Richard Rohr emphasizes how community is at the heart of the reign of God:
The world has suffered much from the various forms of Christian colonialism. Yet the reign of God is an alternative to domination systems and all “isms.” Jesus teaches that right relationship (that is, love) is the ultimate and daily criterion. If a social order allows and encourages strong connectedness between people and creation, people and each other, people and God, then we have a truly sacred culture: the reign of God. It wouldn’t be a world without pain or mystery, but simply a world where we are connected and in communion with all things.
God’s reign is about union and communion, which means that it’s also about mercy, forgiveness, nonviolence, letting go, solidarity, service, and lives of love, patience, and simplicity. Who can doubt that this is the sum and substance of Jesus’ teaching? In the reign of God, the very motives for rivalry, greed, and violence have been destroyed. We know we’re all part of God’s beloved community. [1]
Palestinian Anglican priest Naim Ateek emphasizes Jesus’ call to community and peacemaking:
Jesus called into community a small group of people. They were his disciples and friends. He taught them the essence of faith—the love of God and the love of neighbor—and he became a role model to them. When they asked him to teach them to pray, he taught them to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom: “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” If you want to be children of God, he said, you need to be engaged in peacemaking; if you want to imitate God and be God’s children, you have to love your enemies and to pray for those that persecute you. If you want to resist evil, do not use evil methods. You have to practice forgiveness and reconciliation. You must be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. [2]
Father Richard continues:
Every description Jesus offers of God’s reign—of love, relationship, non-judgment, and forgiveness, where the last shall be first and the first shall be last—shows that any imposition on God’s side is an impossibility! Wherever we’ve tried to force Christianity on people, the long-term results have been disastrous. The gospel flourishes in the realm of true freedom.
But it’s a freedom we must choose for ourselves. It is almost impossible to turn away from what seems like the only game in town (political, economic, or religious), unless we have glimpsed a more attractive alternative. It’s hard to imagine it, much less imitate it, unless we see someone else do it first. Jesus is that icon of the more attractive alternative, a living parable. Jesus has forever changed our human imagination, and we are now both burdened and gladdened by new possibility. There is good news to counter the deadening bad news, but we first have to be turned away from a conventional way of understanding. [3]
References:
[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr, Jesus’ Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount (Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media, 1996, 2022), 12–13.
[2] Naim Ateek, “Faithfulness to Christ, Resistance to Empire,” in Challenging Empire: God, Faithfulness and Resistance, ed. Naim Ateek, Cedar Duaybis and Maurine Tobin (Jerusalem: Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, 2012), 195. In this sermon, Ateek refers to Matthew 22:37–39, 6:10, 5:9, 5:44, 5:13–14.
[3] Rohr, Jesus’ Alternative Plan, 14–15, 8.
Image credit and inspiration: Harli Marten, untitled (detail), 2016, photo. Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. The reign of God is peace, even today, between two people and a tree at sunset.
Story from Our Community:
I rejoice in the opportunity to “scratch in the dirt.” I like finding seedlings from plants I want to propagate, but more importantly, I simply find joy in being in the moment in the dirt of my garden. The kingdom of God is all around us—we just need to be still to see and hear it. I have only recently been able to do this. I am so grateful for the experience.
—Finlay M.
