“Jesus, remember me when you come to your Kingdom” (Lk 23, 35-43) | RCF

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke

During that time,
they had just crucified Jesus,
and the people stood there watching.
The leaders mocked Jesus and said:
“He saved others:
let him save himself,
if he is the Messiah of God, the Elect! »
The soldiers also laughed at him;
approaching, they offered him vinegar drink,
saying :
“If you are the king of the Jews,
save yourself! »

There was also an inscription above him:
“This is the King of the Jews. »
One of the criminals hanging on the cross
insulted him:
“Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself, and us too! »
But the other reproached him sharply:
“So you don’t fear God!
Yet you are a convict, too!
And then, for us, it’s just:
after what we did,
we get what we deserve.
But he didn’t do anything wrong. »
And he said:
“Jesus, remember me
when you come to your Kingdom. »
Jesus said to him:
“Amen, I tell you:
today, with me, you will be in Paradise. »

Source: AELF

Meditation Father Arnaud Alibert

This morning’s Gospel describes a cruel, barbaric scene. Three men are crucified; they will not pass the day. Tonight their bodies, which will have suffered a lot, will be thrown into the common grave or placed in an improbable tomb. And as if that were not enough, insults rain down, coming from the leaders, the soldiers and even from one of the crucified.

Why is Jesus so hated? Would he have deserved more than the others to be crucified?

The one we used to call the good thief says he didn’t do anything wrong.

The source of hatred is undoubtedly very deep, in the viscera of humanity. Of all the men who have come to earth, Jesus is the one who will have carried the highest hope. However, on the cross, this hope seems to be defeated. A complete failure.

Humanity without hope, left to itself, insults Jesus. We can see the trace of his sin there. We can also see the mark of his deep desire for it to be otherwise.

And it is this second track that we are invited to follow. Listening to the voice of the second thief, “the good one” as we said, the one whom we feel would have liked to be companions of Jesus. He says this: “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom”.

This word of the crucified companion is humble. He doesn’t ask for much. ” Remember me “. We can make it ours. “Lord, remember us. Our world is torn by war and economic selfishness; Remember us./ Our Church is mired in scandals. Remember us

This word is an open door, to a beyond of human baseness. The story will not end tonight. For tonight Jesus, that unlikely king on a throne of suffering, will come.

Death and resurrection are intimately linked in Jesus. This is what we celebrate in every Eucharist. Good Sunday.