The Kingdom Revolution

Sunday's sermon created a real sense of dread for me. The challenge was immense--I needed to talk about God's kingdom.

As I pointed out, the Kingdom of God is central to the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus begins his ministry in Matthew, Mark, and Luke by announcing the nearness of God's reign. Furthermore, his healings and parables point to what the kingdom is like.

Yet, talking about the kingdom is frustrating. Jesus never defined it. He never gave us a working definition. He never preached a three point sermon coupled with a poem to help us out. Instead, and perhaps this is the point, a person had to follow Jesus--watching, listening and learning--to get a sense of what the kingdom is like. In other words, you have to seek it, and then you will find it; you have to be open to it in order to receive it. Jesus implies this in his explanation for why he speaks in parables. Relying upon Isaiah, Jesus says in essence, outsiders won't get it (Mark 4.11-12). You have to seek it to see it, believe in it to find it. You have to become like children.

Therefore, those for whom the present order is a real source of comfort will always have a hard time even hearing a sermon about God's kingdom; it's so irrelevant, they might state, to my own desire and longing to make it in this modern world. Pastor, we want therapy, make God relevant to our life. Such a stance, if it exists, emphasizes greatly the need to repent (change your mind and your orientation in light of the coming kingdom). The call is radical: Make your life relevant to God's rule and reign in Jesus.

That being said, what is the kingdom? Last Sunday, I talked about God's dream for a kingdom characterized by justice, peace and righteousness found in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, along comes Jesus and says, this reign--proclaimed and longed for--has come near in me and those who follow me. The dream is becoming a reality.

But it might be more helpful, upon further reflection, to think about a revolution! The Israelites knew what we often refuse to acknowledge--this present order is not right. It's controlled by violence, greed, an unhealthy freedom from others and responsibility, selfishness, and injustice. What's needed, assuming of course that God cares deeply about his creation (the right assumption; he doesn't merely care about souls and spirits), is a revolution. The prophets dreamed of a revolution, a new government, a new community. Then Jesus comes and says, the revolution has begun. God's desire to reclaim his creation in love has started, pay attention and sign up for this is really good news.

But now we must listen carefully. We need to pay attention. We need to look long and hard. We need to listen with a spiritual attentiveness. This revolution is God's reign of peace. Jesus is creating a community where sin and evil doesn't have to reign. A community where justice prevails, where love rules, even love of enemy. A community that embraces the stranger, the alien, the orphan. A community where forgiveness is what holds us together because we are shaped by grace, generosity and joy in the Spirit, not fear and stinginess. A community where members will lay down their lives for one another, witnessing to the radical truth that Jesus is Lord and that vulnerable love will win!

Let the revolution continue, let it come in us and through us. There is no other hope.

Peace.