{"id":10900,"date":"2020-12-31T06:54:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T11:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=10900"},"modified":"2020-12-31T06:59:14","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T11:59:14","slug":"gods-kingdom-whats-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/gods-kingdom-whats-that\/","title":{"rendered":"God\u2019s Kingdom. What\u2019s that?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Edward Hicks (American, 1780 – 1849 ), Peaceable Kingdom, c. 1834<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Scripture and song refer to the child Jesus as \u201cthe new-born King.\u201d We Americans wrestle with the idea of \u201croyalty\u201d and anything that sets one person above an- other. (We call our national leader \u201cMr. President\u201d . . . NOT <\/strong>\u201cyour Majesty\u201d.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our passion to level everybody out, no person better than another, \u201cone person, one vote etc.\u201d is admirable. It\u2019s the hallmark of Democracy. But democracy also misses something. It misses the actual structure of how creation runs. You see the universe comes to exist because God creates it. God is not elected. He\u2019s the supreme authority, \u201cthe ruler of heaven and earth\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike senators, governors, CEO\u2019s<\/strong>, presidents, who are all elected by the people, some authority comes automatically because of who you are. Such a person carries within themselves the power to rule. The best human title for such a position of authority is \u201cKing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Jesus is the newborn King. Where does he get this authority? From God his Father. \u201cThis is my beloved Son. Listen to him.\u201d God says to the people gathered at the Jordan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the newborn has grown (in a few church weeks!), Jesus will speak his first sermon, \u201cRepent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.\u201d So the question is, where? Where do we see it? When it first dawned on the earth it appeared in Bethlehem. Jesus is the beginning of the Kingdom of God. In his mind and heart we have the thoughts and desires of God for humankind. We hear this echoed later in the gospel when Philip the apostle asked Jesus to \u201cshow us the Father\u201d in heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPhilip,\u201d Jesus said, \u201cI\u2019ve been with you this long and you do not know the Father? Do you not know that when you see me you see the Father?\u201d Jn. 14:9<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the Kingdom of God has already started in the one person of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

But Jesus, as we know, has ascended into heaven. We can\u2019t see him like Philip could. So, is the Kingdom still here? If so, where?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus told us how to find it. \u201cThe Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen. No one will say here it is! Or there it is!, because the Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU<\/strong>.\u201d Lk 17:20<\/a>. It is born in us in baptism; a seed (like the Mustard Seed) which grows of its own ac- cord to enormous size. It brings the beginning of eternal life to those who receive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch for Jesus\u2019 parables in this context. \u201cThe Kingdom of Heaven is like . . . \u201cHe has to give us pictures because it\u2019s hard to put the nature of the Kingdom into words. Why? because it is a spiritual reality, one that must be perceived by Faith. \u201cBlessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.\u201d Jn. 20:24<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, where do I find God\u2019s Kingdom today? Any act that brings God\u2019s goodness to the world has its roots in the Kingdom. \u201cWhen did we see you hungry and feed You? As often as you did it to the least of my brethren you did it for me\u201d . . . welcome to my Kingdom. So much to say about this Kingdom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be kind. Remember, you\u2019re in the Kingdom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scripture and song refer to the child Jesus as \u201cthe new-born King.\u201d We Americans wrestle with the idea of \u201croyalty\u201d and anything that sets one person above an- other. (We call our national leader \u201cMr. President\u201d . . . NOT \u201cyour Majesty\u201d.) Our passion to level everybody out, no person better than another, \u201cone person, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10900"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10904,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10900\/revisions\/10904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}