Note to Readers...

Dear Friends,

Although the contents of this blog have been preserved below, new postings to this blog ended on January 3, 2011. But please checkout my new blog: "Embracing Jesus."

April

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Heirs of God's kingdom failed (are failing)

Jesus teaches that some of those picked to establish his kingdom will not be (are not) part of it.

Matthew 8:5-12 5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him 6 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress." 7 And he said to him, "I will come and cure him." 8 The centurion answered, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it." 10 When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, "Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Do we ignore Jesus' teaching that some of those picked to establish his kingdom have failed and are not part of his kingdom?

Note: The "prototype" of the kingdom of God was to be established way back in the book of Numbers, when the people of Israel were to take the land of Cannan.  There they were to live as holy people.  This kingdom was to be a open invitation for all races to come and join with them in being God's people.  But because the people had no faith, they didn't settle in the land.  And later, when they did, they had no heart for being God's community (To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God) taking the blessings of God and hoarding them instead of sharing them.  This is not just the story of the nation of Israel, but it is very much the story of the church today.  The church was also to be this community of people set aside to be Jesus' hands and feet - an open invitation to the world to come be God's people too.  But generally, we have hoarded God's abundance, ignoring the teachings of Jesus to seek out those in spiritual and physical need and offer ourselves to them.  I think what Jesus says of the nation of Israel then equally applies to much of what is loosely called "the church" today...  "the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"   

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