My Kingdom...God's Reign

Reading for Sunday
July 20, 2008

One continuing theme of Christian theology is the understanding of God’s kingdom ruling the earth. Instead of kingdom can we say God’s queendom ruling the earth? God’s queerdom ruling the earth? And yet, all/both sound domineering and oppressive. How about something different, contemporary theologians would call it, the reign of God? This influence of the kingdom has permeated our American society since its inception. The Puritans fled England looking for a pure society, a pure time. Protestantism has linked the forecoming kingdom to political crusades: antislavery and women’s suffrage. Further, visions of the kingdom fueled the social gospel movement and progressive theology. Today, evangelicals have used the coming kingdom, to embrace apocalyptic-end of the world theology and politics. The Left Behind phenomenon is an example of this end of age literature and belief. The reign of God is somewhere in this diverse theology, these messy politics, and our human engagement. Our first reading is verse of a traditional hymn from Spain, You Are the Seed.


You are the life that will nurture the plant
You’re the waves in a turbulent sea
Yesterday’s yeast is beginning to rise
A new loaf of bread it will yield
May your good deed show a world in despair
A path that will lead all to God
You are the new kingdom built on a rock
Where justice and truth always reign

What does the reign of God look like? Jesus told many parables. And sometimes I wish he hadn’t. They can be confusing. Often they illustrated a way to live in the world that was an alternative to the accepted norms of 1st Century Judaism, or even the social norms of 21st Century Christianity. The parable of the sower, found in Matthew 13 stresses the presence of God in our world.

He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So, when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

The presence of God’s reign, of the kingdom of truth and justice. The kingdom Jesus is referring to is here, now, we are living in it. In the Bible, the harvest is a symbol of the new age, of an intended adjustment of the social order. But, Jesus is not finished yet, he continues by explaining the parable of the sower.

“Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil once, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”


So, we have the kingdom now and the kingdom to come after the harvest. We have the already and the not yet view of the world. You may be like me and balk at Jesus’ language, evildoers being thrown into the furnace of fire; it is slightly problematic with my theology. What is Jesus talking about? And who gets “classified” as an evildoer. Further, why did Jesus leave the crowd and then explain the story? Why are the people, excluded? Paul jumps onto the kingdom of God bandwagon, but Paul was expecting Jesus imminent return. Romans 8.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, that the creation will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Paul is suffering, as we can relate to, and he needs relief from his plight. He expects Jesus to return and thus the kingdom of God to reign now…now…now…maybe at noon? Jesus parable explains that the reign of God is here/now and yet will also come tomorrow? Do I dare say Paul was misguided? Or missed the reign around him? That is probably unfair to Paul, as he really did think the kingdom would return with Jesus. Paul says, “if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it”. Recognizing the reign of God, it may be here, but the future may also hold illumination for us. Either way the reign of God is here and there. The reign of God is not beginning or ending, it is ever present. Psalm 139.


Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heave, you are there; if I make my bed I Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me and the light around me become night”, even the darkness is not dark to you, the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.


My Kingdom…God’s Reign

I love the image of this parable; the wheat, the harvest. I am from a state where wheat is a huge commodity, a way of life. I know what harvest means to farmers. It is life and death. At harvest, farmers spend days doing nothing but cutting wheat, emptying grain into wheat trucks and silos, taking time at supper to eat fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and tea out of the trunk of a car or on the tailgate of a pick-up. Harvest is about survival. Harvest is about community. Harvest is about continuation of life.

Maybe I love this parable because I love the image of golden heat across a Kansas landscape. Amy thinks I’m crazy when I say I love driving through Western Kansas. You know that long 4 hours with nothing but waving fields of gold. Where there are few people and even fewer rest-stops. Maybe you can relate to me with something else. Maybe for you the fields of wheat are snowy mountains – deep valleys or wide open spaces of desert. This is the landscape of our lives. It is in these places we know God, we feel the presence, we acknowledge the larger creation story unfolding in our lives. But, this is not the God presence in the parable. Nature is not the reign of God we are looking to discover. The reign of God is so much different. Jesus was talking about something beyond the creation of our world. The psalmist captures it, by using nature as an illustration, “Where can I go from your presence?”

Being from Kansas, I understand the weeds in the wheat metaphor. Weeds can destroy a crop, cripple a harvest, and financially ruin a family. Weeds are dangerous. Weeds are a metaphor for our lives. They can represent anything, the list is endless. Our break from God, our treatment of each other, our abuse of ourselves. We can call it sin, we can call it destruction, webs of violence, loss, and grief. The weeds are dangerous. They separate us. They are our privilege and we use them to our fullest exploitation.

We have work to do in the harvest. We need to clean the weeds out. Have you ever pulled weeds? One summer, my dad agreed to pay my sister and I a dime per weed we pulled, with the root intact. I think I pulled half a bucket but got bored very quickly. My sister, pulled weed after weed after weed; bucket after bucket after bucket. Do you have weeds to pull?

What does the reign of God look like? Where do you see the children of the kingdom? Where do you see fulfillment? The reign of God has become a technical term in theology, a symbol of Jesus’ message. The reign of God is more than scholastic thought; it is the debunking of systems that enact values which deny God’s dignity to every human being. The reign of God is real in our world. It is not a way of doing ministry, but fighting to bring God’s desire for righteousness into our world.

What does the reign of God look like? Where, in your life, do you see the kingdom?

Living inside the church, in the reign of God means taking care of people. Taking care of people comes in many ways: praying for the pained, the oppressed, and the downcast; giving of our time to help with the ministries of the church: children, youth, choir, reading scripture, and participating with Warren Village. These are all some of the ways we extend God’s grace of the kingdom to our community and ourselves. We have a need to extend the reign of God to Christ church members today. Ray Cooney has been in the hospital this past week and he and Teresa are in need some meal assistance. If you are willing to bake a casserole, make sloppy joes, or take soup to Ray and Teresa see Cle after the service. She will sign you up to extend the reign. “Where can’t I go from your presence?”

When kingdom theology is places aside the parable of the wheat, the weeds become something very specific. The weeds are ego. When I claim my kingdom as God’s kingdom, the weeds of ego take control of the wheat and destroy the harvest. My justice becomes God’s justice and this is not a place of affirmation and grace. My kingdom does not equate God’s reign on earth.

Living outside the church, in the reign of God means taking care of people, too. I have a confession to make, I am obsessed with online news media. I constantly check MSNBC’s website (not in class though) I read the Denver Post online and I even make sure I stay current to the goings-on in Kansas. How many of you read the paper? Check online news sites? Watch the evening news? I’m a news junkie. I read these stories and my ego, my weeds of my kingdom make me place my justice on these stories – these situations – these people. If you visit an online news site, you can find attached to stories places for readers to comment on the story. A place to post your thoughts on the situation. I enjoy reading these comments because they are truly entertaining. And I enjoy commenting on them too.

I want to tell you this story. A young man in his late twenties, named Will. I wish Will’s background had a positive direction, it does not. Will is an addict. Drugs and alcohol have lead to destructive patterns. He’s been in rehab but can’t move into a web of life. Two weeks, ago the story came across the news that Will was the victim of a shooting. He was shot in the back and the bullet went through his lung, exiting the front of his chest. He was air-lifted to a major-city hospital, listed in critical condition. Will is set to be released from the hospital tomorrow. He is lucky to be alive. But, there is added drama: who was he shot by? Will was shot by his mother’s boyfriend, who has been charged in this case. This is clearly an example of domestic violence. I’m not excusing Will’s behavior or part in this situation. But I clearly see love is not present when I went to read the comments in the on-line newspaper, and here is what I read:
“ If it was me, he would not be recuperating in a hospital, he would be decomposing in a morgue”
“This could be on Jerry Springer”
“I would have shot a dead-beat, drug addict kid too”
All these comments from people, who weren’t there, don’t know the situation and aren’t going to see the rest of the story unfold.
This is not an unknown person. Will is not another face on the TV, another name in the news. Will has a father, his name is Michael and Michael is married to my mom. Will is my brother, albeit a step-brother but he is family. We’ve spent Christmas and Thanksgiving together. There is a connection. I know him. Where is the reign of God in this? Not just in the lives but in the news comment. Where is the grace? Where is the forgiveness? “Where can I go from your presence?”

When you pass judgment on a news story, do you stop to think? This is someone’s child, someone’s parent, someone’s friend, someone’s relative, someone’s sibling, someone’s partner. This is a person of the Divine. When you see that face on the evening news, do you pause and wonder (how is this family coping with this tragedy?), or is it another face in this world. Diana Butler Bass gives extends a vision of God’s kingdom where the only extreme is love. What does it look like to extend love? One extreme is hate and anger, the other apathy. Love is in the center, love is the vision of the kingdom. How would news media react if, instead of being taken into their power-filled rhetoric, into their attempt to “stir the pot” we filled their comment sections with notes of love? We restore love into the politics of God’s reign. We show the city of love is present. Are we persons of love who share love with others?

The parable of the weeds is a story of restoration. In the harvest, the weeds are pulled and separated from the wheat. The wheat is restored. We are restored as well. We may be restored in the reign of God today, right now. We may be restored when the harvest comes, in the future. We are restored in life, restored with community, and restored with hope. The reign of God is ours to live into. Mortimer Arias claims the reign of God as a means to “look afresh upon our world and transform it”. The ground of our hope is not the guarantee of victory but the struggle itself for a more just world – where every living being is regarded as the image of God.

The reign of God passes through suffering, rejection, persecution, and death to restore us to life. To enter into the reign of God, is to enter into life. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom was here, now. Walter Rauschenbusch says, “seize what has now come so near”. “Where can I go from your presence?” Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth.