Suffering King

“Blessed is the king who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest.”

Luke 19:38

As our Lord prepared to make His final trip into the city of Jerusalem, He knew the hour for Him was quickly approaching. There have been several times when the Jewish leaders have tried to kill Jesus, but Jesus always escaped and walked away in the midst of them and we are told because “His hour has not yet come.” But now, as He enters into Jerusalem, His hour has indeed come, the hour to fulfill and complete His Father’s will, the hour to bridge the divide between heaven and earth, the hour to conquer once and for all sin and death. All this He will do not by fighting or shouting, but rather by suffering in silence.

This King who is to come is the One from God, the King who the Lord said He will send to shepherd His people and bring them together, this shepherd who is of old, this shepherd who is Himself. The Jews has anticipated the arrival of this Messiah for many years now, and some of them realized that Jesus might be the one. But they did not understand what kind of Messiah Jesus was. They wanted the restoration of an earthly kingdom where a son of David will once again be enthroned. But Jesus was much more than that. Jesus came to announce the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that is not of this world, the Kingdom that is Himself. Hence, He will draw all peoples to Himself.

It is in His suffering and death that Our Lord, Our King, Our Prince of Peace brings about the salvation of the world. Our King and Messiah is one not as the Jews awaited, but rather one that was drastically different. Our King and Messiah is not merely another descendant from the line of David, but is rather God in the flesh. Moved with compassion for the suffering of His people, Our God took on our human nature so that He might take on our human suffering and transform it, giving it meaning and putting within it a redemptive nature.

May we who call ourselves followers of this King embrace our sufferings because Our King bore our infirmities so that our sufferings might not be for nothing but rather have even the saving and redemptive effects of freeing the souls in purgatory. Because our King and Lord suffered we now have eternal life.