Year C, Lectionary 162
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Community • Contradiction • Covenant • Criminal • Cross • David • Death • Divinity • Gather • History • Kingdom • Love • Mission • Paradise • Power • Relationship • Sight • Sin • Suffering • Welcome •
“And for that reason...he's able to reconcile not just mankind, not just humanity to God but all of creation, is so to speak, going to be under the dominion of Christ”
“What judgment has the world passed on you my dearly beloved in Christ? What judgment have you passed on yourself? Meet Jesus on the cross and he will contradict them.”
“Jesus is a king but he's not an earthly king...so there's the paradox of the cross here and of the kingship of Jesus Christ. On earth where does Jesus reign? He reigns from the throne of the cross. This is how he is exalted as king.”
“This man says to Jesus remember me. Put me back together. Take the pieces of my broken life and put me back together Jesus.”
“Welcoming the outsider has been an enduring theme in Luke’s gospel. Jesus is the very embodiment of God’s hospitality.”
“Can we recognize Christ's love for us when we can barely recognize love for ourselves”
“This is not what people were expecting, this is not what people were waiting for, this is not the kind of king that they thought would reign based on the psalms like Psalm 122 or based on even the reign of David, right, who was a warrior messiah, who was a warrior king”
“I think it's crucially important to use the word king of Jesus in this particular scenario. Jesus is a king that's unguarded. He overcomes violence and in fact reverses it by accepting being a victim of it and, and he changes the trajectory of history with that.”
“Jesus did not come to rule with a heavy hand, he came in love to love. The face of Jesus on the cross is mercy. As accessible to you and me as it was to the repentant criminal that day. If only we see it. If only we grasp it. If only we respond to it.”
“The criminal next to Christ shows us how the reign of God can be known and experienced if our gaze is totally on Christ, on the power of God and not on oneself. From a cross the criminal gained a new perspective and was able to see the truth.”
“On the feast of Christ the King we come together all around the world to acclaim our leader. There is a leader of the world and his name is Jesus Christ, sovereign king of the universe, king of kings, lord of lords, God from God, light from light, church. That's who we serve.”
“This means that everything we have and everything that we are belongs not just to us but most importantly to our king. Our successes and our failures belong to the king. Our riches and our poverty belong to our king. Our life and our love belongs to our king.”