WHERE'S THE KINGDOM?

 These two guys are walking down the road together. Suddenly one fellow says to the other: “Hey look at the dead bird!“ His friend immediately stares up at the sky and asks “Where?“

Jesus’ listeners have the same problem, it seems. When he announces “The Kingdom of God is that hand!“ they all begin to ask “Where?” In the Gospel of Luke (17:21) Jesus has to tell them not to go looking around for the kingdom as if they hope to find it someplace. The Kingdom of heaven, he tells them, is, in the original Greek, entos humon. 

One translation of this phrase is “within you.” Some folks like the sound of this: the kingdom of God is inside you.” Did you ever meet someone who thought that they had captured the kingdom of God inside of themselves?” They usually think that they are somehow well, better than the rest of us.

Jesus warns all of us against this delusion when He says, “Do not judge others.” Matthew’s Greek uses five words based on the verb “to judge” all in just two sentences! This makes me think of someone who goes through life constantly judging, judging, judging.

 Our Lord also warns us not to be too concerned about fixing other people, not to be so preoccupied with finding splinters in other folks’ eyes that we miss the plank in our own.

A really interesting warning is the one that says “For the measure with which youmeasure will be measured out to you.” We might rephrase that to read simply, “Do not measure!” Two chapters earlier Jesus tells us to “be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” The New Jerusalem Bible translates this verse correctly in its context: “Set no boundaries on your love, just as your heavenly Father set no boundaries on his love.” 

When Jesus talks about measuring, then, He’s telling us “do not measure out forgiveness toward others, unless you want God to put limits on his forgiveness toward you.”

Let’s return to our translation of that Greek phrase entos humon. But this time we can use the alternate translation that clearly must be what Jesus has in mind: “The Kingdom of God is among you.” That is, it exists in the spaces between you and your brothers and sisters!”

So you have to ask yourself: What characterizes the space between me and my spouse? Is it patience and kindness? Or is it something not worthy of the Kingdom?

Or what about the space between me and my fellow office workers? Is it filled with helpfulness and a pleasant attitude? Or is it perhaps constant judgment?

 Or what about the space between me  and, say, a salesperson in the store who has just made an honest mistake on the computer? Is it filled with a calm, patient attitude? Or am I unpleasant and show my frustration?

These are precisely the “spaces” where the Kingdom of God exists, the everyday spaces between me and my fellow human beings.

And Jesus has given you and me the responsibility for how those spaces get filled. Iam responsible for whether or not the Kingdom comes on earth.

So, each time we pray the Lord‘s Prayer and utter the petition “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,” let’s be sure we understand what we’re saying: It means that we are accepting the responsibility for making the Kingdom a reality in our lives. 

May the Lord keep helping us to fill those spaces 

with the love and the joy of the Kingdom!