“. . .your kingdom come.”—Luke 11: 2
Do you ever try to envision what the kingdom of God would look like? Perhaps a few visual images from scripture would help. The Old Testament contains no references to the “kingdom of God” but does speak of God’s sovereign power over all kings and kingdoms. In the New Testament, we can look to Jesus’ parables where the kingdom is compared to a farmer, a mustard seed, a yeast, a buried treasure, a pearl merchant, a fishnet, an employer, a king inviting people to a marriage feast, and ten young women (Mt 13:24,31,33,44,45,47; 20:1; 22:2; 25:1). Is this what you think of when you envision a kingdom, these situations from everyday life? I can honestly say that I see more pomp and ceremony, but what I am seeing in the parables is a kingdom that is earthy.
The kingdom of God is not a geographical area and not a political entity. Paul clarifies the definition in Romans 14: 17 when he says the kingdom of God is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Spirit.” As Luke Timothy Johnson writes in The Writings of the New Testament (Fortress, 1999), along with faith, hope, and love, these states and dispositions are “living qualities that could be described behaviorally in terms of attitudes and actions.” This is kingdom as a state of being.
We can look at one other source to get a visual of the kingdom of God. The Hebrew understanding of their word, shalom, means peace and more. The verb root, shalam, literally means to make whole or complete. Shalom is that situation in which everyone has what is necessary for a full life. I can picture God’s kingdom as a place where everyone is wholly who they are meant to be, living lives of righteousness, peace and joy, on this earth. This could be pie-in-the-sky thinking, but, I believe, with every act of social justice that we perform collectively or individually, we come one step closer to shalom on earth. Only God can bring the kingdom but we, who are made in God’s image, can seek to emulate our creator to the best of our ability. Like Abraham, in the first reading, God invites us to be a covenant partner to deliberate with God and be part of the plan.
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral has many ministries where you can help build the kingdom by social justice action through works of mercy. Contact me at socialconcern@hnojnc.org
Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director
Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC