{"id":907,"date":"2016-11-20T11:40:21","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T16:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=907"},"modified":"2016-12-01T11:51:45","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T16:51:45","slug":"having-faith-in-the-kingdon-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=907","title":{"rendered":"Having Faith in the Kingdon of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christ the King<\/h3>\n

2 Sam 5: 1-3; Col 1: 12-20; Lk 23: 35-43<\/h3>\n

By Deacon Larry Brockman<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s all about Faith!\u00a0 <\/em>And speaking of faith, how about the depth of Faith that the good thief had?\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Here\u2019s a man, guilty by his own admission, hanging on the Cross next to Jesus.\u00a0 <\/em>This man recognizes that Jesus is innocent of any wrongdoing.\u00a0 <\/em>That was probably fairly obvious just by listening to the trumped up charges and the distortion of the truth that the authorities used to convict Jesus.\u00a0 <\/em>The good thief was most likely a shrewd man who could size a situation up quickly.\u00a0 <\/em>He could read between the lines and discern the truth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But what couldn\u2019t have been obvious to him was that Jesus was the Son of God and even shared in God\u2019s divinity.\u00a0 <\/em>That certainly wasn\u2019t obvious for a thief hanging on a cross next to Jesus.\u00a0 <\/em>Just what was it that gave this man his insight; his faith?\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0\u00a0And look at how strong this man\u2019s faith was.\u00a0 <\/em>First, he chastises the cynical thief for a lack of fear of God.\u00a0 <\/em>Why?\u00a0 <\/em>Certainly the cynical thief didn\u2019t fear God; and indeed, probably didn\u2019t even believe in God.\u00a0 <\/em>But the good thief senses that the man has seriously sinned in not fearing God.\u00a0 <\/em>What gave him that fear of God, that insight.\u00a0 Then he boldly asks Jesus to remember him when he comes into his Kingdom.\u00a0 <\/em>How could he have known that?\u00a0 <\/em>Just what gave the good thief the inspiration to both fear God and to recognize Jesus as a God and King?\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Contrast this scene with the one in the first reading.\u00a0 <\/em>David had led the Israelites into battle; had fearlessly shown good example in battle himself; and had won victory after victory for the Israelites, returning the army safely home.\u00a0 <\/em>Everyone recognized him as the one they wanted for King.\u00a0 <\/em>He was a leader; he had delivered for them; he was the archetype of what the Jews expected for a Messiah.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

But Jesus failed those kinds of tests.\u00a0 <\/em>He was not winning battles; rather, he had been captured, humiliated, and put to death.\u00a0 <\/em>And He was not doing the kind of thing that he was famous for- working miracles. \u00a0The cynics believed it was all a hoax all along- hence the ridicule from the sneering rulers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, we can only speculate what converted the good thief.\u00a0 <\/em>But I suspect it was the same thing that converted the disciples that followed Jesus.\u00a0 <\/em>Jesus was a herald of the good news; of a new covenant with God.\u00a0 <\/em>Jesus was fundamentally different.\u00a0 <\/em>He was a herald in word and deed; the premier personal example for all to see.\u00a0 <\/em>Those who were blessed with contact with him just sensed the difference between Jesus and other people.\u00a0 <\/em>It was the way he looked at you; the kindness in his eyes; his body language; the conviction of his message; the truth exposed; and yes, even the way he responded and carried himself during his passion.\u00a0 <\/em>Likely the good thief had unwittingly been a witness to much of the trial and Jesus\u2019 journey to the cross.\u00a0 <\/em>There was just something about it all that rang true.\u00a0 <\/em>And so, he believed, he really believed.\u00a0 <\/em>Jesus could look into his heart and see that; so Jesus pardons the good thief right then and there, and tells him he will be in Paradise \u201cthis day\u201d with him. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Wow!\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

All of us have the same choice that the two thieves on the cross had.\u00a0 <\/em>We can respond as cynics, children of the ways of the world.\u00a0 <\/em>The message of the Gospel is just too much for the cynics; \u00a0they are untrusting; unwilling to sacrifice their own self-interests; impatient with God\u2019s plan and speed.\u00a0 <\/em>If we act this way, we are like the bad thief.<\/p>\n

Or we can respond with faith to the word of God.\u00a0 <\/em>While Jesus way seems contrary to the ways and wisdom of the world, it has a ring of truth to it that promises true happiness in an everlasting Kingdom.\u00a0 <\/em>And so, we seek God\u2019s will for us; become trusting and patient with God\u2019s pace; and hope for the promised Kingdom.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

That is the good thief\u2019s response- firm Faith in Christ the King and everlasting life in the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christ the King 2 Sam 5: 1-3; Col 1: 12-20; Lk 23: 35-43 By Deacon Larry Brockman It\u2019s all about Faith!\u00a0 And speaking of faith, how about the depth of Faith that the good thief had?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Here\u2019s a man, guilty by his own admission, hanging on the Cross next to Jesus.\u00a0 This man recognizes that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[439,438],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907"}],"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=907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":908,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907\/revisions\/908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}