Sunday,
April 19, 1998
Second Sunday of
Easter
Jim Todhunter
"The Church: The Not Quite Kingdom of God"
Acts 5:27-32 Rev. 1:4-8 John 20:19-23
On a Sunday on which we welcome people into the Body of Christ - both through the sacrament of baptism and through the receiving of baptized adults, it is important to reflect for a moment on what the church really is. The Church is of course many things: a fellowship and support community for one another, a service organization providing opportunities to help others, a place of learning and nurture of our young and all ages, a place to worship God and remind ourselves of the transcendent in our lives. The Church is all this and more. But what these scriptures dramatically show us is that the Church of Jesus Christ a new kingdom, a dominion where God is sovereign.
What does this mean? First of all, it means that the ultimate source of authority for us is not to be found in this world. The sole source of authority is God. The High Priest says "I ordered you to stop preaching" and Peter replies, "You don't give the orders. God does." Every religion, by definition, is a potential threat to the people who run things. How we make our way in this world, while yet seeing God as our sovereign, is not always easy. It requires continual discernment. In Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia it seems pretty clear that the choice between allegiance to God and to the state was stark and unavoidable. But what about life in a functioning democracy with a rule of law and a history of government grounded in the sovereignty of the people, and checks and balances? When Jesus was asked to whom taxes must be paid, Caesar or God, his reply ("Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's") shows us that the government may be entitled to allegiance if what it is doing is right. This requires prayerful reflection. And the people who run things are not Just governments. With all of these recent bank mergers, do you wonder what the world will be like when a half dozen huge corporations dominate the global market and financial services? How many Jobs will be created by these mergers? Will you and I get better and more personal service at the local branch of Mega- Bank 1? Paul spoke of principalities and powers wielding great influence and demanding their allegiance. Nevertheless, to affirm that we obey God and not human authority, is to say that we inhabit a spiritual zone in which our orientation is always centered in God, and every other authority must have its legitimacy be Judged in light of God's authority.
Secondly, the Church is seen as that spiritual zone where God's activity, God's reign, has established itself in this world. We are God's beachhead. The Church is God's colony, God's outpost in a world struggling the forces of death and destruction. The New Testament is always talking about how the Kingdom of God is "at hand," "It is growing secretly, like a seed," "It is breaking in upon us," and so forth. In other words it is a dynamic process through which the world, which is controlled by the powers of darkness, is being infiltrated with justice and righteousness. The reign of God is one of shalom, that is compassion and peace and justice. Few lamented the death last week of Pol Pot, the architect of genocide in Cambodia. His reign was a crusade to impose a vision on the world, a reign that depended on crushing life. God's reign is the opposite. And as Christians we declare that it is already happening. Why is this happening? It is happening because God is doing it. God is bringing a reign of justice and peace into our broken world. And it is happening even now, for those who have eyes to see. Jesus said, "Look around you. The blind see, the crippled are healed, the lame walk, the prisons are opened. It is happening."
What is our role in this? Even as God has initiated it and provides the power through grace, we ourselves are invited, enlisted, empowered to do the work. Jesus said "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Everything that I do, you shall do." We are called to be God's agents, God's outreach, God's vanguard. Jesus' ministry was always one of equipping others. Jesus frequently reminds his followers that there is nothing he does that they cannot do as well. His goal was not to be remembered as a wonderful miracle worker and charismatic person; his goal was to send others forth in the name of God - to heal, to teach, to preach, to simply tell the truth. God's Kingdom is spread slowly, almost invisibly, by simple acts of generosity and kindness. Twenty or so people participated in Christmas in April yesterday. This group swarmed into and over a house badly in need of just about everything. They began to create a zone of order and cleanliness and repair, steps toward a functioning household. Each window washed, each nail hammered, served to inch by inch extend the reign of God in this world. That is how it is done.
So first of all the church is that community that looks to God as the source of all authority. Second, the church is a community where God's reign is actually experienced and expanded, the ever-enlarging circle of God's rule of love and justice. In that task each of us has a role, a unique role in the Body of Christ that Paul talks about.
And finally, it is important to remember that we are in the midst of a process that is unfolding. The earthly church lives with one foot in this world and one foot in eternity. We believe that the Kingdom of God is breaking forth among us here. But we are also aware that it is not fully realized yet. We are a community of "already" and "not yet." We are the "Not Quite Kingdom of God." We have God's treasures in earthly vessels. What does this mean? It means that the Kingdom of God grows within us as well as around us. It means that, as I said a few weeks ago, our faith must be a humble one, and we must resist the hard- heartedness of those who are sure they have all the answers. Christianity is a cause, in a sense, a movement which asks our allegiance. But it is a cause that itself comes under judgment. Ends and means must always in congruence. Christianity must be a movement, led by the Holy Spirit, but it can never be a crusade, at least one characterized by the arrogant certainty of the Truth with a capital "T".
Our self-understanding must take on the character of Jesus' self-understanding, one who though he was one with God, humbled himself, taking on the role of the servant. The early Christian community spread because of the story they told, that they were witnesses, as Peter said, that God exalted Jesus as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins. They told the story. But at the same time, they showed how God's reign really works. Through deeds of mercy and love and service, and through the quality of love they showed one another in community. "See how they love one another," said the world of them. Let us pray that the world may say that of us today. AMEN.
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