Preparing for Easter (Part 2): Stewarding the Gospel Message

Part of stewardship is the stewardship of the Gospel message.  Many people are only vaguely aware of the actual message.  Jesus came to announce the Kingdom of God.  Mark 1 14-15 states; After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news”!  Jesus had a very distinct vision of the Kingdom, often different than the vision of His fellow Jews who wanted a geo-political kingdom centered on Zion or Jerusalem.

A bit of Biblical history is needed.  The term “kingdom of God” is not in the Hebrew Bible.  We must remember that throughout the 500’s BC  the Hebrews were in exile, often simply referred to as “the Exile”.  They were deported from Israel to the Babylonian Empire.  Toward the end of the century, the Persians conquered the Babylonians, returned the Hebrews - now called “Jews” for the first time as they were returned to Judah-but made Aramaic the official state language.  The returning Jews now spoke Aramaic, but the Holy Books were written in Hebrew.  Hebrew is considered a “backwater” dialect of Aramaic.  It is similar but not interchangeable.  This caused many translation problems as recorded in Nehemiah 8:3; And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.  Most scholars agree that “those who could understand” were clerics who understood Hebrew and could translate the texts into Aramaic.  Over time, these informal translations found there way into writings called Targums.  Targum is the Aramaic word for “translation”. 

There developed two Targums; Babylonian, a very stiff and wooden, word-by-word interpretation, and Palestinian, a more interpretive translation that tended to translate clusters of words into one overarching term.  The term “kingdom of God” is found in the Palestinian Targum.  It is a term that is used to define a cluster of words; dominion, authority, power, etc.  It does not imply a geo-political reality.  Rather, it looked to the reign of God and its acceptance.  In the First century, Jesus Christ spoke Aramaic.

Jesus depicted a Kingdom based on faith, not birthplace.  Inclusion is based on the individual and the depth of one’s acceptance of the sovereignty of God.  This is why He can say such things as: Some of the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come?” Jesus answered, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes.  People will not say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ because God’s kingdom is within you" (Luke 17:20-21);  When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions (Mark 12:34); “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15).  There are many other similr passages which depict entr into the Kingdom as based on faith.

The Roman Catholic Catechism affirms the Gospel teachings;

567: The Kingdom of heaven was inaugurated on earth by Christ. “This kingdom shone out before men in the word, in the works, and in the presence of Christ” (Lumen Gentium 5). The Church is the seed and beginning of this kingdom. Her keys are entrusted to Peter.

2816: In the New Testament, the word basileia can be translated by "kingship" (abstract noun), "kingdom" (concrete noun) or "reign" (action noun). The Kingdom of God lies ahead of us. It is brought near in the Word incarnate, it is proclaimed throughout the whole Gospel, and it has come in Christ's death and Resurrection. The Kingdom of God has been coming since the Last Supper and, in the Eucharist, it is in our midst. The kingdom will come in glory when Christ hands it over to his Father:

There are many such instances wherein the Gospels speak of the Kingdom as being our choice to accept.  But since this is a faith-based kingdom everybody must prepare for it.  It is the Resurrection on Easter Sunday that opens this Kingdom to the faithful.  To prepare for the Resurrection and the opening of the Kingdom is what we must look for in this Lenten Season.  We can prepare for the Kingship of God in one simple way, according to Jesus; “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”. (Matthew 6:33)