32ndWeek in Ord. Time, Thursday – 10th November 2022 — Gospel: Lk 17,20-25
Living in the Kingdom
Jesus tries to correct the Pharisees’ perception that the kingdom is tied to specific future events to which they can point by looking here or there. Like many Jews of the time, the Pharisees thought that the arrival of God’s kingdom would be so clear and powerful that magnificent signs from heaven would announce it. Jesus explains, that the “kingdom of God is among you.” They must understand that the kingdom has already come, at least in its initial manifestation, in Jesus himself. All who respond to him with faith, like the grateful Samaritan, experience the kingdom within themselves and among the community of fellow believers.
In his book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the three ways in which the Kingdom of God might be understood. Firstly, Jesus himself is the kingdom. In Jesus, the Kingdom of God was literally among the Jews, but few realized it. Secondly, in a mystical sense, Jesus is ever present with us. His mystical presence is real and yet not verifiable empirically. Finally, the Church is God’s kingdom on earth. Though it may expose political understanding, the Church is more spiritual and moral. That is why its witness is often strongest when it is politically weakest.
