The Second Word

In Friday's chapel, appropriately during this season of Lent, we focused on the seven last words of Jesus as he made his way to the cross and eventually the point of his last breath. After the scripture was read, a reflection was read in response to the word of Jesus. I spoke to second word:

THE SECOND WORD
One of the criminals hanging there threw insults at him: "Aren't you the messiah? Save yourself and us!" The other one, however, rebuked him, saying: "Don't you fear God? Here we are all under the same sentence. Ours, however, is only right, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong." And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!" Jesus said to him, "I tell you this: Today you will be in Paradise with me."
Luke 23:39-43

Reflection:
When we carry pride like a disease, we are placing the burdens of this world on our shoulders even when we feel certain that our way of living is of greater value than that of a humble King who came before us. This lifestyle is one that walks through life’s consistent rhythms without ever considering why we move and find our being in Jesus refusing to recognize that we are worshiping the created and not the creator. Even during those moments when one’s world seems to crumble before one’s eyes, losing everything and feeling lost and alone. What does hope look like for those who continue to clench tightly to their pride? Does this pride simply disappear when the prideful are no longer filled with the confidence that they once carried with them or does it take full surrender to a life that is in Christ?

Until we fully recognize that we are all simply children, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, living under the same roof, under the same rules, loved by the same father, treated equally for the ways we live, we will never be able to fully fulfill the life that Jesus Christ came to save us from.

When we place ourselves in postures of arrogance or forms of idolatry we are setting ourselves up to live similar to that of the criminal hanging there next to Christ, insulting him in his very nature and hindering our ability to grasp the fullness of a life of humility and humbleness.

When we remember the hope that rests in a King who carried the cross in order for our hearts to be radically transformed, we will be ready to receive the greatest gift of all … that the Son of Man would lay his life down for his children in order for us to one day walk with him in Paradise.