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November 7, 2010

Yours is the Kingdom of God

Preacher: Pastor Braun Campbell Series: Lectionary Category: Biblical Scripture: Luke 6:20–6:31

The Feast of All Saints
St. John's Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA
Luke 6:20-31

“Yours is the Kingdom of God”

How do you know you’re in a kingdom?  I know that the first things that come to mind for me when I think about a “kingdom” are knights and castles, the kind of stuff that you’re read about in fairy tales or European history class.  Does a kingdom have a sign at its border, or a bell that chimes to let you know that you’ve entered royal lands?  If that’s kind of abstract, how do you know that you’re going from one state to another around here?  I was thinking about the times that I drive up and down I-95, crossing into North Carolina or Maryland.  What’s different when you pass a border?  There are usually big, reflective road signs marking the line between states, the kind that might have the state flower and a “Welcome to State X,” but a change that stands out most clearly for me is the road itself: the pavement abruptly shifts. You can see the line on the ground that shows where the authority of one state’s transportation department ends and the other’s begins.  Sometimes that can be a very good thing – it just depends on which way you’re traveling.

You don’t see many honest-to-goodness kingdoms in the world today.  In the ones that are out there, the kings and queens more often than not serve in a symbolic role.  When it gets down to it, they don’t really have much to do with the power of the government or the authority to make decisions for their people.  If we really want to know what a kingdom might be, what a king could and should actually do for his kingdom, we need to look back into history.  Something about that word “kingdom” bugs me, though.  A few weeks ago, I attended our District’s fall church workers’ conference, and one of the presenters, Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs from our seminary in St. Louis, asked us for the word to describe what a king does.  Bakers go baking.  Firefighters go firefighting.  But kings don’t go “kinging” – they reign.  They reign over a kingdom.  We think of a kingdom as a place, something that could have borders and welcome signs and rest stops, but that understanding of “kingdom” can be a little limiting.  In the languages of the Old Testament and New Testament, kings did go “kinging.”  A kingdom, then, isn’t so much about a place as it is about the king’s action, his reigning.  The kingdom is everywhere the king reigns, everywhere his power and authority are at work.

Last week’s Reformation Day meditation on Psalm 46 reminded us what it means to say that God is our refuge and strength.  Our Lord gives faith to stand strong and to know His peace, even as the very world might be shaken around us.  He is a mighty fortress for His saints.  But how can you know if you are a saint, a subject of the King’s reign, a part of His kingdom?

Are you a sinner?  Are you a saint?  If you’ve ever fallen short of perfection in your life, you can answer “yes” to the former question; if you have been called to faith in Christ through the message of the gospel, you can do the same for the latter.  If every thought, word, and deed that you have formed, spoken, or done has reflected love for God and love for your fellow human beings, you don’t need to be listening to this sermon.  But if you’re like me, if you need God’s mercy and forgiveness for a life that has been filled with imperfection, know this: the Church is a hospital for sinners.  We aren’t a collection of perfect people.  That’s not what saints are.  Saints are all those people who have gone before is in the faith, along with all those who now share faith in Jesus as the Messiah, God’s Son.  He is working through His Church to save us imperfect, sin-sick people, bringing healing throughout our life on this earth, reconnecting us with our Creator.

Today, we celebrate the Festival of All Saints, and our Gospel reading comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain.  Was Jesus talking to perfect people?  No.  But neither was he directing this message to just anyone: Jesus is teaching his disciples, people who had been following him for some time, learning at his feet.  Like us, these are people who are broken, in need of what God is bringing into the world through His Son.

Luke’s recording of Jesus’ message begins with him pronouncing blessings and woes to his hearers, his disciples.  “Blessed you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”  This and the other beatitudes are all about being in Christ.  Jesus is contrasting a way of life and a way of death here, not promising earthly prosperity and happiness for his followers.  The beatitudes point to hope in Christ alone.  Consider this in another way: the woes that Jesus pronounces are to all those who are putting their hope in the power of worldly things.  Those who devote their time and energy to obtaining wealth, keeping a full belly, mocking the people around them, or being popular – such people are firmly fixed on the here-and-now, focused on taking care of themselves and their own concerns.  That’s the path that leads to death, as it depends on things that pass away.  Jesus calls blessed, on the other hand, those who would depend on him and his reign in their lives; not just looking ahead to the Last Day, when his power and authority will be known by all, but even now.

Ask yourself: “What is reigning in my life?  Am I serving money?  My belly?  Do I mock and tear down other people to feel better about myself?  Do I prize popularity?”  On what do you depend in life?  Where is your hope and confidence?

Jesus’ reigning – his kingdom – is already here, and it is here for you.  Jesus calls you and all his saints to depend on him, not on things that ultimately pass away.  In him, as St. Paul writes in our Epistle reading, we have an inheritance by God’s grace.  We don’t have to be fixated on the stuff that the world says is most important, stuff that would just end up letting us down.  Rather, as God’s saints, people for whom Jesus’ reigning is already a reality, we do not need to live in fear and desperation, always trying to serve ourselves.  In the cross and the empty tomb, saints remember what Jesus has done for us.  Blessed with hope in Christ, we are called to live selflessly.  Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve.  When you and I depend on him, as we live in his kingdom, we begin to do what we are as saints: loving those who are our enemies, praying for those who insult us, doing to others as we wish they would do to us.

How do you know you are in a kingdom?  It’s not like the trees change right at the border – even the road would probably be the same as you enter in.  Since a kingdom isn’t so much about a place but about a king’s reign, his presence in power and authority, the closer and closer you come to the heart of the kingdom brings a greater experience of the king’s reign.  You might first encounter other citizens along the road.  Traveling along the road you enter villages, seeing the capital city in the distance.  And then, arriving in the capital, you see the king’s palace standing tall at the center.  Going in, the majesty of the king becomes more and more evident, even as you enter the great hall and see the fantastic banquet that the king has prepared for his guests.  Looking up, you see the king himself on his throne, welcoming you in and inviting you to join the feast.  You know you are in a kingdom through the presence of the king.

Today as we celebrate Holy Communion, you are in the presence of the King!  We don’t have a mere sign or symbol of His presence: as Jesus himself promised, he is here with us in his body and blood.  He gathers us around his throne, the cross, from which he gave his life for you and for me to bring healing to us imperfect people.  Here, at this banquet that God Himself prepared, you feast with all the saints from every time and place.  Here, the hungry will be filled, the longing will be satisfied, and the poor will know peace.

The King is here, and He is saying, “Blessed are you.  Yours is the kingdom of God.”

Amen.

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