THE KING OF HEARTS

Today you will be with me in paradise. Spoken like a true, benevolent king.

If Christ is king, what is he king of?  Why the King of hearts, of course. 
This title implies a game of sorts, a wager perhaps. A game it is not, unless we speak of the game of life. But a wager, yes, without doubt. 
What's at stake? Nothing less than his kingdom.  And what is his kingdom for which we pray (and perhaps play) daily, like?
Pope Benedict XVI and the renowned theologian, Karl Rahner, have said, Heaven is not some place in the universe, such as a distant star. The Kingdom of Heaven is God himself, not something distinct from him.  
The pope adds, With the term "heaven" we mean a oneness with God...where all people operate with selfless love of each other...where table fellowship conquers loneliness and separation. 

This is the kingdom of God Jesus came to establish. He was a “king”, but not in the way the people popularly understood this – not by military might.

The only crown Jesus would have on his head would be the crown of thorns.
Instead of being seated on a throne, Jesus would be nailed to a cross.
Instead of a royal robe, Jesus would be cloaked in mockeries.

Instead of a crowd shouting, Long live the king! Jesus would hear the crowd shout, Crucify him!

It’s not quite the image we have of a king: all-powerful and domineering. Even his closest friends who wanted to sit in power didn’t understand. Do we?

 He came to win the war to end all wars with love. He came to convert our hearts. He didn't want followers. He wanted imitators.

His commandment to his “soldiers”, Respond to evil with goodness...be merciful, forgiving, loving. Love your neighbor…love the poor…love your enemies. Love defined him and his kingdom. Love was his only weapon in seeking to conquer our hearts.

And to do so, he put it all on the line. He did not hold back. Kierkegaard’s Fable says it well:

There once was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents.

And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden who lived in a poor village in his kingdom. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist. No one dared resist him. But would she love him?

She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind? Would she be happy at his side? How could he know for sure? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross the gulf between them. For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal.

The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend to her. Clothed as a beggar, he approached her cottage with a worn cloak fluttering loose about him. This was not just a disguise – the king took on a totally new identity – he had renounced his throne to declare his love and to win hers.

At the end of the day, we don’t know the decision of his beloved. Did she embrace him or reject him?

We know what we did to Jesus. And still he said, Father forgive them…and to a sinner, Today, you will be with me in paradise.

Why? Was it because of the good thief’s apparent faith? Because he asked? Did he show love? Or was it because of Jesus’ love?

What if Jesus said to both thieves, Today, if you want, you will be with me in paradise?

What if Jesus’ love, God’s love, is such that God wants us all in paradise? Then why be good? Why love all selflessly, unconditionally?

Perhaps to not only pray for but to discover and enter the kingdom…here and now. How much are we willing to put on the line to make it happen? 

Even now, our Lord and King says to us, Today, if you want, you will be with me in paradise. He's still all in, betting on us. What a wager!