“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 6:9-10

For some reason, at this special time of the year, my mind keeps taking me back to the central theme of the life and teachings of Jesus in the last days of his life before the crucifixion and resurrection.  The word, the concept of the Kingdom of Heaven rises to crescendo level at this time.   The very center of Jesus’ word to us is that He came to establish the Kingdom of God and to invite us to be converted from any thinking that takes us in a different direction.  The center of it all is HIS KINGDOM.

All Jesus’ ethics are kingdom ethics. The message is always “My Kingdom.”  Jesus taught this, again and again, emphasized it in his prayer early on in his ministry recorded in Matthew 6, in the Sermon of the Mount (as noted above.)  He often reminded his followers that He was establishing the Kingdom of God, not a political kingdom.  As the Cross approached he announced to his disciples that he is establishing the Kingdom that is like to that in heaven.  Then, after his Resurrection, he spoke of his Kingdom for forty days prior to his Ascension.  When the Holy Spirit descended on his servants, they spoke convincingly of this Kingdom.

As we noted in the previous meditation, the disciples were so heavily influenced by the Israeli national religion of the time that they had no idea how you could have a kingdom that is not an earthly government.  Only an infilling of the Holy Spirit could move them into the mystery, the reality of the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

May our prayer today focus on the glory and power of God’s Kingdom, now among us by the power of the Spirit of God himself.