Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews”

24 NOVEMBER (Lk 23,35-43)

Ancient Scripture reveals completely person and work of the Messiah. We did not come to the truth of his being and his mission due to the various prophecies that arose one by one and at different times; prophecies that were very distant from each other. When a people forms a single truth, it changes with difficulty. Then combining different prophecies, to make of them one, for a single person, it becomes an impossible work. The same prophecies then were very difficult to interpret, due to the apparent contradictions that reigned in them. Let us read very carefully the prophecy of Micah. It is a prophecy that makes its interpretation impossible, being the historical categories contained therein in contradiction with each other.

Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; The warrior’s bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you, for the blood of your covenant with me, I will bring forth your prisoners from the dungeon. In the return to the fortress of the waiting prisoners. (Zech 9,9-12).

In history, who wants to rule, govern, must have behind him a large military force. Micah announces a meek and humble king with no army, lacking any power; creator of a great peace for all nations. Human logic is lost. Even in the prophecy of Isaiah human logic is lost. You enter another logic: that of God, but this is an opposite logic to any earth logic. Here the conquest of the world takes place in great pain and the great suffering is the vicarious atonement.

(But the Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity.) If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses (Is 53,10-12).

The world is not given to the king by conquest. The king is not a powerful conqueror. The king is a righteous person that takes upon himself all the sin of the world in order to atone for it. He takes away the sin of the world and the Lord gives him as a gift the multitudes, the nations and the entire universe. That of God is a really strange logic. That is why the king might be humble, small, riding a donkey, an animal of peace and not of war.

The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God.” Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.” Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? 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.”

Living the Jews of a worldly, earthy and almost diabolical logic, could have never known in the Crucified the King of the Jews. That is why they insult, tempt and laugh at him. Their king is glorious and not ignominious. Their king crucifies the enemies, he doe not let himself be crucified by the pagans. Their king is one who liberates, not one who lets himself be nailed, losing the use of hands and feet. Another crucified, a repentant thief instead sees in that righteous man, his king. He prays to him, “Lord, remember me as you come into your kingdom.” He is the only one that is able to penetrate into the logic of God, by grace, by a gift, by reason of the witness he bears to Jesus and his righteousness.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us the divine logic.