I want you to think back—back to your childhood. And there was a game that I am certain you’ve all played. And, even if you didn't play as a child, you probably played with your kids or grandkids. Hide and seek! You remember that game, right? When you’re the one who’s “IT,” you cover your eyes, maybe face the wall, even. You’d count to 10 or 20 or 100, while the rest of your friends go off to hide. And then, when you finish counting: “…98, 99, 100,” you put them all on notice that you're coming to get them! But there's this phrase you typically shout out; say it with me: “READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!”
We’ve been teaching our daughter to play Hide and Seek, and she gets the basic premise. But she's only 1, so, she's pretty terrible at it! She doesn’t quite say, “Ready or not, here I come.” But we count it a victory that she at least closes her eyes and tries to count: “One….one…one…” She never quite gets past one, but she'll get there. When she hides…well, she’s terrible at hiding, too. If she even finds a spot Lydia is still very much visible. And when she hears us say, “Ready or not, here I come,” it doesn’t take long before she pokes her head out from behind the curtain, or crawls out from behind the rocking chair. It’s like she has this excited desire to be found. She just cannot wait to be found.
But, you know, I don’t think it’s too far of a leap to suggest that there are a lot of people out there just waiting to be found. Maybe they don’t know it, maybe they don’t show it. But I’m telling you, there are a lot of people waiting to be found; looking for something greater than themselves. Every day, every interaction they have is like they’re poking their head out from behind a curtain of pain and tears, waiting to be found. Every word, every gesture is like they’re crawling out from behind the rock and a hard place life circumstances have placed them in—just waiting to be found. But, one thing we know is that—whether you’re in hiding, or whether you’ve been found, or whether you’re trying to remain hidden—ready or not, here God comes. His kingdom comes, ready or not. And that’s essentially what we mean when we pray, “Thy kingdom come.”
That’s how Martin Luther took it, anyway. In the meaning of the Second Petition in his Small Catechism, Luther says this: “The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer…” In other words, “Ready or not, God’s kingdom is coming.” It’s happening, with or without our prayer. “But we pray in this petition,” Luther goes on to say, “that [God’s kingdom] may come to us also.” We’re praying that God’s kingdom, His reign and rule, would become personal and real in our lives. And it does. God’s kingdom does come to us by grace, because God reigns.
The Lord reigns over all things, all creation. And so, when we talk about the kingdom of God, there are three ways we might consider His reign and rule. First is called the kingdom of power. This is His rule over Creation. He made it. He sustains it. He keeps it together, in spite of creation’s rebellion against Him—because that’s just what is happening. Creation, His kingdom, is in rebellion. Second is what is called the kingdom of grace. This is His reign in and through Christians, as the Holy Spirit ignites a faith within us to repent and believe in Jesus. And in sanctified lives, we live in that grace until Christ comes again, which brings us to our third kingdom. The kingdom of glory. The kingdom of glory is God’s reign in eternity, restoring all things to perfection. While our eternal life in Christ has already begun, we won’t fully experience the kingdom of glory until He returns; on the last day, in the resurrection, in His kingdom that has no end.
Now, whenever we look at these three—the kingdom of power, the kingdom of grace, and the kingdom of glory—we see that they are very much intertwined. And, most especially, in Christ Jesus and His earthly ministry, we see all three played out. God reigns in Christ Jesus. Jesus came to do kingdom work. In His first message in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.” “The kingdom of God, the reign and rule of God is right here, right now, in Me,” He’s saying. “Ready or not, here I come.” From there on, Jesus goes on doing kingdom work.
Even His cleansing of the temple, as we saw in our Gospel reading, is a reflection of God’s kingdom coming, I would say. There, in the temple, were a few worldly “kingdoms,” political powers, at play all at once: the Herodians, the Romans, and the Jewish religious leaders. Now, while the text doesn't explicitly point to these three groups, we know they were around. We know they were often vying for power, playing political games. Sometimes their interests aligned with one another, sometimes not. And ever so often, it seemed, the temple served as the battleground between them. From the control of the Temple Treasury, to those who took a “cut off the top” from the Temple Tax, to the Romans offensively decorating the Temple with Roman shields and insignia—and more and more and more examples from history. These three “kingdoms” went round and round, each of them seeking control, seeking the upper hand in one way or another. And, again, it ever so often centered around the Temple.
But then, in the midst of that political chaos and confusion, while those three groups played their childish game of thrones, in comes the King of kings. Ready or not, here He comes! That day, Jesus walks into the Temple like He owns the place…turns out He does. And He’s ready to clean house, too; but first, He’s got to make a mess! He overturns the tables, empties out the money boxes, chases the animals all out. And He says, “Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” (or a marketplace) “My Father’s house,” He calls it, talking about the temple. Now, the New Testament was written in Greek, but more than likely, the language Jesus would have been speaking at the time is Aramaic or Hebrew. And in those languages, there’s a certain word: heykal. Say it with me: "heykal." That word, heykal, means both “temple” and “palace.” The only difference is whose HOUSE it is; who lives there—a god or a king. That day, Jesus went to His Father’s HOUSE…which was it, a temple or a palace? Both! See, I can't imagine Jesus didn't have the idea of both temple and palace in mind, considering His message that the kingdom of God was at hand. The cleansing of the temple, then, was a clear sign that the kingdom, the reign of God was so very near--happening right then and there. Ready or not, here He comes! And, these fraudulent worldly “kingdoms,” vying for position were put on notice.
From there on, Jesus continues His kingdom work. He displays authority in the Kingdom of Power walking on water, calming storms, feeding thousands upon thou-sands, and healing a broken and diseased world. He displays authority in the Kingdom of Grace as He forgives sinners, as He chooses to not condemn, as He proclaims a message of love and compassion, as He seeks the lost of this world, and as He promises the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. And He even displays His authority in the Kingdom of Glory through His very presence among us--
Immanuel, God with us--and as He raises the dead to life, giving us a glimpse of eternity with Him. And then, Jesus goes and sends His disciples out to do kingdom work, too. They proclaim a message of good news, just like Jesus came doing. They go out and do many of the same miracles and human care work that Jesus did. They heal people, feed them clothe them, and care for the least of these. Jesus’ whole ministry, even through His disciples, is all about kingdom work—bringing in the reign of God to a rebellious world.
But it was precisely this kingdom work that would bring Him to a cross. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” Jesus had said. So they decided to put Him to the test on this. But before they did, they put Jesus on trial, standing before the Jewish religious leaders, the Romans, and the Herodians—those same three worldly powers who so often played politics in the Temple. And they would mockingly crown Him with thorns. Place a sign above His head, "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." And His lifeless body would be placed in a simple unadorned tomb.
But in the end, we know how the story ends! It may be Lent, but we can still talk about the resurrection--thanks be to God! For He would, indeed, raise up the Temple, which is His body, for He is both God and King! His kingdom is not OF this world, He told Pontius Pilate. His kingdom is not OF this world, it doesn't look like anything you've ever seen! His kingdom is not of this world, but it is OVER this world and it is FOR this world. For God desires that all people would be saved. Jesus died for all the world, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. His kingdom is not OF this world, but it is FOR US, and His kingdom comes THROUGH US now, too!
You see, we are kingdom people, now. We are sons and daughters of the King! In Baptism, we have been given a “noble birth.” St. Paul says that in so many words in 1 Corinthians 1. There, he said, among other things, “…not many of you were of noble birth…” Emphasis on the past-tense word, meaning the opposite is true, now. You weren’t of noble birth, but now you are! Now, you have royalty running through your veins! We are kingdom people, now. And as such, He calls us to live as citizens of His kingdom. What does that look like?
Well, we could look at the 10 Commandments, as laid out in our reading from Exodus 20. The 10 Commandments are a great place to start to look at how to live as Kingdom people. That's where Martin Luther started with his Small Catechism. To summarize the 10 Commandments, Jesus said to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Care for them. Speak well of them. Protect them. Basically, live out your calling as a redeemed child in any and every situation in life. But there’s more to it, I think. See, in Exodus 19, just before our Old Testament Reading, just before He posts His kingdom rules, Yahweh is speaking with the Israelites and He says, “You will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…” A "KINGDOM of PRIESTS." Sounds like ministry work to me. But, lest you think, "Well, that's Old Testament stuff; that doesn't apply to me. I don't have any ministry responsibilities." Well, 1 Peter echoes these words when refering to the “royal priesthood” to which we’ve been called. Sounds like ministry work to me, too. In other words, our kingdom work involves serving the spiritual needs of our neighbor, too. Now, not everyone is called into the Office of the Holy Ministry; not everyone is a pastor, but we still have the responsibility of caring for the spiritual needs of those around us. Because there are a lot of people out there looking to be found. There are a lot of people, even in these pews, who need to experience the love of Jesus in a new way. There are too many people in this world who are unaware that the King has come (for THEM), and this King is coming again—ready or not.
Dieterich Bonhoeffer wrote of the kingdom work of the church in this way. He said, “The church that does not exist for others is no church at all.” See, as kingdom people, a kingdom of priests, we exist for others. When we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we’re praying a for few things all at once. We’re asking for God’s kingdom of power to work in Creation. We’re asking for His kingdom of grace to come to us by His Spirit, that we would live sanctified, holy lives. And we’re asking for Him to return soon, in His kingdom of glory, that we might enjoy eternity with Him. But we’re asking for more than that. When we pray, "Thy kingdom come," we're also praying that others be brought into the Kingdom, by grace through faith. And we’re asking that God would use us to bring them in.
So, again, how do we do this? How do we live as kingdom people? Well, Jesus came proclaiming the Good News, and helping others. He sent out His disciples out to proclaim the Good News, and to help others. Guess what He’s calling us to do, now…proclaim the Good News, and help others. To simply be the Church, living our individual vocations, caring for the needs of those around us. To exist for others.
Last week, there were nine of us from Holy Trinity who went to Phoenix for a Lutheran Ministry Conference. The last speaker we got to hear is the pastor at a church in Houston. His message highlighted Hurricane Harvey and its impact in his own life, in his community, and in his church. His family lost almost everything, unfortunately. And it’s been difficult for them and so many others. But the blessing out of it, he says, is in how the congregation came together to care for others. They’re helping 50 families repair their homes, even taking on all the costs to do so. They housed 45 or so people in the church the first few days of flooding. They’ve become a foodbank, essentially. They’ve done so much. In fact, they were featured on the Today Show one morning, as Al Roker visited them and gave them a grant to support their kingdom work. It’s pretty amazing!
But what struck me the most was one particular comment he made. He said “It took a hurricane for us to come together and care more deeply about our community.” He was confessing before hundreds of us in that room the fact that they should have been doing this all along. For them, it took a hurricane to get it together...what’s it going to take for us?
We’re about to pray it, soon—“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come…” Yes, Lord—Your kingdom comes with or without our prayers. Yes, Lord—let Your kingdom come to us. But let those words also be a prayer of seeking how God will use us for His kingdom to come through us. Because people are looking to be found. People are looking for the Kingdom of God to come to them. By grace, we are kingdom people, now…so let us, by that grace, boldly say to this hurting world, “Ready or not, here we come!”
Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen.
