If we can recall the actual content of Jesus’s gospel, the good news he proclaimed, it’s all about the kingdom of God. If someone who is not from the Christian tradition asks us, “What’s this gospel your religion is talking about?” I would like us to be well prepared to respond to this fundamental question. Please don’t say, “If you don’t believe in Jesus, you’re not going to hell.” which I doubt anyone of you will ever. If we encounter a brilliant and ethically superior atheist, s/he might ask us, “Since you believe in Jesus, will you be in heaven?” “Yes,” we would respond, then I’m afraid if s/he would say, “Then I’d rather want to be in hell!” ;)
Now, the answer to this question according to the gospel accounts, especially that of St. Matthew, is this: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 3:2 & 4:17) It’s not so dogmatic or threatening but rather informative and urgent. Maybe it’s just me but I can imagine Jesus urging us, “My friends, hurry up! It’s near! It’s near! Let’s get on it right now!” In this context, to repent is neither to feel guilty of what we have done nor to feel ashamed of who we are. This type of understanding repentance is toxic and harmful which does nothing to transform us. What Jesus means by repentance is to turn around, to change our entire perspective on everything with a sense of urgency. You probably remember St. Francis of Assisi’s way of looking at the world upside down. To have this upside-down perspective is to repent. So, for anyone to see the kingdom of heaven, one needs to repent. One must radically change the way one looks at things, people, the world, self, and God. In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus lays out six parables. At first, it looks like there are five parables, but he gives another parable in the last verse 52. All these parables are about the kingdom of heaven. It’s simply a riddle that doesn’t make sense if we do not change the way we think of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus here doesn’t mean the kingdom of heaven as a place where we go after we die, which I’ve repeatedly mentioned in all my homilies that discuss this subject matter of the kingdom of heaven. Again, I assure you it’s not about the afterlife. Jesus isn’t so interested in it at all. All that matters to us is right now and right here on earth. If I may quote John Lewis’ famous saying, “If not now, then when? If not us, then who?” And I’ll add, “If not here, then where?” The kingdom of heaven according to Jesus is here and now among us and within us. Unless we repent, the kingdom of heaven is just near to us. There’s a difference between the kingdom within and among us and the kingdom near to us. In the latter case, we’re really not in it. We see it but we’re not quite there just yet unless we are radically transformed. To clarify this kingdom talk, some have criticized its term being too imperialistic or patriarchal. This is a valid point. The kingdom language may have intrigued colonialism. The kingdom has never been talked about as the “queen”dom. Some scholars suggest the term “kin”dom in which all of us are sisters and brothers in Christ. I personally prefer the “eternal presence of God” or “God’s eternal oneness with humanity.” But for the sake of convenience and familiarity, I’ll simply use the traditional expression, the kingdom. There’s a common thread in all these six parables of the kingdom of heaven that it is hidden. It’s not easily found or seen. What it tells us is that the nature of this kingdom Jesus talks about is experiential. The kingdom of heaven is not something to be thought of or discussed or analyzed intellectually but first and foremost to be experienced in us. What then is to be experienced? It’s the very presence of God’s oneness with us. That is the kingdom of heaven. This past Sunday during our zoom meeting, I briefly talked about the experience of being one with what we do. When we enjoy the moment of dancing so much to the point we lose ourselves, we become the dance itself. There’s no distinction. There’s this oneness between the dancer and dancing. This oneness becomes the dance itself. The kingdom of heaven as God’s presence in us is this oneness between God and us. The presence of God in its very nature is beyond time and space, death and life. There has never been a time when God wasn’t present. The problem is our spiritual ignorance that we are not aware of God’s presence. In this sense, the kingdom of heaven, the presence of God is like a tiny mustard seed, yeast mixed in flour, a treasure hidden in a field, one pearl of great value, a net that was thrown into the sea but was not yet pulled out of the sea, the master of a household who hasn’t yet brought out of his treasure what is new and what is old. Until we notice it, we simply pass by. Until we are aware of it, we do not know it exists. Until we experience it, we don’t sense God’s presence in us and others. Where in your daily life do you experience the presence of God? This presence of God is not something abstract but experiential, real, and concrete. It’s too big of a matter that we cannot just let theologians or clergy talk about it all the time. This language of God’s presence should be our own, and it has to come from our own experience with God in us. Let me give you some examples when you might have experienced God’s presence yet would not have yet thought of it as it is. When our minds are calm, that is, when our minds are not busy with thoughts and feelings, we experience a sense of peace, calmness, and serenity. Why on earth should we feel that, unless we’re in the presence of God? What I mean by the cessation of thoughts and feelings is when our mind is focused on one thing (e.g. dancing) or when our mind literally stops its activities. When all the obstacles that the monkey mind creates are cleared, we see God’s presence that has never been absent and has been there all the time in our lives. As we gaze upon God’s presence, we’re already embraced in God, becoming one with God and realizing we’ve been embraced in God’s love ever since we were born. Our prayer life must involve this experience of God’s presence. In this divine presence, we experience what we received in our baptism. We’re constantly purified and sanctified. In a way, we’re deified or divinized solely due to the presence of God in which we’re one with Godhead. (This aspect of God’s work in the sacraments is described as “efficacious.”) Thus, we can confess, “Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being.” This life that is aware and conscious of the kingdom of heaven, of God’s presence, and of God’s oneness with us transform all the faculties of our minds. We’re to think, feel, and act differently according to the very presence of God in us and others. Once we see God in us, we see God in others even if they are not aware of it. We are given the eyes that can see the best of each person even if that person is known to be unlikeable. Jesus had the eyes of God’s unconditional love. Our world now needs those with the eyes of love more than ever. As St. Teresa of Avila famously said, “Yours are the eyes through which Jesus looks compassion on this world.” Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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