Picturing the Kingdom of God

The theme of the Kingdom of God is the core of the Gospels. Jesus'
mission was to establish God's Kingdom, which was understood as God's
Plan of Salvation, God's Enterprise, God's Presence, the Good News, or
the Kingdom of Heaven. Through His teachings (e.g., the Beatitudes),
miracles, and Paschal Mystery, Jesus made the Kingdom of God present
among His people.

To understand more the concept of God's kingdom, let us look into how it
was understood in the Old Testament, how it was presented by Jesus
Christ in His parables, and, finally, how it is regarded by the Church at the
present.

Old Testament Picture

The Israelites believed Yahweh to be the Creator of all things. "The earth is
the Lord's and all it holds" (Ps 24:1). The people reasoned that since
Yahweh is the creator of all, He is then the true ruler and real king not only
of Israel but of all creation.

In the Old Testament, it is apparent that the Israelites understood the

Kingdom of God as a political state or a specific territory where God is king.
We know the struggles the Israelites faced as a people. To guide them,
God chose leaders for them and sent prophets to them. The prophets
foretold of a Messiah who would start a new covenant or a new era wherein
evil would be abolished and God himself would rule in injustice and peace.
Thus, the Israelites waited for the promised Messiah, who they believed
would restore their nation to its former glory and bring back the prosperity
and power it had during time of David up until Jesus' time, the Israelites
were expecting a
Messiah-King who would defeat the Romans and gain independence for
them.

Jesus' Unique Vision of the Kingdom

Jesus grew up with traditional Jewish aspirations for the Kingdom of God.
As a Jewish rabbi, He taught and preached about an entirely different
concept of the kingdom-a spiritual one. He never gave a verbal definition of
the kingdom.
What He gave were parables and the Beatitudes, which sketched images
and presented analogies describing the characteristics of the Kingdom of
God.

Jesus announced that the Kingdom was present in His person because He
was the one who was totally committed to fulfilling God's saving will. Aside
from His preaching, His miracles revealed that God's kingdom is a
condition in which God is Lord of all. It is a condition, therefore, of order,
peace, and wholeness in people as well as the environment.

1. Jesus announces the Kingdom. After Jesus' fasting and temptation in the
desert, He returned to Galilee, His home province. The Gospel of Luke
records how Jesus came to Nazareth, entered the synagogue, and
proclaimed His messianic "program of action." He used the words of Isaiah
to express the mission He had been sent to accomplish.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring
glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim
a year acceptable to the Lord."
Lk 4:18-19; Is 61:1-2

Jesus then declared, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your

hearing" (Lk 4:21). With this, Jesus announced that He was the Messiah
whom the people had been waiting for, the One prophesied by Isaiah as He
"who has been anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to bring good news to the
poor." However, His neighbors did not believe Him and even tried to kill
Him (cf Lk 4:29).

The Gospels record the many good works Jesus performed throughout His
public ministry. He brought the Good News to the poor by preaching
throughout Israel, in the streets and byways, in the market places, and
along the shores of the lake of Galilee. He reached out to ordinary people
everywhere. He sought out public sinners, like Zacchaeus (Lk 19:1-10) and
the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:1-11), and forgave their sins freeing
them from the captivity of their own guilt. He gave sight to blind men, like
Bartimaeus (Mk 10:46-52), the man born blind (Jn 9:1-41), and the blind
man at Bethsaida (Mk 8:22-26).
These acts of Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom or Reign of God had
come. Jesus' acts were signs of the Kingdom because they manifested
God's will that all people, especially those that society had abandoned, be
cared for. Jesus fulfilled God's will by bringing God's salvation to all
humankind, especially the outcasts.

What does salvation mean?

Salvation is the act of freeing people and societies from all types of
suffering and oppression. Such freedom is directed toward the full well-
being of persons a life of love that constitutes and communities. One way
to appreciate the Kingdom of God is to think of it as the ideal experience of
salvation. When a f saves us from embarrassment, lends us money when
we are in of God's Kingdom, God's salvation, and God's love. Each of us,
therefore, can bring God's Kingdom here on earth in our own little ways.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and
sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is
the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky
come and dwell in its branches” -Mt 13:31-32

The point of the parable is clear. The Kingdom of God starts Emo from the
smallest that grows into much bigger proportions.

The Christian faith, espoused by two-thirds of the world's population today,

started with the preaching and works of one man, Jesus. Jesus is an
invincible force that has changed and bo continues to change the face of
the earth. The Parable of the Mustard Seed gives us consolation and hope,
especially when we are tempted to doubt whether the good we are trying to
do is worth all our effort and sacrifice or when we do not see the fruits of
our good works. Sometimes we catch ourselves thinking, "What is the point
of being honest? Almost everyone is cheating in the artis quiz anyway."

The parable affirms that every good deed, no matter how small it may
seem to us, contributes to the building of God's Kingdom of le love, peace,
and justice. This is why we must never be discouraged by setbacks or
difficulties in our efforts to do good no matter how small or insignificant it
may seem.

The Parable of the Yeast

"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with
three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened." -Mt
13:33

Bakers use an essential ingredient called yeast or leaven in making bread

and various baked products. Yeast, when mixed with other ingredients,
causes a chemical change called fermentation. Like a mustard seed, yeast
is minute and indistinguishable when mixed with dough.

Nonetheless, once baking begins, the effects of the yeast becomes

apparent: the whole dough rises to become leavened bread.

Just as we cannot see the yeast working in the dough, so often that we fail
to see the work of the Kingdom. Since the signs of the Kingdom a rarely
visible, we tend to doubt its work. There are so many signs of the opposite,
like street children and beggars who populate almost every city in the
Philippines. We may ask, "How could God let this happen?" thinking that
God is supposed to clean up the evil effects of our own injustices.

In the Parable of the Yeast, Jesus encourages us to look beyond what is

visible and to trust that God is establishing His Kingdom in quiet, but
definite ways. Once in a while, we witness an event where the Kingdom is
powerfully manifested. Examples are the People Power revolutions in 1986
and 2001. We can say that God's Kingdom, as manifested in the unity and
spirit of sacrifice of the common people, was in our midst then. Even if it
was a risk to their lives, thousands of Filipinos rallied for peace, democracy,
freedom, and justice.

The Parable of the Treasure

The pearl in this treasure in the field and "The kingdom of heaven is like a
treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of
joy goes sells all that he has and buys that field." -Mt 13:44

In Jesus' parable, a person stumbles unexpectedly upon a treasure. The

treasure symbolizes God's blessings that manifest the Kingdom, like our
faith, our loved ones, and our true friend. Indeed, blessings make present
the Kingdom of God. The parable tells us that the Kingdom of God can
come to us in the most ordinary ways and through unexpected persons and
events.
Once we recognize the treasures that are truly important in life that give
authentic happiness and meaning, we are ready to order let go of others
that are not of lasting worth, such as possessions, iro personal reputation,
popularity, and positions of power. The man in the parable who sold all his
possessions so he could buy the had come to that realization.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed is a story about how the Kingdom of God
starts from something very small, like a tiny seed, and grows into
something much bigger, like a big plant where birds can live. This teaches
us that even the smallest good deeds we do can help make the world a
better place, full of love, peace, and justice. So, we should never stop doing
good, even if it seems small, because it can have a big impact in the end.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price

"[T]he kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.

When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and
buys it."
-Mt 13:45-46

The pearl in this parable, like the treasure in the field in the preceding
parable, represents something so precious that the merchant sells all he
has to afford. This tells us that when we find the Kingdom of God in our
lives, our other possessions become secondary.

Young people who join outreach activities to share God's love with our less
privileged brethren realize that they would not replace the joy from serving
others for any pleasure drawn from playing computer games or other
activities.

The Parable of the Net

"[T]he kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects
fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put
what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at
the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the
righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing
and grinding of teeth." -Mt 13:47-50

The Parable of the Net describes Judgment Day, the end of time when the
good will be rewarded and the wicked punished. During our lifetime, we are
pilgrims on the way to becoming members of Christ's eternal Kingdom.

We live our lives according to the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ.
We are called to a personal relationship with Him, a relationship that will
lead us to do good in this world. All of us must respond not just in word, but
also in deed. We will be judged according to how we have responded to
God's call.