On the Way to Wonder

Luke 17: 20-37

         Jesus is headed to Jerusalem for Passover but we, who can look through the binoculars of history. know he is headed to crucifixion.  His death will open the relationship with God for those who believe.  Somehow the kingdom of heaven is beginning to be established on earth but we and theologians have noogled this for centuries.  The Pharisees ask Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come.”  Perhaps it is something like trying to figure out if the person you are dating loves you and when, when will there be a proposal.  Perhaps it is the a “magical” moment but for many it is a growing realization. Jesus answers the Pharisees with the same generic answer.

         The kingdom is relational, not geographically defined like the United States.  It starts in our hearts with faith.  It is like lightning, shooting through the nights of our lives with moments of inspiration and enlightening.  Not all people are going to understand or believe even as the people at Noah’s time thought he was crazy.  Others like Lot’s wife will start embracing but then look back at the way of life left behind and become frozen.  It is not material.  Oh my, the answer to the question might be more confusing than clarifying. 

         Corrie Ten Boom tells this story in response to the question, “When?” She asks when a father gives his child the ticket for the train. The answer is, when the child needs it.  When we need to know, God will reveal to us.  Faith involves trust.  I suppose that is why reading the gospels sheds light on the character of our God who heals, who reaches out to us, who speaks words of wisdom and who was loyal to his followers, even to the point of death.  The kingdom of God is not forced on us but is something we embrace and it becomes more and more real as we grow in grace and faith.

         Some of our most precious pieces of our life are concepts that feel like something so hard to grasp – like lightning, not materially defined, and waiting to be fully expressed.   We use adjectives to describe concepts like love, freedom or even kingdom.  Today let’s try to write three adjectives to describe these concepts that are hard to grasp.

         Love is _________, ______________________ ,____________,

         Trust is,

         Fear is

         Kingdom of God is

Blessings.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 30th, 2022 at 6:39 am and is filed under Spiritual Vitamins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.