The Kingdom

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent A-1

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 119 (118): 151-152 You, O Lord, are close, and all your ways are truth. From of old I have known of your decrees, for you are eternal.

Collect Unworthy servants that we are, O Lord, grieved by the guilt of our deeds, we pray that you may gladden us by the saving advent of your Only begotten Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Isaiah 54:1-10; Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13; Luke 7:24-30

After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' I tell you, among those born of women there is no-one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged God's plan by accepting baptism from John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptised by John.) (Luke 7:24-30)

The Kingdom While Greek culture in classical times was without peer, Roman law and administration completely eclipsed its Greek counterpart. The Roman Empire stood as a great political monolith for centuries and it was within this setting that the Son of God became man and died to take away the sins of the world. A central institution of the Roman world was its citizenship. The Roman citizen had a prized possession: his formal citizenship, giving him numerous rights. Some of these rights were the right to sue in the courts and the right to be sued; the right to appear before a proper court and to defend oneself; the right to appeal; the right not to be tortured; the right not to be crucified. While Simon Peter was crucified, Paul was beheaded. At a critical point in his missionary career when he was about to be scourged in order to force him to reveal the reason for the opposition against him, Paul had recourse to his Roman citizenship. I am a Roman, and I have not been condemned by proper trial, he announced (Acts 22:25). The alarmed centurion warned his superior, who hastened to the imprisoned Paul to verify this. He stated that he himself gained his citizenship only at a great price — presumably it was a costly bribe. But I, Paul replied, was born with citizenship. With that the officers retreated in consternation, aware they had acted illegally in securing him. The point to be noticed here is the superior status of the Roman citizen. It had nothing to do with his own inner worth or personal qualities. It was purely and simply a factor of his citizenry status. He was a citizen of the Empire by acquisition or by birth. The all-holy and incomparable Jesus of Nazareth was not a Roman citizen, and was not tried according to proper law and processes. He was simply handed over to the will of the mob for crucifixion because Pilate feared reports going to Rome. Moreover, he was crucified, which Paul would never have been. Let this simple fact of Roman citizenship illustrate a comparison our Lord makes in our Gospel today. It is the comparison between great personal worth and being a citizen of God’s Kingdom.

In our scene today (Luke 7:24‑30), John’s disciples had come to Jesus on behalf of their holy master to ask if he indeed was the Messiah. Christ gave them his answer and they left. Then our Lord spoke of John. He was a true saint, our Lord said, a very great saint. “A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women there is no‑one greater than John.” Our Lord with his forceful images was emphasising the great personal qualities of John the Baptist. But — and this is the important point of the passage — there is a higher regime than that of which he was part. He was not a citizen of the Kingdom. The Kingdom was near, and had arrived in him, Jesus. John’s qualities were scarcely without peer, but he did not at that point have the citizenship, because the citizenship had not yet been offered. The Kingdom was very near, and in the event it was shown to be present in Jesus himself. Jesus himself is the King, and those who are in union with him by faith and baptism would have the citizenship. Such a one is greater than John the Baptist: “ the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Our Lord is not saying that such a one has greater sanctity or personal qualities, but he is greater — just as, we might say, the Roman citizen was greater than the one without the citizenship. In other words, our Lord is holding aloft the precious status of the Kingdom. He is saying that nothing compares with being in this Kingdom. It is the prize to be sought and it brings gifts and favours beyond compare. All this is to say that while the religion revealed by God to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to Moses, David and the prophets right up to John was wonderful, a great leap forward was made in the coming of Jesus Christ. The Gospel, though an integral part of the progressive revelation of God to that point, appeared with a grandeur and a height far above all that had preceded it. No prophet or king or priest could compare with Jesus Christ, and the one who is blessed by being in him has the blessing beyond all blessings.

A person may be ordinary in talents, ordinary in circumstances, ordinary in achievements, ordinary in every visible way. But if he is a member of Jesus Christ, he has an inestimable pearl which gives to his life a value nothing else can offer. In effect, our Lord is saying that he himself is the greatest thing the world has ever seen or known. To come to know him, to love and serve him, is to be a true and active citizen of the Kingdom of heaven. This citizenship of God’s Kingdom is the prize beyond compare. Let us then make union with and service of Jesus, the one necessary thing in life, never to be squandered.

(E.J.Tyler)

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