Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” John 3:5
Thought for the Day: The Real Jesus and the Kingdom of God
Without the real Jesus of Nazareth, the Jesus we find in the Bible, we are at the mercy of anybody who tells us that this or that is Jesus. Personally, I am interested in the Jesus of the gospels who never took political correctness 101 and challenged the religious elites of his day with pointed parables and intentional healings on the Sabbath. The number of people who wanted to kill him is staggering. Jesus was in people’s faces. His teachings pierced their souls, their wallets, and their security. When people left their working lives to go up a hillside to hear Jesus teach, they were not going to hear someone tell them to be nice to each other, that if they didn’t behave they would make their God very sad. They were not going to hear 10 tips to help keep the 10 Commandments. They were not going to hear there was a rosy future waiting for them in heaven. They weren’t going to hear that after all these centuries God had finally decided to forgive them of their sins. They were not going to hear Jesus say that God had declared mankind good. They were not going to hear that humanity had been reconciled to God.
First-century Jews knew they ought to be nice to each other. In regard to death, they believed that God would look after them. There is little evidence that these Jews were walking around worried about getting their sins forgiven. They had the Temple. They had their sacrifices. If Jesus were all that most Western preachers say he is Sunday after Sunday, he would have been the biggest yawn-maker ever. It is no wonder people are leaving the mainline denominations in search of a God who is real and not some cartoon Christ character.
What Jesus said and did was so revolutionary that it woke people up. It was so dramatic that Jesus seems to have adopted a deliberate policy of keeping to the villages, staying out of the larger towns in Galilee, and moving on quickly to keep from being killed and/or attracting too large of a following. When his group went down to Jerusalem for a festival, he stayed behind and traveled down alone. When Jesus did arrive with his gang into Jerusalem, it was with a huge outpouring of supposed followers who quickly turned on him. Why? Why did they so quickly turn on him?
When Jesus announced the Kingdom of God was upon the people, he was subverting what the people thought the kingdom would be. Jesus used parables to describe how the kingdom would be different from what people were expecting—a kingdom fulfilled in him and a kingdom incorporating the Gentiles. Think of the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Vineyard Tenants, and especially in Matthew’s Gospel, a lot of parables preached after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In a sense, his announcement of the Kingdom would be like announcing in a Moslem country that one was fulfilling the will of Allah—while apparently vilifying the Prophet Muhammad and burning a copy of the Koran. Jesus angered people of privilege, position, and power.
As the coming King of Israel, Jesus not only taught about celebrations in his parables, but also celebrated himself, but with all the wrong people—tax collectors, prostitutes, and uneducated Galileans. The wrong people were attracted to him because he had something different to offer than they had seen before. They were attracted to him. Jesus was one who could heal, restore, and forgive. Jesus was undermining all that the Pharisees were trying to do. Jesus was undermining the revolutionaries as well. He was using their language but meaning something totally different. Even Jesus’ closest followers, who had decided that he was indeed the Messiah, didn’t quite understand all that he was trying to achieve. Jesus implied that the Kingdom was being redefined around himself, that God was acting and Israel was moving to a crucial moment. If Israel didn’t watch out, she would soon be swept away and fall to her doom. Israel had been called to be the light of the world, but the light had turned inward. Israel was headed toward judgment. Therefore Jesus’ first words in Mark are: The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! Jesus was a revolutionary calling people into a new revolution of God.
Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:
Fridays and Saturdays are days to focus on self-denial and fasting. These disciplines, while often practiced on our own, can also help us build fellowship. Perhaps you can gather a group of friends together either during lunch one of these days or in the evening to pray together. Begin with a time of confession, using the prayer below, and then take turns praying for each other. Imagine a church community when on a Sunday after a service people do not rush out the door but stay and pray with friends and others who want prayer. Use this time to help build a discipline of praying with others, starting with just one other person if that works best for you.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father: We have sinned against you, through our own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, and in what we have left undone. For the sake of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us all our offenses; and grant that we may serve you in newness of life, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Spend further time in prayer and worship before studying the Gospel of John below.
Study: John 6:1-21, Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand and Walks on Water
1After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.4Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" 10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost." 13So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!"
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
16When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
Reflection Questions:
1) What do you think Jesus’ purpose was in feeding the five thousand? I once heard a sermon on this passage. The preacher’s conclusion was that Jesus taught the people how to share their food—in other words, there was no miracle but people who had previously hidden their food brought it out and shared with others. Why does this interpretation violate the meaning of the passage?
2) God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing. Jesus creates food to feed five thousand out of nothing and treats the Sea of Galilee as if it is a concrete sidewalk. Do you see how these two miracles point to Jesus as the God of creation?
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