SCRIPTURE READINGS TODAY, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013, ARE FROM: Romans 8:18-25; Psalm 126:1b-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6; Luke 13:18-21 Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.” Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” (Luke 13:18-21) REFLECTION ON THE KING I remember a priest who taught Modern History some forty years ago saying that the great power of the future would be China. Many now think that China and India will emerge as the superpowers later this century. When that priest made his observation the two superpowers of the time were the United States and the Soviet Union. Fr Ted TylerThe world power of our day is the United States, but of course it has its limitations and undoubtedly at some point in the future it will wane. In the nineteenth century, in the main it was Britain held the stage. Prior to that, this or that power held sway. Empires and kingdoms rise and fall like the birth, the growth, the days of strength and then the passing away of each living thing. Where is the Roman Empire now, let alone the dominion of Alexander? There is one grand exception to this pattern of eventual decline into oblivion. It is the Ruler and the Kingdom predicted in the Old Testament and announced and established in the New. Our Lord came announcing the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. It was near. Nay, he said, it had arrived. If by the finger of God I cast out demons, he said, know that the kingdom of God is among you. His Kingdom was altogether different from the kingdoms of this world. Pilate asked our Lord is he were a king because he stood before him charged with claiming to be a king – and against Caesar. Our Lord replied to the representative of the empire of Rome that yes, he was a king, but that his kingdom was not of this world. What he had come into this world for was to bear witness to the truth — and it was because he had borne witness to the truth (about himself) that he was now in the dock, with Pilate about to sentence him. Christ’s words indicate that his Kingdom consists in the first instance of his own Person and then of those who become one with him and fully accept his revelation. God’s plan for man is that he become a citizen of this Kingdom and that in Christ every heavenly blessing be gained and enjoyed. In our Gospel passage today our Lord describes certain features of the Kingdom of God. “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.” The dominion and lordship of God as present in the Person and work of Christ looks small and unprepossessing but it will grow, become vast and be the home and refuge of the peoples. It is mankind’s true home and this will become evident in the fullness of time. Moreover, it will affect the world and gradually transform it. “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened” (Luke 13:18‑21). So this world’s true future is to be found in the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is the true dominion of the present and it is certainly the dominion of the future, a future that will never end. Other kingdoms come and go, they rise and they fall and we see evidence of this even in our own day. But there is a Kingdom present in the world right now which will never end. It will grow and be the future home of the peoples and will transform this mortal world into an eternal and glorious one. Christ is the heart and the centre of this Kingdom and our calling is to take our stand with him and, together with him, to bear witness to his truth. So then, in our participation in the political and economic and social life of this world let us remember this, that we are by our faith and our baptism members, first and foremost, of the Kingdom of God now established in the world by the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Let us understand that the best hope of the regimes of this world is that the Regime of God in Christ be implanted in them to be the yeast that leavens the entire dough. God is present among us in Christ, and the world’s hope lies in him. Every disciple of Christ, immersed in the work of the world, has within him and ever by his side the eternal King whom he is called to serve moment by moment and day by day. That King is Christ. By serving him in his everyday life the Christian serves in the best way possible the true interests of the temporal kingdom which happens to hold the stage at the time. Let us then take our stand with Christ and understand well that Christ is the hope of the world and is its salvation. (E.J.Tyler)
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 13:48:19 +0000
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