Today's Gospel presents, as in a great painting, the kingship of Jesus at the moment of his Crucifixion. The leaders of the people and the soldiers taunt “the first-born of all creation” (Col 1:15) and put him to the test to see whether he has the power to save himself from death.

Yet precisely: on the Cross, Jesus is exalted to the very ‘height’ of the God who is Love. It is there that he can be ‘known’. Jesus gives us ‘life’ because he gives us God. He can give God because he himself is one with God. In fact, while the Lord seems to be mistaken because he is between two wrong-doers, one of them, aware of his sins, opens himself to truth, arrives at faith and prays “the King of the Jews”: “Jesus, remember me”. From the One who “is before all things” (Col 1:17) the so-called “Good Thief” straight away receives forgiveness and the joy of entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

—Jesus, from the throne of the Cross welcomes every human being with infinite mercy.