"As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a
parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the
kingdom of God was to appear immediately.'" Luke
19:11
The Kingdom of God was a tricky image for me when I was young
in faith and came upon it. It seems so core to Jesus' own image of all that is
afoot in his teaching on the future or perhaps the present or perhaps both.
The Kingdom of God is like...and he would go on...a mustard
seed filled with potential to feed many...a woman kneading
bread...a pearl of surpassing worth for which one will trade all.
He makes the Kingdom of God so appealing, so desirable. There is so much
creative energy in it. As I look back over the decisions of my life I find
myself wondering if I switched from Design to Sociology under the influence of
this image? Did I even know it? By the end of college I was hopeful I too might bring something of
God's reign into other's lives.
I came on this quote recently about the field of Sociology as
I studied in it.
"One of the ways American sociology differed dramatically
from, say, German sociology is that from the very beginning it had an
astonishingly religious content to it. Albion Small, who was the chairman of the
department of sociology at the University of Chicago, the founder of the first
sociology journal in the United States, the president of the American
Sociological Association...wrote the following: "Sociology is a science ... of
God's image ... a moral philosophy conscious of its task," which was nothing
less than "an approximation of the ideal of social life contained in the
Gospels." Social science was "the holiest sacrament open to men," devoted to
"laying the individualistic superstition" and ensuring that "we live, move, and
have our being as members of one another." In other words,
the kingdom of God is not reserved for the beyond or the end of time, but
can be created in the here and now by social scientists and ministers working
hand-in-hand together." (http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/Obamas-Favorite-Theologian-A-Short-Course-on-Reinhold-Niebuhr.aspx )
It does not escape my notice that while I was doing field
placement in my senior year and mentioned to the Dean of the Sociology
Department that I had begun to wonder about the priesthood, Dean Mossman, who was an exceptional woman that had
trained under the influence of Albion, set a lunch appointment for me with a
Roman Catholic priest who had become a social worker running a major agency. She was so wise in my
life, in so many lives. The priest was so appealing in his love of helping others in
hands on ways.
Now I wonder if Dean Mossman hoped I would see this connection, that
God's Kingdom comes in some measure when there is just care for the poor. This
reign is closer to realization when societies balance out a bit and provide
basics for most if not all. It comes to some degree when we will knead good hope, concrete hope
into lives. It comes to some degree when we catch a vision of abiding care, let
it be implanted in our vision like a lens after a cataract is removed, so we see
all through it's hopefulness and want to live by its art. This hope and vision can give
protective care to many as they begin to live on more solid care. This is all
vision language, but the vision we hold shapes our reality.
So here we are reading in Luke as Jesus is about to enter
Jerusalem. If we accept the Gospel at face value, Jesus knows what is ahead to
some significant degree. Those who follow him are hopeful the Reign of God will
come soon, perhaps almost now.
He gently warns them it is all more a journey, like when a
nobleman goes on a journey to receive royal power before he will return. The
people reject the notion that this man should reign over them...but reign he
will. Don't miss Jesus' dying and rising overlay here. Upon his return he asks
an accounting for all that he left in the care of his servants. That would be
you and me among others. There are those who invested wisely, who multiplied
the gifts left to them by ten-fold, five-fold, and create pleasure in the
heart/mind of this royal leader. There is one too timid to invest any dare in
this reign, to use the gifts for any hope of good and by implication, God. There is
no timidity in the judgement that comes down on him.
"Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has
ten pounds." (And they said to him, "Lord, he has ten pounds!") "I tell you,
to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even
what they have will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not
want me to be king over them, bring them here and slaughter them in my
presence."' Luke 19:24-27
There is no softness here for those who will do nothing to get
outside themselves and bring in God's reign. If these followers think they will
just patiently wait upon its arrival with no use of their God-given talents to
effect its reality, they are in for a shock. If you are not a follower, but one
who actively or passively rejects the expectations of God on your life, talents,
care, the end will be all the harsher for you.
In the end it seems it does not matter if you are a priest or
a social worker or a hair dresser or a politician or a mom or a dad or a farmer
or a shop keeper, or a heart and soul committed money maker. It matters whether
you use the daily options of your life to create days that smack of God's
reign. Further it matters that society prospers by your interactions.
Personally I do not believe this about control of others, it is about prosperous
choices of care. Do the things I do, give myself to, enrich life
with hope, display God's abiding concern and care? Is there leavening in another's
day as in my day? Have I traded something of limited worth this day for
something of lasting, eternal worth? Can anyone tuck under the canopy of my
life and find home? Does it all smack of God seen or unseen?
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