Because there are few monarchies left and to try to update the anthropomorphisms of the Gospel, someone suggested that, in keeping with today's world, we should give Jesus the title of President instead of King. "The cure is worse than the disease" – while the President is usually voted in by the people, Christ, like all kings, was born into the kingship.
The President rules a republic which in Latin means public affair; Christ reigns over the universe because it belongs to Him. Everything, including us, is God's property, for He created it all. We are merely stewards, not owners, of creation, and for that matter, not owners even of our own lives.
A king without blue blood
‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’ Matthew 20:25-28
Christ is therefore the sovereign King of everything and everyone but he is a King without blue blood because he came into the world to serve and not to be served, (Mark 10.45; Luke 22:27). Since Christ is not a King like other worldly kings, neither is his kingdom like that of other worldly kingdoms, (John 18:36).
On the day Jesus was acclaimed as King, he entered the capital city, Jerusalem, mounted not on a majestic white horse, like the kings of this world, but on a ridiculous donkey; while a horse is used for war, a donkey is used for work and trade, for peace, and Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
Mounted on a donkey and acclaimed as King at the gates of Jerusalem, Jesus laughs at those enamoured with power who use it to subjugate others. On the contrary, Jesus came not to be served like the powerful men of this world, but to serve.
"I am among you as one who serve", (Luke 22:27). The kings of this world, through taxes, suck the blood out of their subjects. Jesus, on the other hand, gives his life, gives his blood for his friends and all humanity. His throne was not of pleasure, pride and ostentation, but of Cross of ignominy and torture; his crown was not of gold encrusted with precious stones, but of thorns driven into his skull.
In saying, "Whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave”, (Matthew 20:27), Jesus substitutes love for power for the power of love. Who are the most important people in our lives? Aren't they the ones who served us the most, starting with our parents? And who are the most important figures for mankind? Not likely those who had the most power and dominated the most but rather those who have loved and served humanity selflessly the most.
Church and Kingdom in the preaching of Jesus
In stark contrast to the word CHURCH, which appears 112 times and almost all in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Letters, the word KINGDOM appears 162 times and, of these, only 35 times appears in the book of Acts and the Letters; the remaining 127 times are found in the Gospels. This demonstrates how important the Kingdom of God was for Jesus and how unimportant this same Kingdom was for the nascent Church founded by Christ.
KINGDOM CHURCH
NEW TESTAMENT 162 112
GOSPELS 127 2
ACTS / LETTERS 35 110
After the Second Vatican Council, the Church stopped looking at her navel and began to look at the world like Jesus did, and to see in it the Kingdom that is already in our midst since Jesus came into the world, but not yet in its fullness. The Mission began with God sending his firstborn Son into the world. The goal of this mission has always been to transform the world into the Kingdom of God; before this moment and since our forefathers, the world belonged to sin.
The Church, as the mystical body of Christ, can have no other objective but to continue the work of Christ. Therefore, the purpose of her existence is not to implant herself in every corner of this earth, but to bring the Good News of the Kingdom to every corner of the world.
The main objective is not to produce Christians, to increase their numbers, but rather to unite all people of good will, of other religions, atheists or agnostics and together with them, to aid in building a better world, a more just and fraternal society, where justice, peace and harmony, and love reign among peoples. If this had been the objective of the Church from the beginning, as it was of her founder, there would have been no fundamentalism such as the Inquisition, nor holy wars such as the ones driven by the Crusades.
The Church does not exist for herself nor should she preach herself, because her Master and founder did not preach himself: the Church exists for the Mission, that is, to continue the work of her founder and the purpose of the Mission which is the Kingdom. Church is what we are, it is our identity, the Kingdom is our mission, it is what we do.
Kingdom of justice, peace and the integrity of creation
For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Romans 14:17-18
The Kingdom of God is a kingdom where economic progress is not the only factor of development, for man does not live by bread alone (Matthew 4:4). In the Kingdom of God, the economy is a healthy economy because it grows hand in hand with social justice, peace and the good of entire creation.
Sustainable development starts from the principle that it is possible to have a supportable and viable economic development without destroying the environment or compromising the habitability of the planet for future generations, or threatening justice and world peace.
Sustainable development is one that harmonizes economic growth with the reality of the biosphere or the protection of the environment with the individual and social needs of all peoples who inhabit the planet, that is, with the social inclusion of all.
Development viewed solely as economic growth has destroyed the environment and caused deep social inequalities. For development to be sustainable, it must be three-dimensional, that is, the aspects of social justice and environmental protection must be as important as economic growth.
It is a Kingdom of inclusion not exclusion
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28
The Kingdom of God is a city without walls, without borders, because it is a city open to all; it is a round table like the world, it is the bread for the multitudes. There are no differences between people because we are all children of the same Father.
All humans are God’s creatures and through Jesus Christ, redeemed at the price of his blood, are made adopted children of God. United by the same human nature; dignity is due to all human beings without distinction of ethnicity.
In clear contrast and opposition to St. Paul, who in 1Corinthians 11: 7-9 alludes to chapter 2 of the book of Genesis to say that man is superior to woman because she was formed from a rib of the man, Jesus when speaking of divorce quoted Genesis 1, where it says, "man and woman He created them", thus affirming his conviction of gender equality.
Jesus is the only founder of religion who never made a derogatory statement about women, not even the prostitutes did he ever criticize. Unlike the rabbis of his time, he never warned anyone against the danger of dealing with women in general for their seductive tricks. On the contrary, he warned men against their own lust and urged them to take responsibility for their impulses and instincts, (Matthew 5:28-29).
There is no accusation or criticism of the other
In the Kingdom of God no one accuses or exposes anyone. The real reason to bring accusation against others is that when we point at others and expose their sin, we are humiliating them, which is an indirect way of exalting ourselves. Since bragging about how good we are is too conspicuous and frowned upon socially, we criticize and denigrate others to make ourselves shine.
As Jesus noted in the case of the sinful woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), those who abound in criticizing others are deficient in self-criticism. It is not by criticizing others that we progress spiritually and humanly, but by criticizing our very selves.
In this same episode of the adulterous woman (John 8:1-10), Jesus turns the table on the accusers by saying that only those without sin have the moral authority to judge who is in sin. He then exhorts us to be self-critical, to pay more attention to the log that is in our own eye than to the speck in someone else's eye, (Matthew 7:3-5).
Nonviolence replaces violence
This Kingdom does not conquer land or people by violence. Violence subdues the body, but it does not subdue the heart or the mind. Violence is not a means to a good end because it only creates more violence that keeps growing. The only peace that can be obtained by violence is the peace of the cemetery.
It is not with hatred that we win over our enemies; our hatred only makes them stronger against us. Only love conquers them and manages to turn them into our friends; only love disarms them. The entrance to the citizenship of the Kingdom of God is not through conquest or subjugation, but by conversion, by metanoia; that is why the entrance is free.
The end of religion
The Gospel of St. Matthew, the Gospel of the Kingdom, reminds us in chapter 25 that, in the end, we will not be judged by who we are, by our identity, for being Christians, atheists or Muslims, but by what we have done or failed to do, whether or not we have assisted the thirsty, the hungry, the naked, the pilgrims, the imprisoned, the foreigners, and the sick. Because helping them was the goal of Jesus' life and his coming into the world, this very goal must be our goal too.
On the individual level – Jesus replaces religion with psychology by saying that the only commandment is the commandment of love; whatever may be our religion or ideology or lack thereof, without love there is no human life. Also at the individual level, he presented himself as the only Way, Truth and Life, that is, as the reference of humanity and how to live as an authentic human person.
On the social level – The Kingdom of God is also not of a religious nature, but a question of justice and peace; it is therefore a civil issue that can very well be dealt with in sociology.
Finally, at the last judgment, according to Gospel of Matthew chapter 25, there is no religious question, all questions are of civil nature. Since there is no personal self-realization or happiness without love and since there is no social justice without love of neighbour, at the end of our lives we will be judged only and exclusively by how little or how much we have loved.
When Jesus appeared to St. Paul on the road to Damascus, he did not ask him why are you persecuting my brothers and sisters, my disciples, but why are you persecuting Me, (Acts 22, 1-16). In Matthew 25, we learn that both good and evil and the absence of both have a price, and that since Jesus took on human nature, no human being lives helpless with no one to defend him, because he has Jesus as his elder brother. For this reason, we will have to answer before the King for everything we have done or failed to do to anyone who has crossed our path in life.
Conclusion – The Constitution or Magna Carta that governs the Kingdom of God is summed up by one word: LOVE. Therefore, a citizen of this Kingdom is one who loves God above everything and everyone including himself, who loves himself as God loves him, and who loves others as he loves himself.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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