![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/364\/2013\/08\/Matthew12atCP2.jpg\" "\\"Matthew12atCP2\\"")
<\/a>So Jesus was shaking up both the political and religious institutions of his day with this idea of the Kingdom of God. But what does that mean for us today, here and now, in the 21st century?<\/p>\n
Now the essence of the Kingdom, Chilton says, is based on the community\u2019s acceptance of the poor, the hungry, the bereaved, and the shunned. The Kingdom of God is in your midst, and he points out that this is so important, that in the phrase, \u201cThe Kingdom is among you,\u201d the word \u201cyou\u2019 is plural!<\/em> (In Greek, hymon). The Kingdom is among all of you, among us, where two or three are gathered together. And of course that is taken from the Wisdom literature, that is Wisdom that shows up, Shekhinah, where two or three are gathered together.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s been a tendency in the West to clean up, make more comfortable, this teaching, and so some people always want to stress \u201cOh, the Kingdom of God is within me.\u201d Well, yes, it\u2019s within us, but it\u2019s us, more than just you and I as individuals.<\/p>\n Jesus thought in terms of community. Jews have always thought in terms of community. There\u2019s a shadow side to that, of course, because it can tap into tribalism. And there\u2019s a difference between tribalism and tribe. Tribe is a neat thing. You laugh together, share jokes together, play with language together, all those neat things you do in family and in tribe.<\/p>\n But when Tribe gets spelled with a capital T, when Tribe becomes an idol, we\u2019re in trouble, because tribalism can be extremely fierce, and want to go to war with every other\u2019s tribe. So again, Jesus was dancing that dance between tribalism and tribe. But always he comes back, \u201cThe Kingdom of God is within you, among you\u201d \u2013 plural.<\/p>\n So it is community that is meant to bring about the Kingdom. And this is one more proof that the Kingdom of God is not about your getting to Heaven and crawling over everyone you can to get there. It\u2019s not about that. It\u2019s about bringing something into birth.<\/p>\n \u201cIn all Jesus\u2019 teachings,\u201d says Chilton, \u201cno single concept is more important, more central, more resonant than the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God figures as a vital concept within the Scriptures of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n It is the fundamental energy behind all that is, the King of the Universe, you see. This taps into the whole idea of the Creator God, the Cosmic God, that\u2019s holding the universe together within the order of justice. And that\u2019s why bringing about the Kingdom is bringing about justice, because without justice the Kingdom is not sustainable.<\/p>\n So the first job of the King in Israel is justice, including eco-justice. I love to tell the story about how in Celtic Ireland in the ancient days, when the king was anointed he took a marriage vow to Mother Earth. His job was to preserve Mother Earth, because that\u2019s the only way he could preserve the community. The community needs Mother Earth, especially in a place like Ireland \u2013 or Israel \u2013 where the soil is so shallow. So there\u2019s a direct connection between God the Creator, and the Kingdom, and justice.<\/p>\n Jesus knew that! He saw it in the peasant farms where he grew up. He knew how much he had to be in love with the Earth to preserve the Earth and to get the results each season. Every small farmer knows that. There\u2019s a relationship going on here, and it is about justice.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s why the Jewish Bible talks about the Sabbath, letting the Earth rest once a week, letting the Earth and the animals rest a whole year, every seven years, with a Jubilee every 49 years to let everything rest and start your economics all over again.<\/p>\n So these are just a few examples of the teachings of Jesus as revolutionary, prophetic, at the edge. This is who Jesus is. Trying to sentimentalize him, turning him into Little Bo Peep, it\u2019s an insult! Where is our outrage about that? If Jesus could get outraged about the religion of his day, why are we sleeping and becoming couch potatoes married to television instead of shaking things up?<\/p>\n Borg says, \u201cCompassion for Jesus was political. He called for a politics of compassion.\u201d Compassion is political, because it\u2019s about justice in the Hebrew tradition. And justice is always political, because injustice is the fruit of egoistic politics, and it always needs shaking up.<\/p>\n It needs shaking up in our time especially, because the days are running out on us. The Earth is trying to tell us that it can\u2019t endure this abuse much longer.<\/p>\n I believe the young are receiving special visions from Mother Earth today. They\u2019re not visions about how to save the Church. They\u2019re bigger than that. They\u2019re visions about \u2013 to use the language I\u2019ve been using here \u2013 about the Kingdom.<\/p>\n And you know, the Kingdom\u2019s not the same thing as the Church. The Kingdom is where justice is happening, where compassion is happening, so it\u2019s a verb. And Jesus is our inspiration.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s left it to us, each of us individually, and all of us together, to get the job done.<\/p>\n How are we doing in taking up that challenge today?<\/p>\n ______________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Experience the Christ Path Seminars in real time! Register for \u201cCosmic Christ and Youth: The Occupy Generation,\u201d<\/a> the next Christ Path Seminar weekend taking place 10\/11-13, featuring Adam Bucko as guest speaker, and based on Matthew Fox\u2019s and Adam Bucko\u2019s groundbreaking book, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation.<\/em><\/p>\n To immerse in the leading-edge wisdom and transformational spiritual practices of Matthew Fox, Andrew Harvey, and their guest speakers again and again: order the complete recordings of the Christ Path Seminars<\/a>.<\/p>\n