When, in the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles want to know if Jesus is going to restore the kingdom to Israel, Jesus
tells them to focus their attention elsewhere: It is
not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established. In fact, political dominion was never in the
cards; Jesus wants Israel to be a strong spiritual
entity, grounded in the power that is love, rather in any form of physical force
to be reckoned with. It surely is not
what the apostles were expecting.
The period between
the Ascension of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost must
have been a time of fear and expectation and much prayer for the apostles. When Jesus ascends, he leaves them
physically; now they must learn to rely on his spiritual presence with
them. Before ascending, as described in
Luke’s Gospel, Jesus reminds the apostles that they are to preach repentance. In order
to do that, they must first turn to love and allow it to work in them; only
then will they be able to preach to all the nations a universal call to
repentance, so that his love can come to dwell in all people. Only then will all be able, as Psalm 47
suggests, to shout to God with cries of
gladness.
If Jesus has his
way, the Letter to the Ephesians suggests, the
eyes of all hearts will be
enlightened; eyes blind to the potential depth of love before the death of
Jesus will now see the full measure of love to which they are called. That love is what the letter calls the surpassing power for those who
believe: when Christ’s love for us enables
us to open our eyes to see the love he has for everyone, and for all of
creation. It is this same love to which
we are called, if only we can allow Christ to rule our hearts. His power, that is, his love, is the power we
need to share in, that we might see all things as he sees them, love them as he
loves them, honor them as he honors them.
This is truly the only possible restoration of the kingdom Jesus imagines
for his followers, and it is the kingdom he wishes for us.
This post is based
on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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