Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” - Luke 23:35-43
This Sunday marks the end of the liturgical year for the Church. Next week, we begin Advent and our preparations for Christmas and the coming of Christ into our world as a human. It is fitting then that, during this final Sunday of the year, we celebrate Christ as King of the Universe. It is a reminder that our God, who became one of us, is also the Lord and Ruler of everything in the Universe. Think about that for a second. We have a God who would come down from heaven to live among His creations as an equal! How truly loved and blessed we are that the King of the Universe shares and understands in an intimate way what it means to be human.
It is precisely because Jesus understood what it meant to be human that we have the exchange which occurred in today's Gospel. This is a familiar story to most of us, the story of the Good Thief. Here we have two men, each of whom ha chosen to live a life of sin, a life of breaking the laws of both men and God. However, there is a difference between the two. One shows no remorse at all and even mocks Jesus as he hangs on the cross. The other, however, clearly regretting his decisions and wishing to repent, rebukes his fellow criminal. One thing though stands out about this criminal, he doesn't try to plead his innocence or place blame on anyone but himself for his situation. Instead, he fully embraces the consequences of his life and simply asks Jesus to remember him when enters heaven. Because of this humility, Jesus assures him that he will be in heaven that day.
This provides a lesson to each of us. We have all been given the great gift of the sacrament of reconciliation. In this sacrament, we are able to come before God, acknowledge our sinfulness and ask for His mercy and forgiveness. But part of this sacrament involves fully accepting responsibility for what we are done. We are called to make amends, not just with God, but with those we have harmed, including the Church community as a whole. This is part of the reason we go to a priest to hear our confession; he is meant to represent the entire community of believers.
Still, when we go into the confessional, we should not go in trying to downplay our role in the actions we have taken. We should not try to find excuses or look for others to blame for our actions. Instead, we should, in confessing our sins and failings, accept that we committed these acts ourselves and that no one else needs to take the blame. In doing this, we show our humility before God, and God, in His mercy, forgives us.
So as we end this year and move into the next, remember the lesson of the Good Thief. If we come before God with a humble heart and true repentance, we can be assured that our faults and failings will be forgiven. What an awesome blessing!