Reflections on The Kingdom of God

Dan Doyle

The phrase ‘the kingdom of God’, or ‘the kingdom of heaven’, appears throughout the Gospels, but what does the term mean? How are we to understand it? Certainly, we are not to understand it solely in worldly terms. It is not to be understood as a political entity, a sovereign state with rights and privileges. The Greek for this term, “basileia tou Theo,” does not refer to such an entity, but to a way of life that is wholly conducive to God’s presence, wholly in line with God’s will. As the Lord’s prayer, the ‘Our Father,’ puts it, God’s kingdom occurs when God’s desire for us is fulfilled on earth, as it is in heaven.

That last sentence is key, I think. In Luke’s Gospel, we hear Jesus respond to the Pharisees’ question about when the kingdom of God should come, saying, “The kingdom of God does not come with visible signs or physical observations, but is already present” (Lk. 17:20-21). He’s saying that people will not point and say, “Here it is!”, or “There it is!”, because it is already in your midst. It is not an earthly empire. This was how the Pharisees, and many modern “Christians”, of both conservative and liberal perspectives, conceive it to be from their own perspectives. Indeed, Jesus warns against thinking of it in this way.

Jesus is telling the Pharisees, and us, that he is the very embodiment of the kingdom of God present among us. In essence, he is telling them the kingdom of God, meaning God’s rule, is standing right in front of them in his Person. Indeed, Jesus is the King, and where he is, there is his kingdom. When we recognize this in our own minds and wills, the King and his kingdom are within us. And if we surrender to this wisdom, the kingdom is at work within us and in our words and actions; it can become known to others. Christian community, in its most pure essence, makes the kingdom of God present when we love one another and forgive one another as he loved us, and in how well we willingly open ourselves to love the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the alien among us.

When we actively and humbly seek a living, mutual relationship with God and surrender our egos enough to receive his love for us, the presence of his kingdom comes among us with such abundance of generosity that we cannot contain it. Still, we begin to share it with all others. The way of life in the kingdom of God seeks always to unite rather than separate us. When we, having let go of any kind of prejudices, lovingly desire to promote and safeguard the precious grandeur of all of humanity, which was bestowed on every human being by God and revealed to us in its fullness in Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God becomes a living and active presence among us, here and now.

The kingdom of God, unlike the ‘kingdoms’ of this world, is lively and always life-giving. It is not burdened by doubt. Rather, it is full of meaning and purpose. It is not afraid of true freedom or of the responsibility that goes with it. Why? Because our King is the Way, the Truth, and the Life that is both the rule and the glory of the kingdom of God. Because God is infinite, we finite beings can never fully understand God or his kingdom. This is not because we cannot grasp it, but because there is more than meets our finite capacities to see and to understand it fully, now. But we are called upon, in our finite human-ness, to seek and to pursue God’s kingdom here on earth. Because we are imperfect, we will never experience the fullness of God’s kingdom here on earth, but Jesus calls us to follow the narrow, difficult path to the kingdom during our short human lives. We are to be always aware of our need for God’s generous grace to help us on our way with forgiveness, mercy, and love.

How do we discern the kingdom among us? Through an active prayer life and by reading the Scriptures, the Gospels especially, with an adult desire for reason, evidence, and examples, and with childlike wonder to recognize and accept that which is greater than ourselves. Do this daily. But don’t just read. Reflect, consider, question with a real desire to know, not just to prove or justify your own ideas. Challenge your own ideas with every word that Jesus speaks and every action that he undertakes. Why? Because the kingdom of God is the pearl of great price; the thing more precious than all else put together; that which our hearts desire above all else.