Friday 8 August 2008

Today starts a series of devotions based out of "The Peaceable Kingdom" by Stanley Hauerwas.

...there is widespread agreement that one of the most significant "discoveries" of recent scholarship is that Jesus' teaching was not first of all focused on his own status but on the proclamation of the kingdom of God. Jesus, it seems, did not direct attention to himself, but through his teaching, healing, and miracles tried to indicate the nature and immediacy of God's kingdom. It may be objected that even this conclusion about him seems to presuppose exactly what we just said could not be assumed - namely, that we are able to isolate the real Jesus from the Jesus created by the early churches. Yet we can at least say that Jesus as depicted in Mark, Matthew, and Luke does not call attention to himself, but to the kingdom which the early Christians felt had been made present and yet was still to come.

Jesus is building the Reign of God among us. That is, as he teaches and and he heals and as he in involved in miracles, his disciples that walked with him and all of us who follow him today are being introduced to the glory of God's Reign - in which we are invited to join in the life that is available as he lived it. I find that this bring the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures more and more in line with one another. It is not "all about Jesus" in the Christian Scriptures...and yet....yes it is. As Jesus is the embodiment of what we know about our God, he is also the gateway into the Reign that is already available and visible in, with, and under the fullness of his life. It is all about life. It is all about following. It is less about talk (but there is that), and more about being the substance of the words that display the Reign of God before the world. Remember, it is not a Reign that is completely present...and yet it is present and we are invited/called to be a part of its living presence in the way Jesus lived as one fully alive in that Reign.

Connection: Words to actions...words left as words can be inspiring but words put to life creates a slow building of character that is a witness to the living Reign of God.

Make our lives a witness to the character of your Reign, O God. Just as Jesus lived without hesitation within your Reign each day, inspire us to step out and within the power of your peaceable reign. Amen.