The Kingdom of God: Taking The Center Of Christ
Jesus taught constantly about "the
This concept was at the center of his teaching and life. It should also form a central place in your own Catholic faith.
This article will give you a solid understanding of this concept.
At the center of Christ's preaching
St. Mark announces to us the beginning of the public life of our Lord in these words: "And after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the
St. Matthew says somewhat more briefly: "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say: 'Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Mt 4:17).
St. Matthew sums up the whole of our Lord's teaching in the words: "preaching the gospel of the kingdom" (Mt 4:23), and our Lord himself, according to St. Luke, describes this as the object of his mission: "To other cities also I must preach the
The good news of the
The Gospels use the terms "kingdom of God" and "kingdom of heaven" to refer to this kingdom.
A main concept in the Old Testament
Christ's own references to the
Although the specific term "
(The free eBook Understanding the Kingdom of God provides a lot of detail about the Old Testament understanding of this concept.)
At the time of Jesus, the Jewish people had a deep conviction about the
The Old Testament repeatedly emphasized that it was to be regarded and expected as a divine, everlasting, universal, and spiritual kingdom.
- Divine in that it would be established by & ruled by God.
- Everlasting because both God's reign and this kingdom itself would have no end.
- Universal because although it starts with the chosen people of
- Spiritual in that it is more than an earthly kingdom: it is in essence a heavenly kingdom even though it is begun on earth.
Ancient Israelites distort the kingdom
But the ancient Jews, desiring earthly things, transformed these characteristics of the
By the time of Jesus, the Jewish people had come to expect a Messiah who would usher in an earthly kingdom, rule over all people through the
And of course, in the observance of this law they emphasized more and more following the letter of the law and the external, ceremonial directions of the time.
The Israelites had lost the special significance of the spiritual nature of the
Many passages of the Gospel also give clear evidence that a similar distorted concept of the
And that kind of distortion is specifically why Jesus spent so much time teaching about the true nature of the
Christ's teaching about the kingdom of God
Our Lord addressed his teachings on the
Jesus came before his people as the Messiah predicted by the prophets. He preached and announced the kingdom as it was known by the truemeaning of the prophets.
Thus in the first place this kingdom is the realization of God's sovereignty over man. For this purpose, the fulfillment of the will of God is above all things necessary: "Not every one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that does the will of My Father who is in heaven" (Mt 7:21).
Second, this kingdom isn't simply God's reign over individual people. It was to be established in a true and real kingdom, a gathering togetherof a religious community which would have as its head the only begotten Son of God, and which shall be governed according to the constitution which he has given and in accordance with his laws. This is the kingdom of the Messiah as foretold by the prophets.
The seed & initial gathering of this kingdom is the Church, founded by Christ to preach the gospel of Christ and bring Christ's own means of salvation to the world through the sacraments.
Third, the
Finally, this triumphant final time of the kingdom will be preceded by the preparatory stage of the time of conflict in the
The
While our Lord always refers to this one single
The parables teach about the kingdom
Jesus wished to use parables to illustrate his doctrine about the
In these parables we can see three principal points of view:
- The development of the kingdom, its nature, and its working;
- The members of the kingdom of heaven and their obligations;
- Christ the Head of the
Jesus addresses these lessons first of all to his disciples, but also (at least partly) to the Jewish people as a whole to teach them the true character of the kingdom of the Messiah.
(Our free eBook Understanding the Kingdom of God provides more detail about these categories, and also lists the parables that correspond to each category.)
The Kingdom = salvation
Admittedly, the term "
Pope John Paul II neatly summarizes the concept of the kingdom of God:
In a word, the
(Redemptoris Missio, #15)