The Gospel is full of questions about the Kingdom of God. What will it be like? How can we recognize it? Who will get in? Who will be excluded? Today a group of pharisees ask Jesus when the Kingdom will come? Seems like the folks in Jesus’ times the same questions or worries that we have today. We always want times, dates, place, and exact references. Plus, we tend to think of the Kingdom of God as something in the future, maybe in heaven – usually a place of good times and being happy. These are all very important and interesting questions. But Jesus does not answer the questions in a direct way. He does not give a GPS reference for our car’s mapping system. He does not give a specific time and date to put in our online calendar. He does not even say who will be involved. He does say don’t follow false prophets who announce dates and places.
Today Jesus proclaims that the Kingdom of God is already here among us, and he makes a clear reference to the Cross (suffering and rejection). This goes contrary to our common concepts about the Kingdom of God. The first Christians discovered the Kingdom of God in the midst of their messy lives and their lives together as a community of faith. They discovered the Kingdom of God in their lives in the measure that they were capable of dedicating themselves to living as Jesus lived, following in the footsteps of Jesus through the suffering and rejection of the Cross into the resurrection. Jesus says today that the Kingdom of God is not a place or time in some remote, unknown moment in the future. Rather the Kingdom is happening right now among us as we live out the Cross of service to others.
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.
Image: https://gfc.com.ph/sermons/the-kingdom-of-god-is-already-here-but-not-yet-fully/