St. Joseph of the Lakes

I love the dialogue that the apostles have with Jesus as He approaches his ascension into heaven. We are told that Jesus had been appearing to them and discussing the Kingdom of God with them. It leads them to ask: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus’ answer to them shows us that they still didn’t get it. They are wondering whether Jesus will restore the political kingdom of Israel. His answer to them: “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  This indicates that the Kingdom of God is entirely different from any earthly political system.  It will effectively be established person to person by the work of the apostles and all who follow after them. 

For two thousand and more years the Kingdom of God has been growing throughout the earth independent of any political system. There have been times when certain members or groups have attempted to insert a political system into the Kingdom of God, but history has proven that this inevitably results in corruption, violence and a scandalous twisting of the vision that Jesus imparts to His apostles. He showed by His life among us that the Kingdom would come to each person as they open their hearts to the Good News personified in Jesus. This Kingdom cannot be enforced by any external group, no matter how much it may indicate a supportive stance towards the Kingdom. In our present political climate, there are those Christians who think that our country should be a “truly Christian nation”.  I have heard some foolish and undereducated people call America the “new promised land”.  The promised land was given to the children of Abraham, and it was delivered to them when Joshua lead the escaped Israelites across the Jordan River after forty years of wandering in the desert.   

The Kingdom that Jesus spoke about and that we live in today is a wonderous connection between any and all human beings who find their unity in Christ. As St. Paul reminds the Galatians In Christ there is neither slave or free, neither male or female, neither Jew or Greek. We are all one in Christ. And if we truly are the Body of Christ then we live out his highest value: We Love what He loves: the human race in all of its diversity.