Kingdom of God

The scriptures referred to are Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6:1-21.

I was listening to the Holy Post podcast's 4 part series on the book Jesus and John Wayne by historian Dr. Kristen Kobes Du Mez. The book is a history of Evangelicalism from the beginnings of the twentieth century to today and shows that, whatever you think of their current positions on social and political issues, these are not betrayals of their beliefs and ethics but merely the culmination of their effort to replace “the Jesus of the Gospels with a vengeful warrior Christ.” Because they've always defined themselves as over against an enemy, be it modernism or communism or liberalism or Islam. And that's why they have always liked strong tough male leaders who were in control and not afraid to use their power to mete out justice, like the cowboys and soldiers portrayed by John Wayne. Wayne became a model for Christian manhood, despite being a thrice married, twice divorced heavy drinker and chain smoker who did not share their beliefs. It wouldn't be the last time Evangelicals idolized a person who was hardly a poster boy for family values. Being a lifelong Evangelical Dr. Du Mez wasn't surprised by the very masculine culture of Evangelicalism that saw men primarily as protectors and providers while assigning the “softer” Christian virtues like love and peace and kindness and sexual self-control to women. But I had the same question as the podcast's host who asked, “When did strength become the chief Christian virtue rather than love?”

This preference for a leader with military and political power over one with more spiritual qualities is not new, as we see in today's gospel passage from John. And, true to his style of telling Jesus' story, John takes the one miracle that is in every gospel, the feeding of the 5000, and tells us the reason why Jesus sends the disciples away in a boat. Speaking of the crowd, John tells us, “When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” At night as the crowd sleeps, Jesus crosses the sea on foot.

Think about that for a while. Jesus has been preaching about the kingdom of God. He has been displaying God's power over disease and death. He just fed 5000 followers in a land rife with poverty and injustice. What would be more natural than making Jesus king so he can use his power to make the kingdom of God become a reality on earth?

They might be forgiven for thinking that. After all Jesus kicked off his ministry by reading this passage from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) Those sound like things a king could do: freeing prisoners and releasing the oppressed. And Jesus spoke of being anointed. 3 types of people were anointed in the Bible: prophets, priests and kings. Was Jesus hinting he was the rightful king of the Jews?

Of course, parts of this don't seem to go along with the popular idea of a king, especially the part about the sight of the blind being recovered. That's not something a king did. A prophet like Elisha healed people. Also the passage talks more about preaching and proclaiming than things a king does. Proclaiming God's word is the job of a prophet. Prophets don't generally become kings. They criticize kings, or at least the bad ones.

Still people considered King David a prophet. (Hebrews 11:32) and his psalms were included in scripture. And many thought the Messiah, which means the anointed, was supposed to be a new David, a holy warrior who would do to the Romans what David did to the Philistines. So it was natural to think that Jesus should have political authority added to his spiritual authority. Which shows how people then, and now, misunderstand the kingdom of God.

We think of kingdoms in terms of geography and political structures because that's what constitutes earthly kingdoms. But the Greek word translated “kingdom” can refer to the rule of a king, such as when we talk of Queen Victoria's reign, which lasted 63 years and covered not just the United Kingdom but the British Empire. Even if you weren't physically in England but in India after 1876 you were living under her reign. Just so, the kingdom of God would probably be better translated “the royal reign of God.” It is not limited to a place, like, say, Israel, but it is wherever God rules. That's why Jesus could say, “My kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36) No, it comes from God. It also explains how Jesus could say, “...the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)

In his last address to his disciples on the night of his betrayal, Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) He also says, “Remain in me and I will remain in you.” (John 15:4) He says of the Holy Spirit, “...you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17) The Triune God lives in us. And by obeying God's commandments, we show that he reigns in us and rules our lives as our king.

But notice that Jesus always links this indwelling of God with love. Loving God is connected to the Father, the Son and the Spirit coming to us and making God's home with us and in us. Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” (John 14:21) But in this whole long final speech, encompassing 5 chapters of John's gospel, Jesus only mentions one commandment. And it is not about being holy or punishing evildoers or anything sexual. He says, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

Why? Because, as we are told in 1 John, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God for God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8) How can the God who is love live in the heart and mind of a person who has no love?

Look at it this way. What would you do if someone important was coming to your home to live with you? You'd clean it up, wouldn't you? You'd repair the broken toilet and fix the leaking roof. And if it were someone especially holy, like the Pope or the Presiding Bishop, you'd get rid of anything bad or offensive. All drugs, pornography and racist material would have to go. If you can't get rid of your Nazi flag, you know that Jesus, a Jew, would not feel welcome there.

That's why, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says he prays “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” Faith or trust in Jesus allows him to live in our hearts, and the result of opening our hearts to him is that they send down their roots into the very ground of our being, the God who is love.

Paul then continues, “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” That's one of those sentences by Paul that gave us nightmares when we had to diagram them in Greek exegesis class. It boils down to Paul wishing that church members reading this comprehend just how enormous the love of Christ is. And he wants us to know this love, even though ultimately we cannot understand it completely. Nevertheless, we can experience being full of God's love.

So the royal reign of God is his love ruling over us and guiding our lives. To paraphrase something I read, if the fear of hell is the only thing that's keeping you from doing wrong you are simply a psychopath on a leash. A Christian should be acting out of love for God and for others. That's what it means to have God reigning in your life.

And if you can't say this describes your experience perfectly, don't despair. Jesus compared the kingdom of God to seeds and yeast and the investment of talents. (Mark 4:3-32; Matthew 13:33; Luke 19:11-27) In other words, things that take time to grow.

When God comes into our hearts, there is not an immediate total transformation. C.S. Lewis compared it to a renovation project. At first, the builder's changes make sense: strengthening a load bearing wall, removing rotting timbers, etc. But then the builder starts tearing out things you were satisfied with and adding onto the house. Lewis said the builder is not just making small repairs but turning the house—your life—into a palace fit for a king. Because that is what we are becoming: a place where God will reign.

Paul uses the metaphor of a temple. God was present in the tabernacle, accompanying the Israelites through the desert, and later in the temple built by Solomon. But after the exile, the ark of the covenant, thought of as God's footstool and symbol of his presence, disappears. There is no ark and therefore no special presence of God in the temple of Herod. However, God is present in Jesus. And after he returns to the Father, God is present in us, through his Spirit poured out on us in baptism. So Paul says, “Do you not know you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Paul shifts the metaphor a little in Ephesians to refer not merely to individual Christians but to the entire church. “...you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:20-22) Which makes sense since by yourself it is hard to demonstrate love for others. But in a community where God reigns, we can display giving and receiving Christian love, which Paul describes in the 13^th chapter of 1 Corinthians. In such a group, one can show love that is patient and kind and does not envy or boast, is not proud or rude or self-seeking, is not easily angered and does not keep a tally of others' wrongs, which does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It is in the body of Christ that we should be putting the divine love in action, always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, always persevering.

Again we are not there yet but we should always be growing into that temple, that space where God's Spirit is both alive and active. If we let him, “the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.”

So why haven't we seen such things? If we went to the 12 men who were the church at the very beginning, and showed them the church today, they would marvel at the hospitals and schools and homeless shelters and feeding programs and disaster relief programs that the church has created and runs globally. They would be amazed that this small gathering of Christians could be seen and heard by anyone in the world who tuned in. I'm sure all of it would be more than they could have imagined 2000 years ago.

Remember: in their day there was no such thing as democracy; there was no capitalism or communism; slavery was universal, freedom was not. And landed, rich men had all the political power, as well as power to control the lives of women and the power of life and death over their slaves and even their children. The world has changed...a lot.

And if we now seem to have stalled, perhaps it is because we have limited our vision of what the future can be. Like the Evangelicals, who settled for imitating the marketing practices of the business world and the political tactics of earthly governments, rather than trusting in the things that come into being when God reigns. Instead of hitching our wagons to the limited options of this world, we need to be open to the God who creates.

Paul wrote, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” And in Revelation we are given a vision of God's kingdom. It includes “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language.” (Revelation 7:9) It is a place where there is no murder or deceit. More importantly, God “will dwell with them and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. He who sits on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'” (Revelation 21:3-5)

God reinvented the idea of a kingdom. His is not a political or geographical place; it is located in every heart where he is invited to reign. But like a seed, the kingdom of God grows; it bears fruit; it manifests itself in our thoughts, words and actions. And if all Christians were less concerned about dictating how others lived and more concerned about letting the Spirit of God rule their lives, and if we seek how we can come together as the body of Christ, not to gain power over others, but to demonstrate the power of God's love to change lives, then we will see the words of Jesus' prayer become reality. God's kingdom will come and his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.