Friday 19 September 2008

Just how real is this Reign of God to be!?! Hauerwas offers some words to us.

The nature and reality of the kingdom is manifest throughout Jesus' life and ministry. Like the prophets he called Israel back to obedience to the law - a law that appeared strenuous. But there is no indication the rigorous demands of the Sermon on the Mount were meant only as some unrealizable ideal. To believe so is to lose the exchatological context of Jesus' teaching. To be sure, Jesus' demand that we forgive our enemies challenges our normal assumptions about what is possible, but that is exactly what it is meant to do. We are not to accept the world with its hate and resentments as a given, but to recognize that we live in a new age which makes possible a new way of life.

As much as some folk would like to say that it is simply common sense to be a follower of Jesus, we need only turn to the Sermon on the Mount. This is not the way we would act as simply a matter of common sense. Common sense would have us forgive as we usually forgive - a little bit - conditionally - only when we are ready. Common sense would say there is a time when killing is necessary - in fact there are many times - in fact it would be nonsense not to be ready to kill in order to protect ourselves. But when Jesus teaches about the Reign of God and invites us to enter its life, who we become and what we are called to do may not make as much sense as we would like. Our inability to deal with the life within God's Reign does not mean that this life is not among us. It is available and it is ours for the living...even when we daily reject it for what we might consider would make more sense.

Connection: Today is going to be as surprising as a well-told parable. That is how life in the Reign of God greets us - Surprise. Just as we are ready to go one way...there is a voice that calls us home. We are invited to listen.

You draw us into your Reign, O God, and we often wait for another offer - one we think will be better for us. Continue to call us and remind us that we are held within your embrace even as we fear what is to come. Amen.