Where is the Kingdom?
Dear Jesus, You said so many things about the Kingdom of God, which You often called the Kingdom of Heaven. Some of Your sayings seem simple, others are hard to understand. But all of them are hopeful. I want to write down a few for readers who may not remember:
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” Mt 4:17; 10:7
“For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Mt 5:3, 10
“From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.” Mt 11:12
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” (You were speaking to the scribe who had said that the greatest commandment was to love God with one’s whole heart, mind and strength.) Mk 12:34
To the disciples who were trying to shoo children away from You: “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” Mt 19:14
“See that You do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to You that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Mt 18:10
(all emphases are mine)
So the Kingdom exists in the here and now.
You made many more statements, because it is such a crucial topic. There is the wedding feast of the Lamb, for example. Although some of the sayings are mysterious (such as the one about violent men who take the Kingdom by force), surely the burden of all these sayings is that the Kingdom is near us, is among us, and is current – not something “pie in the sky” in the future. Somewhere near us (I do not even know if the Kingdom is a “where,” or some state of being that exists outside our three dimensions; I suspect the latter) is a realm or land of pilgrim rest where God’s will is done, where all people praise God, where reality is richer and more glorious by far than what we can know or imagine now.
I believe You, Jesus. I believe the Kingdom is so near that we can touch it and see it, if only fleetingly. As I’ve written elsewhere, there’s surely only a thin membrane between this world and the next. We are somehow living a parallel existence. We are the tangled back of the tapestry, living in intricate weavings bound to the lovely front of the tapestry. We are even somehow touching that land. It’s as if my “better self” is bleeding through to the other side.
But there’s more: Where You are, there is the Kingdom! It’s why You were able to make all those statements about what the Kingdom is like.
I wrote a song called “Manifest,” which opens with these words: “He doesn’t come from up; he doesn’t come from down; somehow, some way, he comes from in between.” The idea of this song arose from a Christian house concert I attended. The room was packed with believers. The mood was warm, peaceful, quiet, low-key – nothing either high-church or high-energy. Yet You were tangibly there. The Holy Spirit hovered. The Kingdom was there. (At least one other person who was present said the same.)
And there’s even more: What about the parables You told about the Kingdom? Here are some:
The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows – how, he himself does not know. Mk 4:26-27
So he was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed into his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Mt 13:31-32
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Mt 13:44
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Mt 13:45
To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened. Lk 13:20-21
(All emphases mine)
I’ve highlighted certain words that to me, point that the Kingdom is hidden – first hidden, then grows, then gives life. This leads me to believe that the Gospel is not just about individual salvation, but about the Kingdom infecting the whole world. It is meant not just for the final judgment, but for here and now. As brothers and sisters to You, we are to be busy sowing seeds and kneading leaven into the dough.
Also, You gave certain knowledge to the apostles and kept it hidden from others. Why hidden, Lord? Are we just not ready? Must we be trained first? Do we have to mature? – or, according to Your words, become like children? I suspect the Kingdom is just too glorious for us to tolerate. Like a chick in a shell, we are not ready to be released into the wider world until the exact time.
For me, the Kingdom has been most perceptibly present when singing with others. I fondly remember when my college choir got together in singers’ homes and sang late into the night. Or when campers gathered around the campfire at Moon Beach. Or when believers raised their hands in song at a Pentecostal retreat. All these times, it was palpably evident that You were there. (Not all the songs were about You, but they were joyful and peaceful, some with good clean humor, honoring You in Spirit, if not in words.)
I remember well the verse from Psalm 100: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” From these words and my own experience, I believe that praise is the key that opens the Kingdom’s door – to let You, Jesus, into our searching world, and to let us into the Kingdom.
Of course, not everyone can sing (or chooses to sing, which are two different things). But praise is manifest in other ways. You said, Lord, without reference to song, that: “Wherever two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst.” Mt 18:20 The two or three do not have to be singing; they can be praying or reading scripture or working on a service project. I have experienced more than one of example of this phenomenon – specifically in prayer at deathbeds.
I note also the power of Your Name. But that is a topic for other musing.
So where is the Kingdom? As You said, it is among us. As is evident from scripture, it is wherever You are. And because for some reason we are not ready for it, it is hidden – at least to start with. Where do we find the Kingdom? When we are singing together in Your name, our songs reach the Father’s Kingdom. When we smile into the eyes of a child, we are touching God’s Kingdom. When we smell a flower, we are getting a whiff of God’s Kingdom. Even when we find Your face in the face of someone diseased and dirty and forlorn, there You are, and there is Your kingdom (learned from Mother Teresa’s writings.)
Bottom line: The Kingdom is where You are.
Thank You, Lord Jesus. I am longing for Your Kingdom, though I know not the weight of its glory. As always, Your words bring light and hope. Praise be to You.