At Hand
For to which of the angels did God ever say: You are my Son; this day I have begotten you? Or again: I will be a father to him, and he shall be a Son to me? Hebrews 1:5
After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel." Mark 1:14-15
Piety
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
Study
According to Newton’s Laws of Thermodynamics, two objects can not occupy the same space at the same time. According to the “Romero Corollary” (I just made this up), one object can not occupy two different spaces at the same time. But, the Kingdom of God breaks that convention.
This Newtonian “moment” comes to me thanks to today’s readings. We have a tendency to want to use human concepts for time and space to describe the “kingdom.” (e.g., “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done.”) However, based upon today’s readings that is impossible.
Through St. Mark, we learn that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Nearby. Readily accessible. That means it is HERE and NOW. Yet, according to the Lord’s prayer, the Kingdom of God also is to come in the future fullness of time. About to happen but not just yet.
If we were talking about an apple or a lamp, both concepts could not be true. But, the Kingdom of God is not an apple or a lamp.
Just yesterday, the Sunday Mass marked the Baptism of the Lord. Once baptized, Jesus wastes no time in getting started recruiting his disciples (building the Kingdom).
The notes to the NABRE explain that the phrase “the kingdom of heaven” is a substitute for the name “God” that was avoided by devout Jews of the time out of reverence. (The expression “the kingdom of heaven” occurs only in the gospel of Matthew.) It means the effective rule of God over his people. In its fullness, it includes not only human obedience to God’s word but the triumph of God over physical evils, supremely over death. Such rule over us is not possible until we have a change of heart.
In the expectation found in Jewish apocalyptic, the kingdom was to be ushered in by a judgment in which sinners would be condemned and perish, an expectation shared by the Baptist. This was modified in Christian understanding where the kingdom was seen as being established in stages, culminating with the Parousia of Jesus.
Action
The first brick of the Kingdom is the brick of repentance. John the Baptist and Jesus are connected in many ways but fundamentally their message is complementary. They both call for a change of heart and conduct, a turning of one’s life from rebellion to obedience to God.
Once we take that step, we put the first brick in place. Our Baptism was a defined event. Our Baptism is a life-long sacrament.
“…but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. (From Prophets of a Future Not Our Own)
Jesus has to get to the work required by Baptism right away…building the Kingdom brick-by-brick, person-by-person. The same is true for us.
What stage are you at in building the Kingdom of God in your life? The only thing that I am sure of is at this point is that the challenge of grappling with the Kingdom and poverty and personal sin is not so much a question of the head as it is of the heart. To borrow from Dorothy Day on change/repentance:
The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?
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