The Kingdom of God Is....

A reflection on Luke 23:33-43

I have one long-standing tradition for the day after Thanksgiving, I go see a movie. It began almost 18 years ago when my daughter and I went with my sisters in law and their daughters to see “The Little Mermaid.” And since then, nearly every year, I have gone to a movie on the day after Thanksgiving.

This year our kids had other plans so my husband and I went to see, “Dan in real life” starring Steve Carell. It’s the story of a single father named Dan, played by Carell.

He is widowed and has three young daughters. He is also a journalist who answers people’s questions and helps them with their real life issues. The title of his column is “Dan in real life.”

He and his daughters go off to spend a weekend at the family home with his parents, his siblings, and their spouses and children. It is a full house and because one of the brothers is bringing a girlfriend Dan is assigned the “special room” the laundry room with a blow up mattress.

That night we see him trying to fall asleep to the banging of the dryer.

One of the early scenes has Dan heading into town from the parents home. He’s going to get a cup of coffee and a newspaper. He wanders into a bookstore where he meets a woman. They spend a long time, over coffee, talking. Dan ends up telling her his life story. Suddenly she gets a phone call, she’s lost track of time and needs to leave quickly.

Later, back at the house Dan tells his brothers about meeting this amazing woman. Everyone is excited for him. Then, in walks the brother’s new girlfriend…and, yup, she’s the woman Dan just met at the bookstore… Dan does not reveal this to the family; nor does the woman. They pretend they’ve never met.

But, in the end it all comes out. It’s a movie about forgiveness, remembering, and gratitude.

Our Gospel reading today points us to these same elements of forgiveness, remembering, and gratitude. We have come full cycle in the Christian liturgical year. A year spent reflecting on the Gospel of Luke. Today is like the liturgical new years eve - a time to remember where we have been this last year, a time to forgive and make amends, and a time to be grateful for all our blessings.

The liturgical year offers a way to move through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and remember who we are as a people of faith. Our worship, emphasizing the seasons of the liturgy, grounds our lives and gives us a glimpse of the kingdom of God.

In each of the Gospels Jesus is struggling to bring the kingdom of God into reality.

In Mark it's all about humanities failure to recognize Jesus as the messiah, and it plays out in the obtuseness of the disciples.

Matthew, the Gospel we begin next week for year A, is all about how Jesus is the fulfillment of the law.

In John it’s about Jesus being the incarnate Word, the very presence of God from the beginning of all time.

And in Luke, Jesus’ struggle to bring in the kingdom, focuses on humanities obsession with three things: possessions, power, and prestige.

In the 4th chapter of Luke Jesus is tempted by these very things: power, prestige, and possessions.

The first temptation is about possession - the core of what all humans desire.

“If you are the Son of God turn these stones into bread.”

We all want possessions. And it’s not that this is bad. We just need to be careful that the desire for possessions is not what motivates us.

“If you are the Son of God jump from the top of the temple and the angels will save you.” Such an act of glory will surely impress everyone, you will have prestige. Prestige can be a good thing when our ability to influence others is used to bring about a better world. To bring attention to the war of genocide in Darfur or the plight of refugees seeking a safe place to live.

And, lastly, the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness with this:

“Bow down before me and you will have power!”

Jesus does not succumb to these temptations and when his time in the wilderness is over he goes to the synagogue and says, “I have come to bring good news to the poor.”

In Luke, morality and human sexuality, are not the issues that Jesus worries about. He is concerned with how humans treat other human beings. He is concerned with how we view ourselves and our role as God’s disciples. “I have come to bring good news to the poor –

the poor in possessions, the poor in power, the poor in prestige, the poor in spirit, the poor in faith, the poor in hope, the poor in life.”

Today as we celebrate the feast day known as “Christ the King,” we come back to Holy Week. We stand at the foot of the cross and remember.

We are asked to remember who we are, a people of God. And as a people of God we are asked to participate in bringing forth the kingdom of God.

We do this by caring for one another.

We do this by being a people focused on forgiveness and reconciliation, remembering the profound way we are loved and forgiven by God through the life of Christ.

Corrie ten Boom tells this story of forgiveness in her book, “The Hiding Place.”

“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former SS man who stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of the jailers I had actually seen since that time.

And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ‘How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,’ he said. ‘To think that, as you say, he has washed my sins away.’His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people…the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them….I struggled to raise my hand, but could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity.

And so I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that …When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he gives along with the command - the love itself.”

Jesus tells us to love God, love neighbor, love self, but we are not left on our own to figure out how to do this. Jesus gives us the ability, the love, to do so. God, having lived as one of us, knows the struggles of our heart…

A rabbi was once asked, “What is a blessing?” He answered with a riddle:

“The Book of Genesis tells us that after finishing work on each of the first five days “God saw that it was good.” But God did not say this on the sixth day after humans had been created.

What conclusion can you draw from that?” asked the rabbi. Someone said, “We can conclude that the human person is not good.”

“Possibly,” the rabbi answered, “ but that’s not a likely explanation”

He then went on to explain that the Hebrew word translated as ‘good’ in Genesis is ‘tov,’ which is better translated as ‘complete.’ That is why, the rabbi contented, God did not declare the human person to be ‘tov.’Human beings are created incomplete.

It is our life’s vocation to collaborate with our creator in fulfilling our potential. For Christians this means fulfilling the Christ in us, that we may be the face of Christ to the world.

We do this by offering an alternative to the cultural pull toward prestige, power, and possessions. We do this by being a people who remember who we are, a people of God. We do this by remembering that just as God forgives us so we are to forgive others, and ourselves, of all things known and unknown.

And we do this by lifting up our hearts in gratitude to the God who loves us deeply and gives us the ability to love in return.

Each one of us, making even the smallest of efforts to do this can have a big influence on the world.

Hellen Keller once said,

"The world is moved along not only by the mighty shove of its heroes,but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker."

Jesus, remember me…

Surely you will be with me in paradise…

With each one of us,

Remembering whose we are

And who are,

doing our small part,

but working together,

loving, caring, forgiving,

the kingdom of God will be a reality in our lives and our world.