Jesus: The Kingdom of God

515 Jesus the Kingdom of GodWhat is the most important thing in your life? Is it Jesus? Is it your focus, center, pivot, the focal point of your life? Jesus is the focus of my life. Without him I'm lifeless, without him nothing is going in the right direction. But with Jesus, what a joy, I live in the kingdom of God.

After the creed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Messenger of God, Christ, I confirm to you: “You live with Jesus in the kingdom of God because it is within you, among us”.

The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. To which he replied: "The kingdom of God does not come in such a way that one can recognize it by external signs. Nor will one be able to say: Look, here it is! Or: It is there! No, the kingdom of God is in your midst. Or: “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21 New Geneva Translation).

No sooner had Jesus started proclaiming the kingdom of God with authority than the Pharisees were there. They accused him of blasphemy even when he told them the truth. He testified in his gospel that the time has come and the kingdom of God has come (according to Mark 1,14-15). At Jacob's well, a woman from Samaria comes to draw water. Jesus begins the dialogue with her: “Give me a drink!” “Jesus answered: If you knew what the gift of God is and who it is that says to you: Give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you spring water, living water. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring flowing unceasingly into eternal life” (John 4,9-14 New Geneva translation).

Jesus also offers you his way of life so that it will flow unceasingly between you and your neighbor, now and into eternal life in the resurrection. “But the time is coming, yes it is already here, when people will worship God as the Father, people who are filled with the Spirit and have come to know the truth. God is spirit, and those who would worship him must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4,23-26 New Geneva translation).

How do you worship God in spirit and in truth? Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches!" If you abide in the vine of Jesus, you will bear fruit, more fruit, yes much fruit. You should use the fruit that Jesus gives you to offer it to your neighbors. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, God's way of life, are not only the fruit of the Spirit, but are expressions of your love for your neighbor. The source of love, Jesus, which flows incessantly, will never run dry, but rather flow into eternal life. This is true for today and for the future, when God's kingdom will be visible in all its fullness.

Jesus reveals through you the spouse, your children and parents, your friends and fellow human beings, however different they may be. Jesus wants His love flowing to you to flow through you to these neighbors. You would like to share this love with your neighbor, because you honor them the same as yourself.

You and I have a living hope because Jesus, through His resurrection, holds an eternal inheritance from the dead: eternal life in the Kingdom of God. That's what I focus on: Jesus in the Kingdom of God.

by Toni Püntener


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