The Kingdom of God

This marks the beginning of a series of articles on the Kingdom
of God. These coincide with the Lay Witness Mission and the continuation of what
has begun in the parish. We are a Kingdom People. Jesus spoke about the coming
of the Kingdom of God.  We are
called to extend the Kingdom of God to all areas of our lives. The Kingdom
proclaims God’s reign on earth and in our hearts. The Kingdom of God says to us
we are converted to God. Scripture says,” Seek first the Kingdom of God and all
else will be added unto you.”  What
does it mean that one is converted to God? It means that one is first loyal to
God and everything else follows. It means that God is paramount in the person’s
life. To put it simply, one is prepared to go into jail and even pay the highest
price for God, if one’s heart is converted to God. That is what we mean by the
Kingdom of God taking root in one’s heart.  The disciples are examples of people
converted to God, for they suffered much persecution for the Glory of God. They
were prepared to be jailed for the Glory of God, and the extension of the
Kingdom of God. If one is converted to God then one is total committed to the
Kingdom of God. In this series of the Kingdom of God we will look at the four
hall marks of the Kingdom of God. 
These are love, compassion, justice and freedom. 
Love is essential to the Christian faith and community. 
We are all called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Kingdom
of God is a Kingdom of compassion. Several times in the Hoy Scripture we are
told that Jesus looked at the crowds with compassion for he saw that they were
sheep without a shepherd.  Justice
is the hallmark of the Kingdom of God. We are taught to love our enemies. St
Paul says to us, render no evil to anyone. The prophets tell us that religious
observance without us responding to social issues around us makes us
irrelevant.  Then finally freedom:
one of the many Acts of God was to lead the Children out of Egypt into the
Promised Land. In the New Testament people are freed from demon possession and
diseases are healed.  The Kingdom
manifesto is found in Luke 4 vs. 16-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He sent me to
proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” 

Fr. Barnabas Nqindi