The kingdom of heaven is like
Many of Jesus' parables begin with this phrase (or the parallel 'kingdom of God is like'). Why? I believe there were two main reasons he made these metaphors.First, the kingdom of heaven is, in many ways, invisible. Humans often have a hard time grasping invisible concepts. These parables help us understand spiritual realities by comparing them with physical realities. The most difficult task for us is to recognize that the invisible is the greater reality of the two realms. Fields of wheat & weeds exist, but they will pass away. The people in the world were designed for eternal dwellings. This world is full of illustration. We simply must open our eyes and ears to its stories.
Second, the kingdom of heaven is so different from the kingdoms of the world that it needed to be defined in new ways. Earthly kings acquire by killing, but Jesus acquired by dying. You can point toward Rome, but the kingdom of God is within you. This kingdom was so different that the word 'kingdom' itself needed to be re-defined. The word had caved in while describing temporal leaders and limited geography. Now it needed to be re-inflated so as to fit the kingdom that, unlike all others, would last forever throughout the cosmos.
6 comments:
good explanation matthew.
i disagree with the kingdom being invisible. anyone who saw its inauguration in the baptism of Jesus, his calling of twelve disciples, and hte subversion of the ROman empire by it would have to say it was anything but invisible. that its members cannot be told by physical characteristics (beyond baptism and eucharist) does not mean that it itself is invisible.
that being said, it does have invisible traits. it is not defined by borders, for example.
also, many of hte kingdom parables have incredible imagery linking back to OT notions of gentiles being included in the covenant. the mustard seed that grows and has birds (reference to Gentiles in Ezekiel) nest it is an example.
peace.
Matt,
I'm interested to read this series. I preached a series on Matt 13 on internship and had a lot of fun dealing with one parable at a time. I think I know what you mean by invisible. God's kingdom is certainly played out on the human physical level, yet it contains a metaphysic that transcends the "natural". What is exciting is that even the hints he gives us about his kingdom probably don't scratch the surface of the splendor of the kingdom.
I would not want to face Jesus' epistemological task of what amounts to something like teaching ants about computers or nanotechnology or something. I suspect they lack the cognitive furniture.
thanks jo
ap,
i don't think we disagree at all. i just chose to emphasize the invisible aspect. maybe spiritual would have been a better word. I agree with the visible aspects u mentioned and covered such with my phrase 'in many ways'. I agree with your points. My emphasis is on the power. Jesus didn't train a militia to fight, He trained His followers to serve. The power wasn't in physica weapons, but in the Holy Spirit and the armor of God.
joe,
it's a cool chapter to do a series on. And i agree that we aren't quite equipped to fully understand the kingdom of heaven. we have to first understand earthly kingdoms, then the current ('in part') kingdom, and THEN we'll experience the fullness of the kingdom.
well don't i feel like the horse's patoot!
haha, nah. I think one of the downsides of blogging is they simply aren't the ideal form for anything thorough. One has to pick and choose his/her emphasis.
It's not surprising since the term 'blog' is a shortened version of 'web-log'. By its very nature, blogging is meant to be lazy :)
This is also, I think, why there are more blogs abandoned than kept up. It's the nature of the beast.
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