The Kingdom of Heaven is Near (but it's not the rapture)!

 In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Two weeks ago we heard in the gospel reading about the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. That momentous and life-defining event in both of their lives when the Spirit of God came upon Jesus, and a voice from heaven declared him to be the “Son of God”. John had been sent to prepare the way for Jesus, and as he baptizes him, appears to be the first to acknowledge the adult Jesus as the Messiah. Indeed, some 30 years or so earlier we are told in Luke’s gospel that even in his mother Elizabeth’s womb, the still to be born John somehow recognised who Jesus was in the womb of the pregnant Mary as he wriggled about with joy.

In today’s gospel reading the first thing we hear is that John has been arrested. This is the very beginning of what we know to be the ministry of Jesus, and it begins with his cousin John, the man who had baptized him not so long ago being arrested. What a very inauspicious start to the public ministry of the one who was meant to be anointed by God! I imagine that Jesus probably was pretty concerned about what had happened to John, but the gospel writer doesn’t fill us in on the details.  Instead he moves straight on to tell us of Jesus moving away from Nazareth to the small village of Capernaum, by the Sea of Galilee, in order according to the writer of Matthew’s gospel, to fulfil the words of the prophet Isaiah.

He begins to proclaim a very similar message to the one preached by John, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. When John said these words they would be seen as preparing people for the arrival of the one who would bring about this “kingdom of heaven”. Spoken by Jesus however, in the light of John’s recognition of him as the Messiah, these words take on a great deal of extra significance. They are no longer the words of a man who was merely laying the ground for what was to come; rather they are now the words of the one who brought about the fulfilment of John’s proclamation. The “kingdom of heaven” in the person of Jesus was indeed very near, and it wasn’t only a reference to some future state of blissful paradise.

 This was a kingdom that was manifest in the very present reality of Jesus’ words and actions. It certainly wasn’t just some wishy-washy abstract motion that looked only at some future reward. It was grounded in the real lives of real people and how they related to one another as well as to God.  He comes across a group of fishermen at work and simply tells them to follow him, and we are told they do so immediately. These fishermen are the first people that we are told of other than John, who responded to the call of Christ and obeyed.

I’m sure that for most of us if we were at work or even just sitting in a cafe somewhere in Brighton and some random person came up to us and just told us to follow them, we would probably at least think about it for a short while before immediately heading off in the opposite direction, wondering why we are attracting the crazy man. Yet, to those first few disciples there must have been something pretty compelling for them to simply down tools and immediately follow Jesus. He relates to them in the way they know best as he tells them that he will make them “fish for people”. He meets with them in the reality of right where they are! This marked the beginning of their journey with Christ as they too became standard-bearers of his message about the “kingdom of heaven”.

What was this “kingdom” if it wasn’t just some future reward only to be attained after living a good and upright life? It was much more than this! We get a glimpse of it at the end of the gospel reading. “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people” (Matt 4:23). In a very real and practical way he displayed the love of God to people in whatever situation they found themselves. The “kingdom of heaven” often challenged the status quo as we see Jesus speak out against the injustice and hypocrisy that was all around him. It was not something that was easily available to those amongst whom Jesus would go on to perform his ministry, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the lepers. For Jesus to walk amongst these people offering his unconditional love and acceptance and claiming to be bringing the “kingdom of heaven” was really something quite radical, and in the eyes of many at that time, made him out to be a dangerous subversive who needed to be eliminated .

  Those early followers of Jesus would eventually learn, and come to understand what it meant to not only to proclaim the “good news”, but also to demonstrate it in their own lives, but for now they simply obeyed his call and followed!

What does all this talk of the kingdom of heaven being near have to do with us today, two thousand years later?  In the same way that it was “near” then it is equally true to say that it is “near” now. In the words, actions and lives of those who even today choose to obey the call of Christ to reach out to those around them. Do we see ourselves as people who show in our attitude towards others what it means to be a follower of Christ? It is in the simple action of keeping an eye out for a neighbour or helping them to get the groceries in. It is in standing alongside those in our own community (and beyond) who are on the margins and struggle to cope.

I would suggest that much of the work of the community centre downstairs demonstrates in a very practical way what it means to say that the “kingdom of heaven is near”. The many groups that meet there cater to a huge diversity of people’s needs within our own community. There is no overt evangelism, no pushing religion down people’s throats. Rather it is simply ordinary people like you and me making themselves available to others at their point of need.

I am reminded of the words of Teresa of Avila who wrote, “Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on the world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.” We are so often reminded that the church is the body of Christ, his visible presence here on earth. When we allow ourselves to be vessels for taking something of the “kingdom of heaven” to others we enter in a very real way what it means to be the hands, feet, and yes.....the body of Christ.  It is in reaching out to others with no strings, no pre-conditions and often beyond our own comfort zone that we show them Jesus, and we get a glimpse of just how near the “kingdom of heaven” is, even here in our own community.

AMEN