Thursday, November 14, 2013

Why always "not yet"? Do flowers in spring say "not yet"?


Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig. - Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD)

Gospel Text: (LK 17:20-25)
Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come,
Jesus said in reply,
“The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,
and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”

Then he said to his disciples,
“The days will come when you will long to see
one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.
There will be those who will say to you,
‘Look, there he is,’ or ‘Look, here he is.’
Do not go off, do not run in pursuit.
For just as lightning flashes
and lights up the sky from one side to the other,
so will the Son of Man be in his day.
But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation.”

In the gospel, there seems to be a hint of steadiness and permanence, even calmness in Jesus’ reply. God is, has been, and continues to be in our midst. We need not go frantically running after sightings.

For me the gospel challenge is how I have missed the undeniable, constant, exploding presence of the Spirit in my life and all around me. I am forced to look deep within myself at all the false “sightings” that attract my attention. The God I encounter is an aching, loving parental God, a God weeping over the worldwide tragedies of all of his children. He is a God, who is the friend of all races, creeds, and nationalities.

The Kingdom that unpredictably will start “outside” may commence right now “inside” us. The last day starts its configuration right now, inside us. If we want to be allowed into the Kingdom on that last day, we must let the Kingdom get inside us, right now. If we want Jesus to be our merciful judge in that particular moment, we need to make him right now our best friend.

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