It is a common plot for television and movies for a man to take a woman to a restaurant on a date.
It is a French restaurant, and the menu is printed in French. The woman, fluent in the French language, orders something that only she and the waiter understand.
The man, not wanting to appear ignorant, does something truly ignorant. He simply points to some mysterious words in the menu and says, "I’ll have one of those."
Big mistake.
Much to the dismay of the man, when the meal is brought to the table, what the man has ordered is both alien and disgustingly similar to what he has tried to keep out of his garden.
Be careful what you order in restaurants. If you don’t know what you are asking for, you might very well regret it.
The same can be said for prayer. Be careful what you pray for. You might get it, and regret it.
Take the Lord’s Prayer, for example.
Here is a prayer that looks and sounds safe. What could possibly be distressing about praying for our daily bread, or freedom from temptation?
But hold on a moment. Very early in the prayer, there is the phrase, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Praying for the kingdom to come on earth might be like asking for escargot in a French restaurant and ending up with a plate of snails. You’ll get what you ask for, but it might not be what you
want.
Do you really want the kingdom of God to come on earth?
What exactly are we asking for when we pray this phrase of the Lord’s Prayer?
We are actually asking for two things. We are asking for a radical change in our society and a radical change within ourselves.
In the kingdom of God, it is the poor who are blessed. It is those who mourn and grieve. It is the meek and those who hunger and thirst for what is right. It is the merciful and the pure in heart. It is the peacemaker and the persecuted. These are the people blessed
in God’s Kingdom.
That is a radical change from our present society in which the rich are the ones who are blessed; in which the aggressive climber of the corporate ladder gets the best job; and in which the immoral prosper.
In the kingdom of God, when you get hit on your right cheek, you will willingly get hit on your left cheek as well.
In the kingdom of God, if someone asks for your coat, you give him your shirt as well. If anyone has two shirts, one of them is shared with some one who has none. Two shirts! My goodness, I must have 30 shirts.
It only gets worse in the parables of Christ. It is the son who wished his father dead so he could get his inheritance early who ends up the hero in Jesus’ best-known story. It is a despised Samaritan who is to be respected for his compassion. Tax collectors and sinners enter the kingdom before the pious and upright. Lazarus, the beggar, rests in Abraham’s bosom, while the rich man at whose gates he had begged languishes in torment. Those who work one hour are paid the same as those who work twelve. What kind of economic order is that?
In the kingdom of God, nobody is forced to live in poverty. Everyone is treated with dignity, no matter the amount of his or her productive work. The last go first and the first last. The nobodies receive a place of honor at the feasts. In story after story it is the worthless of the world’s societies who become the most important in God’s society.
What in heaven’s name is going on here? Well that just the point. What is going on is in heaven’s name. These things are things of the kingdom of God.
If we are poor, powerless, and oppressed, all of this is positively Good News. Indeed, in the Scriptures, it is said that to these descriptions of the kingdom, the "poor heard gladly."
When we pray for the kingdom to come on this earth, we are really asking for two things. First, we are asking for a radical change in the world. For there to be a global change so that there would be established on this earth a perfect society.
In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah wrote of such a perfect society.
"(Nations) shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken." (4:3-4)
In Isaiah, the prophet wrote about rejoicing in Jerusalem, where there would be no more weeping.
"No more shall there be in (the land) an infant that lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days. For the child shall die a hundred years old... They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their children with them.
“Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent’s food." (Isaiah 65:21ff)
But be careful about what you pray for. These global changes are wonderful. Who could argue with peace, security, and freedom?
But when we pray that the Kingdom of God comes to earth, we are not only asking for something global, but something personal as well.
The kingdom of God is not only a global change, but a personal one as well.
At one time Jesus was asked when the Kingdom of God would be established on earth. He replied, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ’Lo, here it is!’ or
’There it is,’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." (Luke)
In the kingdom of God, we do not worry about what we will eat or drink. We learn to trust in God. (Mt 6:25-34).
In the kingdom of God, we give up things that are of value to us, such as that extra coat or shirt, because we value other people most.
In the kingdom of God, we learn to love our neighbor as ourselves.
In the kingdom of God, we learn peace within the midst of tragedy.
In the kingdom of God, we learn to hunger to do that which is right and just, rather than to do that which satisfies our greed and lust.
In the kingdom of God, society changes because WE have first learned how to change.
In the kingdom of God, God rules the society.
AND in the kingdom of God, God rules our hearts as individuals.
And that can be distressful. Because when God rules our hearts, souls and minds, we have to let go of some things that have become very important and dear to us.
It means letting go of our hate and anger. None of us start out wanting to hate another person, or to be angry. But these become familiar feasts that are hard to leave behind.
It means letting go of our fear and anxiety. Instead, we learn to trust in God.
The kingdom of God means letting go of our greed for possessions, our lust for power, and our selfish world view. These are hard things to let go of, because they have been part of us for so long.
So often, we cling to that which is of no value, and lose the things that are of importance.
We work at our jobs long hours and we miss seeing our children grow up.
We stuff money into our wallets and buy the things for our homes that a burglar later steals from us. And all the while we missed the opportunities to give out of our abundance to those who had nothing.
The kingdom of God is within us, or can be. But we have to let go of those worthless things that have become dear to us. Let go of the greed. Let go of the anger. Let go of the fear. Let go of the penny in the vase and begin to value the things that God values. Hold on instead to the love. Search for peace where there was hate. Embrace trust rather than fear.
It is hard to let go of these things.
It is a difficult thing to do, to pray for God’s kingdom to come on this earth. Are you ready to pray?
Remember, it is the poor who are blessed in the kingdom. Are you ready to pray?
Remember it is the one who mourns and grieves who is blessed. Are you ready to pray?
Remember it is the meek who inherits the kingdom of God, not the strong and powerful. Are you ready to pray?
Remember, it is the enemy, as well as those who are easy to like, whom you must love. Are you ready to pray?
I’m not certain I’m always ready. My life, as yours, has been seduced by the way things are in this present age. Yet God does not depend on your readiness.
The Kingdom will come by God’s initiative and when God decides. And we shall be part of it only by grace.
Ready or not, we must pray, knowing that the answer to our prayer may change all the comfortable rules by which we have lived.
If you are ready, then we will pray, and as we do, then you best tremble as you come to the most dangerous words you may ever utter: "Thy kingdom come..."
And be prepared for a revolutionary change when God answers that prayer.
Are you ready to pray?
Let’s pray together right now, as Christ taught us to, using the version of the prayer that is found on the front cover of the bulletin.
Copyright 2005, Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
www.Pittendreigh.com
