What do we know about God and God’s kingdom?
Our two Old Testament readings this weekend remind us of the
many attributes of God experienced by God’s people throughout the ages. The Book of Wisdom tells us that God is
merciful and just, and thus, life-giving
to those who know him. God is mighty, wielding power when necessary to
convert disbelievers, but God is also lenient
and patient and caring. And we, too, are called to be like God, just and kind in our turn. Psalm 86
reminds us that God is good and
forgiving, abounding in kindness, merciful and gracious, slow to anger. Thus, if we know God, and strive to be like
God, there is no room for fear, only trust and confidence, which are good ground for hope.
In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus builds on this notion of knowledge of God
by teaching his disciples about God’s kingdom.
Jesus uses parables to demonstrate that knowing and believing in God,
being in relationship with God (being righteous),
are essential to salvation; the good seed
of which he speaks are the children of the kingdom who will shine like the sun in that kingdom. Yet it is not up to us to decide who falls
into which category; again, we must simply trust and have confidence in God’s
plan. And how can we maintain that trust
and confidence? Paul suggests to the
Romans that prayer is involved, prayer that relies upon the presence of the
Holy Spirit within us, a Spirit whose inexpressible
groanings take our prayer to a depth we can’t reach on our own. We don’t know perfect union with God – not
yet – but the Spirit does. Transformed
by the Spirit, we too can cultivate that all-important relationship with God,
so that we can help to grow the kingdom (think mustard seed, or leavened
bread!)… and draw ever closer to full knowledge of God.
This post is based on our Thursday Scripture class.
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