Hosanna!

“Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he 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.” Luke 17:20-21


Being Palm Sunday, the obvious thing to do was to talk about the crowds and the donkey ride. But for some reason, the song “That’s Life” from Old Blue Eyes (Frank Sinatra), keeps coming back to me, “Flying high in April, shot down in May”… and I can’t help but wonder if that was what Jesus was thinking…”oh sure, they love me now.”

During the past five weeks we have discussed the kingdom of God and the various ways that we can experience it. While trying to feel some inspiration for today’s blog, I fell upon this passage and it made me think again of what the point of all of this is.

I always felt torn about Palm Sunday, I loved it but it made me nervous. I always wanted to say, “don’t let your guard down, Jesus” because I knew as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. Or do I? The passage above makes me think that I really don’t. The Pharisees were asking a tricky questions so for Jesus to say to the Jews that the “kingdom of God cannot be observed” was a big thing. These were a tangible people. They had the tabernacle, the temple, the laws engraved in stone. This was a bit of a leap for them to hear that there was no kingdom coming. I wonder how many were astute enough to comprehend that Jesus was the kingdom of God among them…how many of us would be? How many times do we feel that we are part of the kingdom of God?

When I asked my 9 yer old what she thought this phrase meant she said that maybe the kingdom was among us when we were in church or prayed. I think she thinks the same as most people. At 9, she should think that the kingdom of God is in church, they’re thinking is compartmental. But as we grow in our own faith, it is important to outgrow the limited vision we have. The kingdom is among us, suggests to me that Christ was not only the kingdom then, but by his crucifixion and ultimate resurrection he is among us now. Christ’s grace lives within us. If grace is the indwelling of the spirit of God then I am inclined to think that grace will out. I also think that grace is shared in the love of our brothers and sisters. When we pray for another, we extend the grace of God out of our hearts to surround those we care about. When we feed the hungry, we offer the grace of compassion to another. When we forgive we open ourselves up to forgiveness through grace. I personally feel that the kingdom of God is the experience within the grace of God. Where God is so is the kingdom. We are, the here and now. The kingdom of God is at hand.

So as we begin this very Holy week, we look for ways to set it apart from all others. I think of the song…”riding high in April, shot down in May.” What can I do to avoid that and to keep the spirit of God present in my life. How can I best keep my eyes on the kingdom? Where do I see God’s grace? More importantly, where do I see a need for God’s grace?

Tune in tomorrow….