<\/p>\n
You know what?\u00a0 Heaven is not run by the people!\u00a0 There won\u2019t be any politicians running for office or campaign promises there.\u00a0 There aren\u2019t going to be any elections either.\u00a0 We are not going to get to vote for anyone or anything if we make it there.\u00a0 We will have to just settle with whatever we get from God.\u00a0 Heaven is after all a Kingdom- and Kingdoms have Kings not elected presidents.\u00a0 Heaven is the Kingdom of God; and that Kingdom lasts forever- and forever is a long time.<\/p>\n
God has already chosen His King, His anointed one- Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s what today\u2019s readings are all about- Christ the King.\u00a0 We hear that Jesus Christ is \u201cthe image of the invisible God\u201d.\u00a0 We know that Jesus came before all of us and made everything.\u00a0 Heaven has angels and saints in it but they are subjects, not voters.\u00a0 God wills that things be handled by His King Jesus the Christ; and it will always be that way- forever.<\/p>\n
And while all of us aspire to be part of God\u2019s Kingdom,\u00a0 It would be na\u00efve of us to think that we will all be the same.\u00a0 We are all loved by God equally, but each of us is unique, and is loved for our uniqueness.\u00a0 And each of us will have our own unique place in Heaven if- if we follow Jesus as the Gospel calls for.\u00a0 Let us ponder things about such a heavenly Kingdom :<\/p>\n
First, we are each given gifts from God in this life.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t learn to be happy with what is ours in this life, it will be difficult to be happy in the Kingdom of God forever.\u00a0 Life here is our opportunity to learn to accept the gifts that God has chosen for us.\u00a0 But to appreciate these gifts to the utmost, we have to do God\u2019s will for us because all of our gifts were especially chosen for us.\u00a0 The closer we are to doing God\u2019s will, the easier it will be for us to use our gifts.\u00a0 If we try having it our way rather than God\u2019s way there is going to be a problem- a disconnect between our gifts and our lives.\u00a0 That can result in pain for us; and it will be the same in the next life as well- it will be Heaven or Hell for us.<\/p>\n
The more we are given; the more God expects from us as stewards of those gifts.\u00a0 Some of us were gifted with fame, money, power, special talents, or good looks as viewed by the world\u2019s standards.\u00a0 Others were entrusted with more ordinary things in life here.\u00a0 We are white, black, yellow or red; and we are male and female.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t make any of us better than the other- just different and destined for our own special role in the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 God loves all of us the same; and He is interested in how well we accept what He gives us.\u00a0 Life here is like the tip of an iceberg compared to eternity, where we will experience the rest of our gifts.<\/p>\n
Our greatest gift is life itself.\u00a0 God wants us to cherish that above all other things.\u00a0 He has gifted us with instincts that motivate us in exactly that way- to defend and preserve our lives no matter what.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t respect our life and the life of others in this world, why would we be expected to value life in the next?\u00a0 And so, no matter what our quality of life, we simply must learn to love life itself.\u00a0 After all, if we want to live an eternity with God, we must value life forever.<\/p>\n
Next, all of us were born with limitations; but these also are gifts.\u00a0 None of us could be perfect as only God is perfect.\u00a0 If we can\u2019t learn to live and be happy with our limitations in this life; how can we expect to be satisfied with our limitations in the next life forever?\u00a0 But, even in the next life we will not be perfect; otherwise we would be God, and we are not God.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest problems we have in this life is our tendency to have expectations.\u00a0 We hope for, and expect that things will go our way.\u00a0 But they don\u2019t- they go God\u2019s way.\u00a0 Jesus the Christ is our King and so, we need to learn to be obedient to the King.\u00a0 God, like all kings, is really big on obedience.\u00a0 A house divided against itself cannot stand.\u00a0 And so, God demands our obedience in His Kingdom- forever.\u00a0 So, it is important for us to learn obedience in this life.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s Gospel, Jesus promises the good thief Paradise.\u00a0 From that we learn that the kingdom of God is paradise- a place of eternal happiness.\u00a0 Why does he promise this thief paradise? \u00a0\u00a0Because this man recognized his limitations; accepted them, and recognized himself for what he was; promising to learn from his mistakes.\u00a0 \u00a0He just wanted a chance to be remembered by the King.\u00a0 All of us are called to do the same.<\/p>\n
The other thief was arrogant and cynical, presuming to judge Jesus on his terms and according to his standards, as were the rulers and soldiers who sneered at Jesus.\u00a0 These are people who are in control in this world; but the lessons we just outlined for the Kingdom of God escaped them.<\/p>\n
And so, take the opportunity today to think about the coming of the King who will lead us into eternal happiness in His Kingdom.\u00a0 Love life; accept your gifts and limitations, learn the King\u2019s will for you, and be obedient.\u00a0 Then you will enjoy the good life of the kingdom of God forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christ the King 2 Sam 5: 1-3; Col `1: 1-12; Luke 23: 35-43 Deacon Larry Brockman You know what?\u00a0 Heaven is not run by the people!\u00a0 There won\u2019t be any politicians running for office or campaign promises there.\u00a0 There aren\u2019t going to be any elections either.\u00a0 We are not going to get to vote […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[254,152],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}