3

THE PROCLAMATION
OF THE KINGDOM

As one reads the Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John,
one begins to hear about “The Kingdom.”

Those of us who don’t live in a country with kings and queens
still have an idea about what a kingdom is.

We get glimpses of kingdoms in the stories of our childhood –
as well the everyday language of image and metaphor.

And we pray “Thy Kingdom come” over and over again
when we say the Our Father.

Jesus had a dream on how life could be:
that dream is the Kingdom.

It’s the dream of his Father.

It’s the reason why God made us and gave us the gift of life on this planet.

That reasoning, that dream, that hope, that will of the Father and discovered by Jesus in prayer is the Kingdom: Thy Kingdom come!

Jesus proclaims the coming of the kingdom of God.
He calls all to conversion
He calls for forgiveness,
to open our hands,
to drop the rocks,
to share our cloaks and our bread with each other.

The Kingdom is the dream.

We need to listen to each other’s dreams.

We know from the Gospel of Luke that Jesus listened to the dreams of Isaiah.

He opened up the scroll of Isaiah when he went into the synagogue in Nazareth and found the passage where it said, “The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison; to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord, a day of vengeance for our God.” (Cf. Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4: 18-19).

If we read the whole scroll of Isaiah we will be reading the life of Jesus. So much repeats itself. The word becomes flesh in Jesus. The best of the Old Testament is married to the New. New wine tickles the words on old leather skins with words of life still fermenting.
And Jesus called people to this kingdom – to lead this life.

And Jesus called disciples to live this life – and then proclaim it.

And the message is still being lived.