Sunday Meditation: Uniting the Kingdom of God

In the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year A we see Jesus starting His ministry.  But wait a second.  Didn’t we see Jesus in the First Sunday, two Sunday’s ago, being baptized.  Wasn’t that the start of His ministry?  And last Sunday, didn’t we see John the Baptist declare Jesus the Lamb of God after that baptism?  Wasn’t that the start of His ministry?  Well, yes to both of those Sundays and to this one too.  The Baptism is the start by God’s anointing; the second is start by John’s declaration; and today is the start by Jesus’s activities.

Three years ago for this Third Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year A, I embedded Dr. Prant Pitre’s explanatory breakdown of this Gospel.  One of the homilies I provide below will reference it, so it might be worthwhile to go back and watch it.  It is important to know that the significance of withdrawing to Zebulun and Naphtali was that those were the first two regions that went into exile when the northern kingdom was conquered.  So by Jesus going there, He will be reconstituting David’s kingdom, but only this time it will be a spiritual kingdom.

The Gospel passage divides into two parts.  We see Jesus in the first starting His ministry with the preaching of repentance.  And we see in the second, Jesus selecting apostles for His ministry.  In these apostles we the very turning away from ordinary life to a life in Jesus, which is exactly what Jesus is asking us to do.  We see the apostles giving up their business and their families, and we see them accepting their calling without knowing any details nor outcome.  Later in Matthew 19:27, Peter tells Jesus they have given up everything.  And Jesus responds, in  the Kingdom the twelve will be on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

 

Here is today’s Gospel reading.

 

 

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

 

As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.

~Mt: 4:12-23

 

I have explained some up above, but I haven’t explained everything.  Fr. Cajetan Cuddy O.P. will explain the significance.

So with John the Baptist’s ministry over, Jesus receives the baton and starts His ministry, proclaiming the need for repentance as John had done.  “The Kingdom of God is the overarching theme of the entire economy of salvation.”  Jesus teaches, therefore, “the union of repentance and the kingdom.”  Since Jesus is the Kingdom, your turning—repentance—is a turning to Jesus.

Fr. Terrance Chartier provides an interesting pastoral homily.  If Jesus’s mission is to unite, those that create occasions of division are working against the Kingdom of God.

“Jesus of Nazareth comes to restore light and hope and unity to his people. He comes to reunite his people under one faith. He also comes to engraft...the Gentiles…Our Lord works to bring hope and unity and healing to places torn by division and destruction.”  The significance of this unity is that, as the second reading points out, the introduction of divisions into the Kingdom of God is working against the work of Jesus.  Beware of the schismatic elements you bring to the Body of Christ.  Surely fragmentation into denominations is working against Christ’s unity.  But so is obstinate fighting against the Pope and the Bishops, as we have seen in recent years.  Cum Petro et Sub Petro  (With Peter and Under Peter).  “The work of the devil is to divide and pit God's children against each other.  And the devil continues his work to this day.” 

 

 

Sunday Meditation: “He went around all of Galilee,

teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.”

 

 

Let’s return to John Michael Talbot for the hymn, and this lesser know but still lovely hymn, “Walk and Follow Jesus.”

“I will walk and follow Jesus.”  How about you?

 

 

Sunday Meditation: The Love of God

Last week Jesus was at Jericho on His way to Jerusalem.  Today we find Him in Jerusalem, and it is during Holy Week.  Because we have split off the Gospel readings between Easter and Ordinary Time, we have already read Jesus’s triumphant Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem.  Now we pick up on events prior to the Last Supper, which we already read.

Today Jesus is questioned by a Scribe.

 

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,

"Which is the first of all the commandments?"

Jesus replied, "The first is this:

Hear, O Israel!

The Lord our God is Lord alone!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul,

with all your mind,

and with all your strength.

The second is this:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these."

The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.

You are right in saying,

'He is One and there is no other than he.'

And 'to love him with all your heart,

with all your understanding,

with all your strength,

and to love your neighbor as yourself'

is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,

he said to him,

"You are not far from the kingdom of God."

And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

~Mk 12:28-34

 

Fr. Geoffrey Plant gives one of his comprehensive explanations for this passage. 

If you didn’t know, Fr. Geoffrey tells us there are 613 commandments in  the Torah!  So you are way off if you think there are only the Ten Commandments.  I also thought the comment by Amy-Jill Levine (who is Jewish by the way, but a New Testament Scholar) observes that Jesus actually added to the Shema, “with all your mind.”  That is not there in Deuteronomy.  Look carefully at the first reading from today. 

Again, Jeff Cavins does another fine outline from a pastoral point of view. 

Sunday Meditation: "You are not far from the kingdom of God."

 

Why not far?  Why are you not yet in the Kingdom of God?  Something to meditate on. 

In lieu of a hymn this week, I want to give you the Shema in the Hebrew.  From a Rabbi at myjewishlearning:

 

 

Sunday Meditation: Repent and Believe in the Gospel

After Jesus is baptized (see last week’s Gospel) by John the Baptist, John’s fortunes “decrease” while Jesus’s begins His ministry.  Today, in gathering some of His disciples, He announces the Kingdom of God.

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."

 

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,

he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;

they were fishermen.

Jesus said to them,

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.

He walked along a little farther

and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.

They too were in a boat mending their nets.

Then he called them.

So they left their father Zebedee in the boat

along with the hired men and followed him.

~Mk 1:14-20

This week Fr. Joseph Mary of the Capuchin Franciscans makes you feel the full force of Christ’s call to repent. .

 

Fr. Joseph Mary does not seem like an introvert to me, but that may be deceptive.  I had no idea what menudo is.  I never had it.  I looked it up and yuck.  We never do hear how that young man resolved his anger that evening.  Do you think that young man repented?  My intuition tells me he did. 

Meditation: "This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."

A clip from The Chosen.

 

Sunday Meditation: The Sower of Good Seed

For this Sunday, Jesus in that great chapter of Matthew’s Gospel on the Kingdom, continues with a series of parables describing the Kingdom of God.

 

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:

"The kingdom of heaven may be likened

to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

While everyone was asleep his enemy came

and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

The slaves of the householder came to him and said,

'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?

Where have the weeds come from?'

He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'

His slaves said to him,

'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds

you might uproot the wheat along with them.

Let them grow together until harvest;

then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,

"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;

but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

 

He proposed another parable to them.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

that a person took and sowed in a field.

It is the smallest of all the seeds,

yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

It becomes a large bush,

and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"

 

He spoke to them another parable.

"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast

that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour

until the whole batch was leavened."

 

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.

He spoke to them only in parables,

to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation

of the world.

 

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.

His disciples approached him and said,

"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,

the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.

The weeds are the children of the evil one,

and the enemy who sows them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

Just as 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 who cause others to sin and all evildoers.

They will throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun

in the kingdom of their Father.

Whoever has ears ought to hear."

~Mt 13:24-43

 

Most homilies on this passage will concentrate on the first parable, that of the Weeds and Wheat.  Jesus explains why He allows evil people to be mixed within us.  Dr. Brant Pitre gives us an excellent exegesis.

 

As usual, Dr. Pitre gives a fine explanation.  But I think he makes a subtle mistake.  Jesus never says that the kingdom is like the field.  He says the Kingdom is like the man, that is, a sower.  Which leads us to our meditation.

Meditation:

"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.”

The kingdom of God is like the Sower not the field.  So what difference does this make in the meaning of the passage?

Sunday Meditation: The Oblivious Rich Man

Today’s Gospel is one of those unforgettable parables—that of the rich man and Lazerus—that convicts.  It convicted me from the first time I read it, and it continues to every time I read it.  Is it because I identify with the rich man?  What exactly is his sin?  Sure luxury and gluttony, but neither are listed in the Ten Commandments.  However, luxury and gluttony lead to the obliviousness and callousness of the rich man to the pitiful poor man.  But there is so much more to the parable than showing the just deserts of heaven.  The Kingdom of God is the paradoxical inversion of the earthly world.  There is also the lesson Father Abraham, a stand in for God, delivers: no sign from heaven will ever be good enough for those without faith.

 

Jesus said to the Pharisees:

"There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen

and dined sumptuously each day.

And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,

who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps

that fell from the rich man's table.

Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.

When the poor man died,

he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.

The rich man also died and was buried,

and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,

he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off

and Lazarus at his side.

And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me.

Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,

for I am suffering torment in these flames.'

Abraham replied,

'My child, remember that you received

what was good during your lifetime

while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;

but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.

Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established

to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go

from our side to yours or from your side to ours.'

He said, 'Then I beg you, father,

send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers,

so that he may warn them,

lest they too come to this place of torment.'

But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets.

Let them listen to them.'

He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham,

but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,

neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"

Lk 16:19-31

 

As well as I thought I knew this parable, this Franciscan friar—Fr. Joseph Mary from the Capuchin Friars on a vlog called A Simple Word—points out even more than I realized.

 

The parable is addressed to the Pharisees!  How could I miss that?  And perhaps even more importantly, the rich man has no name while Lazarus does.  How rich is that!

 

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Edit 25 September 2022 at 9:05 PM: 

Here’s an interesting question on this parable, proposed by Fr. Paul D. Scalia (yes, the son of the former Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia) in an article, “The Poverty of Wealth,” at The Catholic Thing.  

 

Who is the more pitiable in this parable, Dives (the rich man) or Lazarus? Naturally, our heart goes out to Lazarus, the poor man at the gate, longing for scraps of food and whose sores the dogs would come and lick (an endearing detail to today’s dog lovers; but not to the ancient Jews, who didn’t have that same affection). In fact, Dives is the more to be pitied, not only because it’s far worse to do evil than to suffer it, but also because of what he became by way of his sin. So, we must appreciate the wretched state of Dives and the sin that brought him to it.

I think the person to be pitied becomes inverted with the inversion of status in God’s kingdom.  I think this is a very pertinent question to ask. 

Gospel of Matthew, Part 2

Comment #5:

As the introduction in the NAB mentions, Matthew’s Gospel is structured around five discourses that Jesus says. A discourse is a fancy way of saying a sermon. We discussed the Sermon on the Mount. That was the first. Chapter ten comprises the second discourse. It is sometimes identified as the Discourse on the Apostle’s Missions.

Some striking things in that discourse. Jesus instructs them to not “go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town” (Matt 10:5). Their mission is to preach to “the lost sheep of Israel” (6). The Gospel of Luke I think had a more international outlook. Matthew is much more concerned with the Jewish people.

Verse seven (“As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”) is the mission, and I believe it is the same in all the Gospels, though I’m not sure if it’s explicitly stated in John. And does is the kingdom of heaven comprise of? For Matthew: “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons” (8). Now this is supposed to be all our missions, though my skill at raising the dead is a bit lacking.

The first half of the discourse considers the mission. The second half considers the reactions the apostles will have to face.

Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. (16-18)

There seems to be a disconnect for me between the first and the second half of the discourse. If the mission is to cure the sick and the like, why would they be persecuted? Who would persecute anyone that is cleaning lepers and chasing out demons? Now is Jesus predicting his own persecution? Everything He mentions is what will happen to Him.

So why would anyone want to go through these persecutions? In the Sermon on the Mount discourse, people were “blessed” by God if you followed Christ. In this discourse you will tortured. Why would anyone want to do this? Christ tells us: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (39). And He further explains it with “Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward” (41). While it’s not spelled out here, that reward will be salvation.

But then the last verse again seems disconnected from something. “And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward” (42). I don’t understand the context. Does anyone?

Kerstin Replied:

Heavenly reward and human reaction, that's the distinction. In other words, following Christ will earn you eternal reward, but don't expect worldly humans to approve.

My Reply:

Yes, but how this "little one" suddenly come into the picture? And why cold water? I understand the reward but the child and water seems to connect to something that is missing. It confuses me.

Kerstin Reply:

Explanation from Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament:

10:42 these little ones: i.e., the apostles. They must rely on the hospitality of others for daily necessities during their mission (10:9 - 11). Service rendered to them is service to Jesus himself (10:40; 25:34 - 36). Children are elsewhere used as examples in Jesus' teaching on the faith in 18: 1 - 4 and 19: 13 - 15).

Oh, I forgot the verse is translated a little differently:

Mt 10:42: "And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."

My Reply:

I never knew that. I'm actually shocked. I took "little ones" for children. OK, that makes sense. Thanks Kerstin.

PS, that is a strange phrase for apostles. Did anyone know this on their own?

Kerstin Reply:

No, LOL! I wonder though, if it is some kind of endearment.

My Reply:

In searching around, I think it means lowly. Children were considered the lowest on a ladder of hierarchy. They essentially had no power or wealth. If that is so, I think a better translation in today's diction would be, "these lowly ones..."

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Comment #6:

Chapter 13 comprises the third discourse in Matthew’s Gospel, this on the nature of parables.  It’s a very active chapter.  By my count there are fourteen sections to the chapter of a chapter of 58 verses.  I’m amazed at how compressed each section is, averaging a little over four verses per section.  Here’s how I see the chapter divided.

1. Introductory stage directions.

2. The Parable of the Sower.

3. Why He speaks in parables.

4. The privilege granted to disciples.

5. The explanation of the Parable of the Sower

6. The Parable of the Weeds and Wheat.

7. The Parable of the Mustard Seed.

9. The Parable of the Yeast.

10. The fulfillment of prophesy in parables.

11. The explanation of the Weeds and Wheat.

12. Four parables on the nature of heaven.

13. Jesus concludes his discourse.

14. Jesus is rejected in His home town.

Jesus here too as in the Sermon on the Mount sits as He delivers His discourse.  Interestingly here He sits twice, first by the sea and then in a boat.  I imagine the boat is docked or grounded and He uses the boat as a sort of pulpit while the large crowd gathers up to Him.

The discourse alternates between a parable and an explanation, either explanation of a parable or an explanation of why He speaks in parables.  We always speak about how vivid a parable is or how memorable because it’s in story form, but that doesn’t seem to be the reason.  Jesus explains that it has been prophesied in Isaiah that those converted will understand and those not will not (13-15). 

The simplest of parables are nothing more than a simile.  “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast” (33) or “like a buried treasure” (44).  One step up in parable complexity from a simile is an allegory.  The Parable of the Weeds and Wheat is an example.  A parable that is a straight allegory.  The weeds represent the damned and the wheat represent the saved.  On earth the two are intermixed but in heaven they will be sorted out. 

Still another step in complexity from an allegory is a story that seems to alter reality or dislocates the focus.  The parable of the sower is such a complex parable.  For instance there are two dislocations in focus.  At first you think the story is about the sower, and then you think the story is about the seeds, but in fact it’s about the soil.  Could we set up an allegorical equation?  The sower would be a preacher, the seeds are the Word, and the soil would be general population.  In some the seed (the Word) will grow and some not.  The story also alters reality, pushing the conceit to a contortion of sorts.  In this case we could ask, why would a sower of seeds randomly spread seeds about in unknown soils?  A farmer would never do that.  If anything one prepares the soil or even grows seeds in a seedling pack with perfect soil.  The twist in these complex parables are enough to make them startling, mysterious, and perhaps even impenetrable.  These fulfill Isaiah’s prophesy. 

But even the simple similes are in a way dislocating as a means of communicating.  I count about eight parables in chapter thirteen, and they are in one way or another about the nature of heaven.  Now if I were to describe the nature of an island in the south pacific, which could be as close to heaven as we might imagine, I would tell you about the ideal temperature, the pleasing breeze, the fresh sea air, the wonderful trees, and such.  You would get some sort of an idea.  But in these eight parables or so, I don’t see any real sense of what heaven is like.  It’s a pearl, it’s yeast, the weeds won’t exist, it’s like a fishing net.  Frankly I don’t have a clue what heaven is like.  And yet when Jesus asks them do they understand, they say yes.

“Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.”

And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”  (51-52)

Do they really understand?  I think they’re just “yessing” Him as one does a teacher you don’t want to disappoint.  And for good measure, Jesus gives them one last parable.  A scribe (which is a teacher) who has been instructed on heaven who as allegory teaches the new (Christ’s Word) and the old (Torah) is compared to “the head of a household.”  How is that?

Irene Replied:

I don't believe that these parables are about heaven, but about the Kingdom of God which Matthew calls the Kingdom of Heaven because it is impermissible to use the name of God for his Jewish readers. The Kingdom of God/Heaven is unfolding among us here on earth. It is not simply a future reality in another realm. Reading these parables that way makes them more accessible for me.

My Reply:

Irene’s comment sent me on a wonderful search for the distinctions between the “Kingdom of God” and the Kingdom of Heaven.”  It never dawn on me that Christ was referring to the earthly kingdom here, the kingdom we are supposed to establish.  I found those that support Irene’s position, but there were others that disagreed. 

For me I don’t know.  Irene’s point is well taken and fits every single parable except the one with fish and nets.  Here’s that entire parable:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.

When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.

Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous

and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. (47-50)

Clearly there Christ is speaking about a time of judgement, which would be in the afterlife. 

But then the Parable of the Weeds and Wheat actually makes most sense using Irene’s reading.  While yes the harvest is at a judgement time, and therefore in celestial heaven, the sowing occurs prior, and would seemingly only make sense at an earthly time. 

The other parables can go either way.

The one thing that undermines Irene’s point is that according to Wikipedia entry “Kingdom of heaven (Gospel of Matthew)” a certain Robert Foster is quoted as claiming that Matthew uses “kingdom of God” and “God” in several places, so why would he be adverse here?  Here’s quote in Wikipedia:

Robert Foster rejects this view. He finds the standard explanation hard to believe as Matthew uses the word "God" many other times and even uses the phrase "kingdom of God" four times. Foster argues that, to Matthew, the two concepts were different. For Foster, the word "heaven" had an important role in Matthew's theology and links the phrase especially to "Father in heaven," which Matthew frequently uses to refer to God. Foster argues that the "kingdom of God" represents the earthly domain that Jesus' opponents such as Pharisees thought they resided in, while the "kingdom of heaven" represents the truer spiritual domain of Jesus and his disciples.

I tried to follow the link to Foster’s essay but it was not open to the public.  I’m just going to remain neutral on this.  I can see both being correct.  Perhaps Irene can offer an opinion on why Matthew would use “God” elsewhere but not here.  Either way, I want to thank Irene for enlightening me on this. 

Frances’ Reply:

In regard to the term Kingdom of God (please see Irene's comment in Message 30), I want to refer to the remarks of two scholars: Brant Pitre and the Anglican theologian N.T. Wright (who comes to us with excellent credentials, recommended by Bishop Robert Barron).

In The Case for Jesus, Pitre writes: "If there's anything Jesus loves to talk about in the Gospels, it is the coming of the kingdom of God -- or, in Matthew's Gospel -- the kingdom of heaven.

"Now, the question is: What does Jesus mean when he refers to the kingdom of God? And what does he mean when he says that it is 'at hand?' He seems to assume that his Jewish audience will understand what he's talking about. Today, many people think that the kingdom of God is another way of talking about 'life after death.' And while it's certainly true that the kingdom of God is tied to eternal life, there's more going on here. The very fact that Jesus can talk about the kingdom as 'coming' makes clear that he can't simply referring to what happens after a person dies. So what does he mean when he speaks of the time being fulfilled and the coming of the kingdom being 'at hand?'

"In this case the key to unlocking the meaning of Jesus' otherwise mysterious words can be found by going back to the Old Testament." (Brant Pitre, The Case for Jesus, pp. 104-105)

Now, I'm switching to N.T. Wright, quoting from his book The Day the Revolution Began:

"Among the things that Matthew is saying in his Gospel, it seems clear that he is highlighting the point that the kingdom agenda set out in chapter 5 is not simply an outline for a bracing ethic for Jesus's followers to attempt; it is the dramatic outline of Jesus's own vocation. . . The long story of Israel, sketched by Matthew in terms of the genealogy from Abraham to David, through the exile, to the Messiah, has come to its fulfillment. . . He would stand there unresisting as people slapped and mocked him. He would be compelled to carry his burden to Golgotha. He would find his clothes stripped from him and divided up. . .

My Reply:

It just struck me from today's Mass readings (Nov. 24, 2019), that the good thief on the cross tells Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." So clearly he is referring to the kingdom of heaven there. In front of Pilate, Jesus says "my kingdom is not of this world." So where is the kingdom of God? How do those two references to a kingdom that is outside the earth fit with the references from Matthew chapter 13? If the kingdom of God is at hand, where is it?

Frances’ Reply:

Manny, would this help? I’m going to quote from two completely unrelated sources. First, from N.T.Wright:

“For Jesus, the kingdom was coming not in a single move, but in stages, of which his own public career was one, his death and resurrection another, and a still future consummation another. Note that kingdom of heaven is Matthew’s preferred form for the same phrase, following a regular Jewish practice of saying heaven rather than God. It does not refer to a place, but to the fact of God’s becoming king in and through Jesus and his achievement.”

My second reference is from a scholar we don’t ordinarily turn to, but a good one, the late Mircea Eliade who was a distinguished professor of religious studies at the University of Chicago. His History of Religious Ideas was a classic when I was working on my master’s in theology. Here is what Eliade said about the term “kingdom of God”:

“The kingdom of God has already been inaugurated; it is not automatically universally obvious, just as the Messiah, incarnated in the historic personage of Jesus, was not obvious to the majority of Jews — and the divinity of Christ still is not so for nonbelievers. In short, there is here the same dialectical progression that is well known in the history of religions: the epiphany of the sacred in a profane object is at the same time a camouflage: for the sacred is not obvious to all those who approach the object in which it has manifested itself. This time the sacred — the kingdom of God — manifested itself in a human community that was historically circumscribed: the Church.” (Mircea Eliade, A history of Religious Ideas, Volume 2, University of Chicago Press. 1982)…

My Reply:

Yes Frances it really helps. All excellent quotes. Apparently Wright agrees with Irene on Matthew's use of the Kingdom of heaven as really referring to the kingdom of God. However, wouldn't it be more precise to say instead of "the kingdom came" with Christ that the kingdom was started with His coming? At least that's what I take from the first NT Wright quote you provided. It wasn't complete. There's more to come.

Madeleine’s Reply:

My take on the Kingdom is from the prayer Jesus gave us: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven..." We become members of the Kingdom by submitting to God's will. " The first phrase can mean the "Kingdom to come" or, keeping in mind that we just celebrated Christ's kingship once again on this earth, wherever there is a gathering of saintly believers, do we not have a piece of God's kingdom available to us now?

Irene’s Reply:

Manny, I can't not think of the 4 places in Matthew's Gospel where he uses "Kingdom of God", so I can't address your question. Maybe as we read through this Gospel we will discover them. I have not heard of the author cited by your wikapedia article. As to your question about the parables that clearly point to a final judgment, I don't think that the kingdom is either earthly or heavenly, either present or future. I understand it to be both. The Kingdom of God/Heaven is wherever God's will is reigning surpreme. Obviously, that is in Heaven. But, it has also been enaugerated on earth and is unfolding through the Church, through Christ's disciples. A parable about final judgment or about its miraculous growth, are equally appropriate, for all is part of the Kingdom.

My Reply:

Irene, that's absolutely brilliant. But of course. It is both! Why didn't I think of that!

My Reply:

Irene I found two. See chapter 19:23-24. Christ uses both, kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God within two verses. The other place is chapter 21:43.