God's Kingdom Is In Us

𝐍𝐎𝐕. 𝟏𝟑, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈: 𝐖𝐢𝐬 𝟕:𝟐𝟐-𝟖:𝟏

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐒𝐀 𝟏𝟏𝟗: 𝟖𝟗-𝟗𝟏, 𝟏𝟑𝟎, 𝟏𝟑𝟓, 𝟏𝟕𝟓 “𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐎 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏𝟕:𝟐𝟎-𝟐𝟓

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝒗.21) 

         We have heard many times during the homilies of priests during the mass and maybe in some of the teachings we have attended about the Kingdom of God and every time we are wonder what the kingdom of God is like? And when will the kingdom of God come? At some point in time, some of us who have been praying The Lord’s Prayer would most probably seek an answer to these questions. It shouldn’t be taken as a loss of faith on the part of the one searching for answers but a question such as these requires a response especially if we are to find meaning in the words we utter in prayer.

         At times we need to look back to be able to see what is before us and we can probably draw some reference to the attitude of the Pharisees in this Gospel passage who asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. And the greatest error the Pharisees committed was their failure or refusal to see and acknowledge that they were already standing face-to-face with the kingdom of God personified in Jesus who was born of human parents from the line of David.

         The scene at the Baptism of Jesus should have been enough to send a message to the Pharisees that Jesus indeed was the Son of God sent down from above. The teachings, miracles and healings that took place should have sufficed but the Pharisees remained unconvinced. They still wanted a sign, a visible sign.

         From all indications, however, the Pharisees may have lost all sense of reason for even up to this point no event nor words can convince them of the reality that the kingdom of God was already in their midst. Knowing that he has to operate in this kind of an environment, Jesus used a different approach saying in 𝐯𝐯.𝟐𝟎-𝟐𝟏 when he said: “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚 ‘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔’ 𝒐𝒓 ‘𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔,’ 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖.”    

         Still the Pharisees were unmoved and couldn’t grasp the substance of what he was saying so Jesus turned to his disciples and said: “𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.” (𝒗.25)

         Both Jesus and the religious leaders of his time were faced with difficulty at two levels. Jesus was having difficulty trying to convince the Pharisees of his nature and, the Pharisees were faced with the difficulty to accept an amplification of their religious belief as they were unprepared for that since their faith was primarily based on rules and regulations.

         This was also the reason why Jesus warned of false prophets who will come and he cautioned his disciples not to follow them and he used lightning as an illustration of the coming of the kingdom of God because as with lightning the kingdom of God will come like a powerful surge of energy that will transform an unbeliever and the doubtful into a disciple.

         We may not realize it at times but what happens to most of us who place our lives at the foot of the cross and allow the Holy Spirit to move in us is that we are transformed into God’s image and likeness and we clothe our sinful nature with the righteousness of Christ. As Jesus breathe his last on the cross, a powerful surge of lightning struck – the symbol of the Kingdom of God – and the energy it created reverberated throughout the world that he has conquered with his death on the cross.

         This is what this Gospel passage is all about. His coming to become the Son of Man has assured us of our divinity as “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑮𝒐𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑮𝒐𝒅. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈.” (𝑱𝒏 1:1-2) And we can see the connection of our humanity with the divine if we can see ourselves as an incarnation of the Word “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔.” (𝑱𝒏 1:14)        

         But we can only be aware that the kingdom of God has come upon us in fulfillment of his promise when we recognize his ownership over us on account of our having been purchased at a high cost. The kingdom of God among us is not defined by geographical or territorial boundaries but it begins when the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are made manifest in our lives and in our relationship with God and our neighbor.

         In so doing, we must resist the temptation to look at institutions, programs and projects for evidence of how the kingdom of God is progressing, but we should instead focus on how the Holy Spirit is moving to transform our hearts that we may see Jesus present among us in so many ways.

         He is in the Word that we read. He is among those with whom we share our lives with, our family, relatives, friends and those whom we don’t know but whom we meet every day on the street. In other words, Jesus is everywhere and He is present in the Eucharist that we receive and makes us also divine by our reception of his soul and divinity.

         In Jesus we see the power and glory of God’s kingdom and by his death on the cross, his overpowering presence was passed on to us such that the kingdom of God is now among us and the world will know we are truly his disciples when we have love for one another. That is when the kingdom of God is present because love is the air that we breathe in God’s kingdom.

         No doubt Christ will return but like the bridegroom we know neither the day nor the hour of his coming. But regardless of when that will be we need to be morally and spiritually ready. To do this, we all must live as if Jesus will be coming today.

         The fact is that we can all live as citizens of the Kingdom of God today without need of dying physically but this is dependent on understanding God’s real purpose as revealed in the Scriptures. When Jesus said: “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.” (𝑴𝒕 13:11) he was giving us a vision of the treasure that will benefit us.

         While the teachers of the law in the time of Jesus were looking for a future kingdom that is preceded by judgment, Jesus is telling us that the Kingdom of Heaven is now and that the judgment will come. To experience living in the Kingdom of God now is to make Jesus the Lord and King of our life.

         Translated into present-day realities, it means that we are to turn our lives to Jesus and give him control of every area of our lives – our work, plans, and relationships. In other words, we are to subordinate our will to His Divine Will and make him central in all that we do. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘕𝘰𝘷. 13, 2025)