Thank you to John for this week’s MWB
“Do you understand it?” the learned professor used to say to his student. “Then you’ve got it wrong.”
The focus of Jesus’ preaching and teaching was The Kingdom of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near” (Mark 1:15). “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 4:43).
But what does “the kingdom of God” mean? Jesus’ first disciples struggled to understand what he meant. They seem to have looked for the establishment of a political messianic kingdom in their own lifetime, including the overthrow of Rome’s domination of their country. Even after Jesus’ death and resurrection, they asked him “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
What about us? Do we understand the kingdom of God? (Note the professor’s words above.)
Jesus never gave a simple definition of the kingdom of God. But he said “The kingdom of God is like….”: “a man who sowed good seed in his field….yeast….treasure hidden in a field….a merchant looking for fine pearls….a net that was let down into the lake….” (Matthew 13).
And in Mark’s gospel we read
Mark 4:30-32
It is like a mustard seed – the smallest seed used by Palestinian farmers, probably “Black Mustard”, which can grow to over 10 feet high. Tiny beginning, slow but amazing growth. (We in England might think of an acorn growing over hundreds of years into a mighty oak tree.)
This parable “contrasts the tiny beginnings of the kingship of God – the preaching of an unknown prophet in a corner of Palestine – with the greatness of the end result” (Howard Marshall, “St Mark“) The reference to birds sheltering under its branches probably alludes to prophecies in Ezekiel (17:23, 31:6) and in Daniel (4:12, 20-22). God’s kingdom “will be an everlasting kingdom. and all rulers will worship and obey him” (Daniel 7:27). People from all nations will find rest in it.
So what? It is not necessarily the mark of mature Christians that they know more, but that they are prepared to wait more patiently, content to abide the Lord’s time.
So be it, Lord: your throne shall never,
like earth’s proud empires, pass away;
your kingdom stands, and grows for ever,
until there dawns that glorious day.
(J.Ellerton, “The day thou gavest”, Jubilate Hymns)