The Kingdom of God is Among You

In today’s gospel the Pharisees are asking Jesus when the Kingdom of God will come. Once again we are reminded that it will not be known. They will hear others say, “Look, there he is,” but Jesus tells them not to go off looking for him because it will be obvious when he comes. Rather than looking for the coming of God, Jesus tells them that “the Kingdom of God is among you.”

Christ was there among them yet they were so focused on knowing when something was going to occur in the future that they couldn’t see the gift of Him before them. Sometimes we get so focused on something that may happen in the future that we miss all the joy around us. A friend of ours is so worried about the government crashing; it is to the point of being paranoid. He had a bomb shelter built on his property and has stocked it with food, water, guns and whatever else he thinks he will need. He talks about this all the time and is so focused on the negative that he doesn’t enjoy life. He is very intelligent and owns his own company but this obsession consumes much of his life, it is very sad. I want to tell him that it is much more likely that he will die in a car accident or have a fatal heart attack than dealing with mass destruction! And if that occurs, do you really want to be the only ones around to survive that? Do you want to climb out of your bomb shelter to utter destruction; no one surviving but those you allowed in your shelter? I certainly wouldn’t want that.

We do need to be prepared because we don’t know when our final moment here on earth will be. But the Kingdom of God is among us right now. We need to realize that and open our eyes to all of the beauty around us that God has created. As his beloved sons and daughters we are part of his kingdom and need to show this to others. We are his Church, we are united with Christ and when we live this out; others are drawn to that and want it for themselves. As we heard in yesterday’s gospel, we are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in us. (1 Corinthians 3:16) If we live this each and every day then we don’t need to fear the coming of the Lord.