Kingdom - Part 1

"As as you go, preach, saying 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Matthew 10:7. New American Standard.

Over the last year, I've become infatuated with the hit HBO series, "Game of Thrones." In this fantasy fiction, multiple kings are vying to take the Iron Throne of King's Landing, and so far every attempt at overtaking the throne has failed. To me, the show opens my mind not only to the concept of kings and kingdoms, but to the diversity of philosophies that drive each king or queen to capture the main throne. 

Since I live in America and not a kingdom, it's hard to imagine the kingdom culture that the author of Matthew had Jesus talking about so much. The kingdom culture then revolved around the throne of Rome - the ever-growing, ever-expanding, and power-driven empire that sought to rule the world. If the author of Matthew was writing today in America, he might call it the "goverment of heaven" or the "rule of heaven."

No one really knows what the author of Matthew, Mark, or Luke were talking about when they coined the terms, but many have interpreted what they may have meant. And this is my interpretation of that oft confusing phrase. 

In my belief, Jesus was a Jew and he was mostly talking to Jews. While his message was intended for everybody "who has ears," his audience was mostly Jewish. So, we have to try to understand the kingdom of heaven through 1st century Jewish eyes. For the 1st century Jew, rule came in two levels - the rule of Rome and the rule of the religious leaders. In the Hebrew scriptures, the term "kingdom of heaven" is never used, so this would've been a new concept to Jesus's Jewish audience. 

Now, to talk about a "rule of heaven" or "rule of God" while living in the midst of a powerful ruling Roman presence was tricky business, but Jesus insisted nevertheless. He believed there was an alternative route to falling prey to both forms of reign. And that way was what was deemed the "kingdom of heaven." 

It's a stretch for us Americans since we live in a mostly free society, but for some people, the reign of Rome and religion translate to the American reign of government and religion. While I don't believe the context of modern political and religious culture comes anywhere close to the context of Jesus's kingdom culture, we can sort of see a glimpse of what he was talking about. To some people, the burden of high taxes represent a sort of government tyranny, and for others the marriage of religion and politics represent a sort of tyranny. Either way, there is more than one way to interpret this saying of Jesus because the truth is not known. It is a belief system as of yet.

My belief is that the idea of the "kingdom of heaven"has left its Jewish roots to evolve into a Christian version of transcendence. Since there is no comparison between American government and religious rule today with that of yesterday, the idea has evolved to take on a more eschatological appeal. Since times have changed along with the exit (for the most part) of tyrannical kingdoms and religious parties, mainstream Christianity has whittled the term down to encapsulate the afterlife and even a more conservative version of a literal reign of a heavenly God over the earth. In this version, Jesus will come back and rule in person, placing a judgment on every human being who ever lived. But I believe the ideas of "Jesus the judge" and "God the ruler" have evolved from the human experience of earthly authority. 

You reap what you sow on earth, so why not in heaven? Or, you do the crime, you do the time.

Except in this case, the time includes a trip to eternal hell which includes an added misery of conscious torment. God, being the ultimate ruler, will line everyone up at some point and stand them on trial for their life's accomplishments and misdeeds. The ledger will reveal all God needs to know in order to make the final decision.  

So, Jesus's "kingdom of heaven," I believe, has evolved into an extra-sensory and extra-physical experience that takes place somewhere else rather than right here and now. And I don't believe Jesus intended for his use of the phrase (if he even used it) to have anything to do with anything outside of the physical reality of life on planet earth among us humans. 

In that case, what did Jesus mean when he talked about such things?

First of all, I believe his message was intended for everyone whether they were devout Jews or adamant pagans (non-Jews or non-religious folks). So, it wasn't an exclusive idea for the spiritual elite. It was an idea that involved everyone who was sick and tired of being sick and tired of feeling that their lives were run by the bogus systems of this world. Those bogus systems took flesh and blood form of real government tyranny and real religious tyranny. And he offered an alternative - a path of transcendence that took one's mind off the current bogus systems and turned one's mind to the altruistic dimension of life. 

Jesus encapsulated the crux of this phrase through his infamous Sermon on the Mount. This great sermon wasn't so much a list of commands as it was a new identity for those who were seeking a way out of the systems they'd fallen so prey to. Jesus was introducing his audience to a new reality - one that turned the mind to the abundance of blessings that were found by acknowledging not the Roman way of life or the religious way of life as the ways to spiritual transcendence, but the way of altruism as the key to opening one's heart to experience the divine.

So for Jesus, the kingdom of heaven wasn't about eschatology or mysticism, but about flesh-and-blood, practical, love of neighbor. A simple concept, but easier said than done. 

Jesus, throughout chapter ten of the gospel of Matthew, seems to outline what this "kingdom of heaven" lifestyle looks like, and over the next series of posts, I'll be diving into what these different aspects look like both for the culture of his time and the culture of ours. I hope you join me on this journey, as it's my first time to take this sort of look at this often misconstrued phrase which I believe outlined the heart and soul of Jesus's message.