One More Move
(2Sam.5:1-3; Col.1:12-20; Lk.23:35-43)
In the game of chess, the goal is to trap your opponent’s king. When he cannot move, you declare ‘checkmate’ and the game is over.
In 1822, the German artist Friedrich Moritz Retzsch (1779 – 1857) captured this moment in a famous artwork he called Die Schachspieler (The Chess Players). Today, it’s more commonly called Checkmate, but this picture depicts two chess players – a sneering devil and a worried young man, often said to be Goethe’s Faust.
If the devil wins, the prize is the young man’s soul.
For years, people thought the devil had won this game and was about to claim his prize. However, when a chess master saw this picture, he was intrigued. He carefully analysed the chess game in this image and declared that the game isn’t over. The young man’s king still has one more move which can lead to victory.
Today, this picture serves as an enduring icon of hope for people in seemingly impossible situations.
In Scripture there are many examples of people being rescued by God in the most desperate circumstances. Each time, God reveals that he always has one more move up his sleeve.
Think of Daniel, doomed to perish in a den of hungry lions. But God makes a surprising move and Daniel survives (Dan.6:16-23).
Or the 5,000 hungry people there in Galilee. No-one expects five loaves and two fish to feed them all, but when Jesus makes his miraculous move there are 12 baskets of leftovers (Lk.9:12–17).
In the Temple, too, a terrified woman is about to be stoned to death by angry men. Again, Jesus makes a surprising move and she begins a new life (Jn.8:1-11).
And in today’s Gospel, Jesus is hanging on the Cross, looking powerless and defeated. A thief taunts him: ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ It looks like evil has won this time.
But one man, the good thief, sees something more. He turns to Jesus and says: ‘Remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He sees what others don’t – that even on the Cross, Christ is still the King.
And Jesus replies with royal authority: ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise.’
It had looked like checkmate, but once again Jesus has more surprising moves to make. This time it’s mercy, forgiveness and resurrection.
All through the ages, countless people have discovered this truth for themselves. When St Teresa of Avila was a young woman, she joined a convent but soon fell gravely ill. She had a seizure, became paralysed and at one point it looked like she was dead. The other sisters prepared a grave for her, but just before her burial God intervened. She regained consciousness and eventually recovered.
Teresa lived at a time of deep division in the Church, and when she tried to reform the Carmelite order, she met fierce resistance. She was criticised, mocked, and even formally investigated.
Many times, it looked like she was beaten. And yet she never gave in to despair. She kept trusting Jesus, who lived in the ‘interior castle’ of her soul. She taught her sisters to do the same, and left us her famous prayer of confidence:
‘Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing; God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.’
St Teresa of Avila learned that whenever it seems like all is lost, Jesus Christ always has another move to make. Indeed, her confidence in Jesus made her a reformer, a mystic and a Doctor of the Church.
And what about us today? We too know what it’s like to be cornered – when sin or failure weighs on us, when grief or illness closes in, and when the world seems lost in darkness.
Today, on the Feast of Christ the King, faithful followers of Jesus are reminded that it is never truly checkmate in this game of life. Jesus, our King, always has one more move to help us (Ps.121:7-8; Dt:31:6; Heb.13:5).
Like St Teresa of Avila and the Good Thief, we must trust him.
On Calvary, a sign was nailed above Jesus’ head: ‘This is the King of the Jews.’ It was meant to mock him, but instead it spoke the truth, because Jesus reigns from the Cross – not by crushing enemies, but by saving souls.
Whenever it feels like you’re losing, remember that Jesus, our King, always has one more move to help us.
Trust him.