The Kingdom of God

In the Gospel of the day, Jesus begins his public ministry proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is near at hand...

Mk 1:14-20
After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.


They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat

along with the hired men and followed him.


If I am not mistaken, there is a profound connection between Jesus' experience at his baptism, where he is claimed by the Father as the beloved son, and the meaning of what he calls the Kingdom of God. Imagine the way you feel when you are told that you are loved by someone for whom you have deep regard, respect, and affection. There is a sense of feeling like all is right with the world, that you want to live worthily and be generous in response to that love-- not only in the relationship with that one person, but with everyone. Isn't there a sense when we are in touch with that kind of love that everything else in our lives becomes relative, so that our lives are no longer driven so much by our desire for material security, success, or prestige, but rather, we desire to live in the service of that love.

Perhaps I am pushing this a bit and may sound overly idealistic, however, I hope that when you take deep stock of the importance of the love relationships in your life, and the impact that loves makes on you, that you know what I am talking about. I believe that for Jesus, the experience of his Father's love is all this and more, and that he wants to invite all of us to experience the same love in a direct manner.

This is where the call to repentance comes in...because so long as we live our lives in a pursuit of anything else, we will miss the entrance to the Kingdom that lies before us. We need to let go of the attachments that we base our sense of identity and value upon, and rediscover the true identity of Christ within ourselves-- as God's beloveds.