“John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea
and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” Matthew 3:1-2
“The kingdom of heaven is at hand: ‘heaven’ (lit., ‘the heavens’) is a substitute for the name ‘God’ that was avoided by devout Jews of the time out of reverence. The expression ‘the kingdom of heaven’ occurs only in the gospel of Matthew. It means the effective rule of God over his people.
“In its fullness it (the Kingdom of God) includes not only human allegiance to God’s word, but the triumph of God over physical evils, supremely over death. In the expectation found in Jewish apocalyptic1, the kingdom was to be ushered in by a judgment in which sinners would be condemned and perish, an expectation shared by the Baptist. This was modified in Christian understanding where the kingdom was seen as being established in stages, culminating with the parousia of Jesus.”
~ Notes on Matthew 3:2, New American Bible Revised Edition
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND
In the light of this, ponder this from last week’s meditation. If this doesn’t “hit” you right away, read it slowly, making sure you give yourself time to let the meaning of the phrases sink into your innermost being.
We see the Incarnation as God entering into the world in the form of a human being, and that it truly is. But focusing only on this aspect of the Incarnation may be limiting our perception of the Triune God’s permeating presence in the world. Maybe God’s message in the Incarnation is also that “our” world is bigger than we think. Could not a purpose of the Incarnate Jesus’ earthly existence, a life lived in concert with the Father and the Spirit, be this: to help us realize that, even though we and our world cannot contain God, God and God’s “universe” are permeating our world and us as much as or more than we are? Perhaps we humans were (are?) missing this. Perhaps Jesus came to encourage us to change our perception of reality to one where we perceive our Triune God truly present in this world now. Can I perceive this?
- Jewish apocalyptic – the traditional Jewish apocalyptic is the break that occurs between the present evil age and the coming golden kingdom.
