Intro: New Testament scholars unanimously agree that Jesus’ message and ministry were all about what he called “the Kingdom of God.” But what did Jesus mean by the Kingdom of God? As Christians we choose to be followers of Christ. How can we be his followers if we have little or no understanding about what he commanded his disciples to put first in their lives? “Seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness/justice.” (Matthew 6:33)
Before we try to gain an appreciation of what Jesus intended by the Kingdom of God, we must address some concerns about language. The word “Kingdom” challenges the very spirit behind the use of inclusive language. Kingdom is a patriarchal word which implies masculine authority, superiority, and legitimacy. To overcome these unfortunate associations, terms like the reign of God, the rule of God, the “Kindom” of God, the Beloved Community, the God Movement, Cosmic Shalom, and Community of All Creation have been suggested. I understand and applaud these substitutes.
However, Jesus assumed a background and intention in his choice of Kingdom of God which we must first understand and appreciate before we move on to different terms for that inbreaking into history. One of the first rules of interpreting the Bible (exegesis) is to understand what the text meant to the original audience. Only after gaining that initial understanding can we try to apply that meaning in our own time and place (hermeneutics). Without that first step, we are likely to miss both the original intention and a legitimate application for our own cultural situation. Once we have gained that primary meaning, we are free to use whatever terms we choose as long as they include and communicate the original essence and meaning. As I hope we shall see, Jesus used the best available term to communicate what God was doing through him in light of the dynamics of his world and the Jewish background of Yahweh being ultimate and cosmic King.
Jesus lived in a world which was defined by kingship and empire. The whole Roman Empire (and much of the rest of the world) consisted of kingdoms. Emperors, vassal kings, Roman governors and officials like Pilate, ethnarchs (“rulers of people”), tetrarchs (“rulers of a fourth of a kingdom” like Herod Antipas who had jurisdiction over John the Baptizer and Jesus), high priests like Caiaphas, and councils like the Jewish Sanhedrin all operated under some form of kingship. In Jesus’ day the Roman emperor was the “king of kings and lord of lords.” All authority emanated from him. Every ruler in Caesar’s empire ruled in the emperor’s name, by his pleasure, and in obedience to his will.
Furthermore, every aspect of the societies which resulted from this imperial arrangement was influenced and, to a lesser or greater degree, determined by the rule of King Caesar—political, economic, religious, business, familial, military, environmental, and social aspects. Our modern notions of kingship being limited to the political realm or constitutional monarchies where the ruler is a figurehead must be abandoned. When Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God, he was asking his hearers to imagine what their world would be like if God ruled instead of scoundrels and crooks like Caesar, Herod, Pilate, and Caiaphas. How would their lives be different in each aspect of their existence if the God Jesus proclaimed and incarnated actively and intimately shaped their history?
Jesus was highly critical of the rulers of his day. He called Herod Antipas (one of Herod the Great’s sons and tetrarch of Galilee and Perea) a “fox.” In Jesus’ day, a fox was considered a cowardly, untrustworthy, conniving beast and was often contrasted with the courageous lion. Today Jesus would probably call Herod a weasel or skunk. (See Luke 13:31-35.) He also exposed the arrogance, pretense, and ruthlessness of gentile rulers and commanded his followers to reject the ways of kings and earthly lords. (See Matthew 20:20-28.)
What Jesus did was to take the words “king” and “kingdom” and coopt them in a most radical and transforming way. God was the ultimate King, but the nature of God seen in the life, teachings, and deeds of Jesus was the exact opposite of what people had experienced for three thousand years as they suffered under kingdoms and empires. This King loves Her enemies. This King loves unconditionally. This King serves and even washes the feet of proud men. This King notices sparrows and impoverished widows. This King judges nations and people on the basis of how they treat the most vulnerable in their societies. This is one King people can trust to have their best interests at heart. This King has womb and wounded love. (Jesus taught that compassion is the primary characteristic of God. The etymological root for the Hebrew word for compassion is “womb.” This King is a Mother who has deep empathic love.) The world had never known such a king, but Jesus claimed that such a Lord was breaking into time and space through him. The Kingdom Jesus announced and inaugurated was indeed an “Upside Kingdom” which we can understand and label today as the Rule of God, the Reign of God, Kindom, Beloved Community, God Movement, Cosmic Shalom, and Community of All Creation as long as we understand how radical and pervasive that event really is in our own history. Every aspect of our existence (personal, communal, and cosmic) is called to be transformed by a God who is defined by love, compassion, justice, truth, joy, forgiveness, reconciliation, and shalom. Jesus’ Kingdom of God is the ultimate alternative community and serves as a judgment on every other arrangement in history. A new “King” has come, and the world can never be the same again. And neither can or should we.
[We should also remember that the Greek word for “gospel” was a political term used by the Roman emperors. In their proclamations, they claimed to be the ones who brought “good news” to the people of the Roman Empire. Their propaganda also referred to the emperor being the savior of the world, the one who brought peace, The Lord (as opposed to being just “a” lord), Divus (one like the gods), the son of god, and (in some cases) a living god. When the New Testament calls Jesus “The Lord” and announces that he is the one who brings peace on earth and is the Savior of the world and the Son of God, treasonous and blasphemous claims are being made in the eyes of Rome. There was room for only one “The Lord” is the Roman Empire. The message of the book of Revelation can be summed up in one sentence: Jesus is Lord and not Caesar. The coin Jesus asked his critics to produce was a denarius. On this coin were the words “Tiberius Caesar, son of the Divine Augustus.” The Roman Senate had proclaimed Augustus (the first Roman emperor) a god. His heir, Tiberius, was thus “a son of a god.” Increasingly, the Romans used emperor worship to unify their empire and secure the kind of blind allegiance which would facilitate their rule over 50 million people (20 percent of the world’s population at that time.)]
