08.14.07

the kingdom prayer II

Posted in ekklesia, formation, gospel, justice, leadership, mission, prayer at 7:00 am by len

The kingdom of God is creation healed.

I don’t recall where I read or heard that, but it remains a powerful summary of kingdom theology.

It’s too easy to see kingdom theology, like other pieces of Second Testament teaching, somehow divorced from the grand flow of the story. Kingdom theology is profoundly anchored in the mighty acts of God on behalf of His people: in the stories, prayers and prophecies of the First Testament. The key words are already familiar and known to us: covenant, land, peace (shalom), creation, people of God, justice, deliverance, sacrifice, atonement.

When we pray “Your kingdom come,” we are asking for God’s rule. He rules in heaven; we ask to see that rule manifest itself in our earthly reality. What does that look like? It looks like food for the hungry, healing for the sick, justice for the oppressed. It looks like fair wages for workers, mercy and care for widows and orphans, truth telling in the media. These things are all good news! It’s not about “church growth,” it’s about the love and power of God transforming human communities.

We know through the parables of Jesus that God’s kingdom is both present, and yet to come. Not everyone we pray for is healed. Not every cause we undertake will see victory. We live in between the times, when the kingdom is at work like leaven in a lump, or like a seed planted in soil. We can observe its effects, and sometimes they are powerful, but often not fully developed.

There has been a lot of confusion over the years between the kingdom and the ekklesia. Jesus message was the gospel of the kingdom. He didn’t come preaching the church. Yet the two are intimately related. In the parable that describes the divine reign the community of the king are children of His reign. The ekklesia is the offspring of His rule (Mtt.13), its fruit, both spawned by the rule of God and directed toward it. The ekklesia is a sign and a foretaste of God’s kingdom; at the same time, she is its agent and instrument.

It’s interesting that the fulfillment of this prayer would mean blessing for all, whether they acknowledge God’s rule or not. But partial fulfillment would not mean a political change. The expectation of Jesus disciples, like the popular expectation of the day, was for the end of Roman oppression. But this isn’t what happens at Jesus ascension. Instead, for the sake of God’s mission, we have to embrace a paradox. Newbiggin comments,

“The meaning of this “overlap of the ages” in which we live, the time between the coming of Christ and His coming again, is that it is the time given for the witness of the apostolic Church to the ends of the earth. The end of all things, which has been revealed in Christ, is—so to say—held back until witness has been borne to the whole world concerning the judgment and salvation revealed in Christ. The implication of a true eschatological perspective will be missionary obedience, and the eschatology which does not issue in such obedience is a false eschatology.”

The kingdom that Jesus proclaims has a hidden and increasing effect, like leaven in a lump. Like salt, it flavors everything it touches, but it does not automatically transform human systems. The world is real, it offers “resistance to love,” as Annie Dillard put it. Sin and the structures of sin remain intact in the world, and we have a real enemy who opposes us until Jesus return.

In this world direct assault tends to perpetuate injustice. As a result, the Kingdom of God works in a way that seems foolish to the wise: where we expect power, the kingdom path often leads through weakness. The Son of God dies the death of a criminal, and wins a great victory. Between the times God’s kingdom rule is expressed in weakness and humility.

Permalink