“…The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15)
(Year B: First Sunday of Lent, 21 February, 2021)
Trials can bring out the best and the worst
in people. Alone with the ‘wild beasts’
in a lonely desert place, Jesus the child of the earth or the Son of Man was
confronted with the rawness of nature. But, he was confronted, as a full human
being with the realities of hunger, thirst, danger and temptation. He went into a place that we, all of us, will
have to face sooner or later as our bodies wear out and our time beckons. Some
are fortunate to avoid much sickness and material poverty in the course of a
long life; others are less fortunate.
Lent gives us a time and an opportunity to
reflect and re-focus our lives. In a
strange way, the Great Tribulation that we are, each, passing through as a
result of covid and the necessary restrictions arising from this dreadful global
and local virus presents an opportunity to read, pray and connect with others
in new ways. We may still be juggling
many things. Staying still and focussed
even with the ‘wild beasts’ of negative people, situations and inner feelings not
to mention the beast itself of covid is an art. Even now we can arrive at a place
of great peace and inner empowering. This is the fruit of a masterly stillness
in the presence of God which enables us to love others. God keeps those in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him (Isaiah
26:3).
H
First, the Kingdom of God…
The phrase ‘kingdom of God’ had deep
resonance in Jesus’ milieu. It may be a little lost on the world today,
unfamiliar or unfriendly to human notions, metaphors or institutions of
royalty. But, the idea of the Kingdom still has currency and relevance if we
understand it as a spiritual reign or ruling over minds and hearts freely
accepting of this. It signifies a reign of personal and social freedom and justice.
The two go hand in hand. It implies that those who are poor, oppressed,
excluded are brought into the centre of our communities and listened to and
empowered. There, peace and love are established where, before, suspicion,
resentment and factionalism prevailed.
And the kingdom belongs to those who
received it with childlike simplicity, trust and openness (Luke
18:17). It is a common practice to associate the term and the idea of the
kingdom of heaven with the world that it is to come, or, simply that which is
after death. But, it is clear from most usages of the term in the Gospels that
the kingdom is also in the here and now: it is in our midst; it is very near
and about to break into our little world.
In the long history of the
Christian community there are times when Jesus’ followers reduced the Kingdom
of God to the ‘Church’ (and that very often in strictly party denominational
sense). Others over-identified or reduced the Kingdom of God to some interior,
subjective state of feeling or reasoning.
It is near to us ….
It may be a question of time or place. In
truth we can say that our lives are short and the day we anticipate is nearer
now than was the case on the first Sunday of Lent last year.
Repent…
Lent is very much about repentance. To repent is to turn away from something. It
means turning away from all that is harmful, poisoned, destructive within us
and around us. This is difficult because we seek refuge, sometimes, in
falsehoods, riches and comfort – the comfort of our systems of thinking and
association that surrounds us all the time. We are invited to return or turn
back to the basics of:
- Doing what is right
- Believing in what is true
- And avoiding what is evil for ourselves and others.
Our role is not to go about confronting
people with the language and a system of ideas that means nothing to them.
Rather, we are invited to gently lead others to where they are ready and
willing to go in their own time at their own pace. Ultimately, we are called
not to pronounce the Word so much as to live it and thereby draw others into
the family of trust, belonging and purpose which is the community founded on
the example, teaching, death and resurrection of the Christ who continues to
live in our midst.
And so….
This lent let’s take that prayer, Our
Father, seriously and practically meaning what we say and putting it into
practice day by day. And ‘Your Kingdom Come’ will be a reality more and more as
we walk towards Easter. And we will be amazed to find that it is indeed true
that ‘For the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory are yours’.
May this Lent be a special time for each of
us as we move from winter to spring, from despair to hope and from defeat to
ultimate victory over the Covid virus as we prepare, hopefully, for other
winters and springs on this earthly journey. For the kingdom of God has come
nearer to us this year. We must make haste, focus on the Gospel, change what
needs changing in our lives now and trust and believe in the good news that
Jesus announced 2,000 years ago and still announces to a broken world waiting
for hope.
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