Greek — a term also used to indicate insurgents, as in the case of Barabbas in the Gospel of John. But, as one commentator notes, “On every page of his narrative, Luke avoids any possible confusion between the Christian movement and the rebels who rose up against Rome” (François Bovon).

A Latin manuscript of the eighth century even supplies us with the names of the two malefactors: Joathas and Maggatras; while in the apocryphal Acts of Pilate we encounter the names Desmas and Gestas. In the end, however, wha t matters is that Jesus finds Himself between two malefactors; indeed, in verse 32 Luke writes that “two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him,” thus making it clear that Jesus was classified among offenders.

The dialogue — beautiful and deeply moving in itself — begins with the malefactor who turns toward the other crucified man, reproaching him and acknowledging his own sin. He makes a true act of repentance and shows his conversion precisely by admitting his wrongdoing. Then he turns repeatedly to the Lord. The Italian Bible renders it “and he said,” but in the Greek text the verb is in the imperfect: “he was saying,” suggesting a repeated or continuous action in the past — perhaps he said it several times. Addressing the Lord by His proper name, “Jesus,” the crucified malefactor proves to be the only one in all the Gospels who speaks to Him in so direct a manner. It is a sign of familiarity — perhaps because, upon the cross, at the threshold of death, all formalities fall away. The malefactor continues: “Remember me,” echoing what the supplicant so often asks of God in the Psalms; and we may also recall Samson, dying in the Book of Judges:

“Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘Lord God, remember me! Strengthen me once more, just this once, O God'” (Jgs 16:28).

Finally comes the reference to the Kingdom: the malefactor says, “when you come into your kingdom,” showing that he understands what Kingdom this is — the Kingdom of Jesus, not one of the kingdoms of this world.

The response of Jesus bears the distinctive mark of Luke, especially through the adverb “today,” which recurs so frequently in the third Gospel. He declares that salvation is from now, from this very moment, and not merely something that awaits beyond death. Jesus then expresses a relationship of extraordinary intimacy — all the more astonishing when we consider who His interlocutor is — by using the expression “with me”; and He concludes by speaking of “paradise,” a word of Persian origin meaning “garden,” recalling the Book of Genesis. Indeed, in an ancient Syriac translation we read that Jesus promises the malefactor that he will be with Him “in the garden of Eden.”

We have already touched upon the importance of the theme of the kingship of Jesus in the fourth Gospel, that of Saint John. But what, then, is Luke telling us on this matter? It must be borne in mind that, although narrating an event, the evangelist Luke does not offer us a chronicle of what happened: he “does not describe the procedure by which the condemned man was fixed to the cross; rather, he illustrates the theological and soteriological significance of what took place” — that which pertains to God and to salvation. Indeed, it is at the very moment of extremest weakness that the nature of the kingdom and kingship chosen by Jesus is displayed most clearly. God accomplishes His will precisely at the moment of the greatest weakness of His Son. It is through His death that the true liberation takes place — the liberation of which Jesus had spoken and for which He had come, as Luke states in the Blessed:

“to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Page 1:77).

Upon the cross, moreover, the prophecy concerning the life of Jesus — inscribed within His very name — is fulfilled. Jesus means “God saves,” as the angel explains to Joseph in Mt 1:21: “She (the Virgin) will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” This word is fulfilled above all upon the cross, where the same name appears, accompanied by His royal title. Even there — even from the cross of the Son — God is able to save. Indeed, it is Jesus Himself who, with the little breath remaining to Him in that circumstance, announces salvation to one of the many sinners He encountered during His earthly ministry:

“Today you will be with me in paradise” (Page 23:43).

Of what salvation is Jesus capable? A salvation that is truly complete — one that embraces the whole life of the malefactor crucified beside Him: the forgiveness of his sins, yet also the promise that he will enter His kingdom. To effect this, Jesus too exercises a power, though not as the rulers of this world exercise power. His is a power entirely free of self-interest, as only grace can be — grace that saves the human person in his entirety, for its horizon is the ultimate good.

The feast we celebrate today helps us to set things once more in their proper order and to recover a vision of life and of history that is distinctively Christian. Even if all around us is in turmoil — governments change, powers rise and fall, and events at times frighten us — Christians know that it is, mysteriously, the Providence of God that holds the reins of history. Indeed, precisely in those moments when reality seems to deny the presence of God — as Pius XI emphasised in the encyclical mentioned above — Christians have a model that reveals how things truly work: the kingship exercised by Jesus Christ in the hidden folds of history.

From the Hermitage, 22 November 2025

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OUR LORD JESUS ​​CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE

The title of king applied to Christ appears with force and frequency precisely in the gospels of the Passion. It will be the Gospel of Saint John that will make this theological topic one of the decisive points to understand in depth the meaning of the saving death of Jesus on the cross and its universal value..

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Pope Pius XI, he 11 December 1925, with the encyclical What a first, instituted the feast of Christ the King. One of the intended purposes when establishing this solemnity was to counteract secularism., defined by that pontiff as "the plague of our time". He saw the exclusion of God from society as the main cause of the evils that afflicted the world at that time.:

«And so that the fruits may be more abundant and remain more firmly in human society, It is necessary that knowledge of the royal dignity of our Lord be disseminated as much as possible.. To this end, it seems to us that nothing else can be of greater benefit than the institution of a particular and proper festival of Christ the King..

However, as almost always happens in the Church, This pronouncement of the pontifical magisterium—due to the topics it addresses—has favored both the exegetical development of Sacred Scripture on such issues and the subsequent theological reflection.. Thus new horizons have been opened, and useful and profound reflections for Christian witness and spiritual life have been offered to the faithful.. And here is the evangelical passage of the Solemnity:

From the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke — «At that time, [after they had crucified Jesus,] the people stood there watching; the bosses, for his part, They mocked Jesus saying: “He has saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Messiah of God, the Chosen One”. The soldiers also made fun of him, They came up to offer him vinegar and said: “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”. Above it was an inscription: “This is the king of the Jews”. One of the crucified criminals insulted him: “Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”. But the other rebuked him saying: “Do you not fear God?”, you who are under the same sentence? Us, justly, because we received what our actions deserved; he, instead, "He hasn't done anything wrong.". And he added: "Jesus, “Remember me when you come to your Kingdom.”. Jesus replied: “Truly I tell you: Today you will be with me in paradise." (LC 23,35-43).

For this year's Solemnity a passage taken from the Passion of the Lord according to Saint Luke is proposed in the liturgical proclamation, which we had already found previously during Holy Week. Indeed, The editors of the Lectionary could also have turned to other texts to highlight the idea of ​​the kingship of Christ. For example, the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, where, according to Luke, is proclaimed king:

«Blessed is he who comes, the king, in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven." (LC 19,38).

But it is equally true that the title of king applied to Christ appears with force and frequency precisely in the Gospels of the Passion. It will be the Gospel of Saint John that will make this theological topic one of the decisive points to understand in depth the meaning of the saving death of Jesus on the cross and its universal value..

Here, in the Lucan story of the Passion, we find ourselves within the section that describes the culminating phase of Jesus' execution, that is to say, his crucifixion, that includes the verses 32-49, a passage, therefore, broader than that proposed by the Liturgy of the Word. The Lectionary focuses on two tables: a) The mockery of religious leaders and soldiers; b) The dialogue of the two evildoers, where a mockery appears again and Jesus' response to one of them, that only Luke collects among the evangelists.

In addition, san Lucas is the only one that records and offers readers Jesus' extraordinary words about forgiveness:

"Dad, forgive them, because they don't know what they're doing." (LC 23,34).

These words are absent in some prestigious manuscript codices, like “B”, he The Vatican, perhaps suppressed by copyists because of the anti-Jewish controversy, or to emphasize that the subsequent fall of Jerusalem would be the work of divine punishment, according to the words of the Lord:

«Daughters of Jerusalem, don't cry for me; cry rather for yourselves and for your children […] Because if that's how they treat the green log, what will happen to the dry?» (LC 23,28).

For those who don't know, In the Bible it sometimes happens that the most beautiful expressions are also those that present the greatest problems from the point of view of the witnesses of the text who transmit them., until it became a “cross” for textual critics, that is to say, the scholars who dedicate their time and knowledge to offering us the text closest to the original, which is then reproduced in the critical editions that serve as the basis for translations of the Holy Scripture into modern languages.

Returning to the dialogue between Jesus and the evildoer, We said that it is not found even in the oldest text of the gospels, Mark's, nor in the other two stories, those of Matthew and Saint John. It's more, In Mark it is clearly stated that the two who had been crucified with Jesus insulted him:

"Those who had been crucified with him also insulted him" (MC 15,32).

The historical question also intrigued the Fathers of the Church, among them Origins, Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Jerome. They offered a simplified solution by imagining that at the beginning both criminals attacked Jesus, as Marcos actually refers; but then one of the two understood and then changed his mind, while the other continued insulting him.

The other solution, maybe more logical, consists of assuming that Luke obtained this information from a different source and that therefore he consciously distances himself from Mark, knowing of the change of attitude of one of the two criminals.

But who are Lucas' “thieves”?? This evangelist does not use, like the other gospels, the term “thief”, but rather that of malefactor, literally “one who has caused harm through fraud or deception”. In Mark and Matthew, however, there are two bandits (weighted in Greek), term that was also used to designate rebels, as is the case of Barabbas in the gospel of John. But, as one commentator writes:

«On each page of his story, Luke avoids any possible confusion between the Christian movement and the rebels against Rome. (François Bovon).

A Latin manuscript from the 8th century He even provides us with the names of the two criminals.: Joathas and Draw back, while in the apocrypha Acts of Pilate we find other names: Desmas and A gesture.

Ultimately, We see that Jesus is between two evildoers; it's more, in the v. 32, Luke writes that “two other evildoers were also led to the torture.”, clearly implying that Jesus was assimilated to criminals.

The dialogue, in itself beautiful and moving, begins with the evildoer who addresses the other crucified, rebuking him and admitting his own sin. Perform a true act of repentance and, by stating that he has done wrong, expresses his conversion.

Then he turns to the Lord, repeatedly. The EEC edition translates "and said", while in the Greek text an imperfect appears, as indicating a repeated action in the past: "And he said", maybe several times.

By calling the Lord by his proper name, "Jesus", This crucified evildoer turns out to be the only one in the gospels who addresses Him so directly. It is a sign of trust, maybe because on the cross, when you die, there is no longer any room for formalities.

The evildoer continues: "Remember me", asking what the prayer asks of God in the Psalms; but we can also remember Samson dying in the book of Judges:

"Then Samson called upon the Lord, saying: “Lord God, remember me! Grant me strength just this once, oh God” (Joe 16,28).

Finally comes the reference to the Kingdom: the evildoer says "in your Kingdom", demonstrating an understanding of what Kingdom it is – that of Jesus – and not just any one of this world.

Jesus' response shows the typical Lucan trait thanks to the adverb "today", that appears so many times in the third gospel. He affirms that salvation is from now on, from this very moment, and not only after.

Jesus also expresses an extraordinary relationship if we think who his interlocutor was, using the company plugin: "with me"; and finally he speaks of a "paradise", term of Persian origin that means garden and that evokes the book of Genesis.

In fact, In an ancient Syriac translation we read that Jesus promised the evildoer that he would be with Him "in the Garden of Eden.".

We had mentioned the importance of the topic of the kingship of Jesus in the fourth Gospel, that of Saint John. But what does Luke tell us about it?? It is necessary to consider that, still telling a story, the evangelist Luke does not offer us a chronicle of what happened: "does not describe the procedure of fixing the condemned on the cross, but rather it illustrates the theological and soteriological scope of what happened.", that is to say, that which has to do with God and salvation.

Indeed, It is in the extreme moment of weakness where it is best manifested what Kingdom and what royalty Jesus has chosen. God fulfills his will precisely at the moment of his Son's greatest weakness.. It is with his death that the true liberation of which Jesus has spoken and for which he has come is realized., As Luke says in Blessed:

"To give to his people the knowledge of salvation through the remission of their sins" (LC 1,77).

The prophecy about the life of Jesus is also fulfilled on the cross, registered in the same name that bears; Jesus means "God saves", as the angel clearly explains to Joseph on Mt 1,21:

«Ella (the Virgin) she will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins".

this word It is done above all from the cross, where the same name is inscribed, accompanied by his royal title. Even from there, from the cross of the Son, God is able to save. Even more: It is Jesus himself who, with the little breath that he has left in such circumstances, announces salvation to one of the many sinners he has encountered throughout his ministry:

«Today you will be with me in paradise» (LC 23,43).

What salvation is Jesus capable of?? Of course a global salvation, that encompasses the entire life of the evildoer crucified with Him: the deliverance from his sins and also the promise of making him enter his Kingdom. To do this, Jesus manifests a power, but not as the powerful of this world exercise it, because it is selfless as only the grace that saves the human being in its entirety can be., since its horizon is the ultimate good.

Today's party It thus helps us to put things in their right order and to have a truly Christian vision of life and history.. Although everything around us shakes, change governments and the powerful, and what happens sometimes scares us, Christians know that whoever holds the reins of history is, mysteriously, the Providence of God.

It's more: precisely in moments when reality seems to deny the presence of God - as Pius XI emphasized in the aforementioned encyclical -, Christians have a model that explains how things work: through the kingship exercised by Jesus Christ in the folds of history.

From the Hermitage, 22 November 2025

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