the kingdom of god - 17th Sunday A 2014

The kingdom of God is not what you expect in terms of political clout.  It is not about gleaming big cities with the homes of the rich, with the offices of the powerful.  The kingdom of God is not about some fierce and powerful army that can crush anything that opposes it

Instead, Jesus in our gospel today affirms first and foremost that the kingdom of God is here in our midst.  But it is modest.  In fact it is hidden.  It is quiet.  Those who discover it sometimes would stumble upon it almost by accident, and it surprises them almost always.  Even the person who owns the field won't even know it is there.  But once it is found, joy will be so great that one will do whatever it takes to buy that field.

The kingdom of God is in the little acts of goodness that many times escape our notice.  It is in the kindness that we show to one another, in the good that we say and do, in the extra mile we walk for people in need; it is in saying sorry and in forgiving; it is in caring, in our being considerate, in our sensitivity to others and in the anxiety we feel when we think of the other’s good.

In the past days and months we heard a lot of bad news and yet we will be surprised at the tremendous graciousness of these events, how these events affects us, what they create in us, how they affect the people concerned.  It is in this silent, muted and unnoticeable events and circumstances, it is in the unexpected that the kingdom of God is taking shape. 

We just hope and pray that we become part of its taking shape.