A movement to recreate the world

Jesus did not come to start a new religion, to establish a new ethic, or to be a moral example. His call was more radical than that. It was “the Kingdom of God is near at hand, repent and believe the Gospel”. [Mk. 1-15] Jesus was the leader of a movement to recreate the world.

Jesus’ whole life was a battle against the power of evil, from the Temptations till his death. But while he was sensitive to evil he had a growing awareness that the power of God was breaking through and that the power of good was greater. The blind were seeing, the lame walking, communities forming, the poor gaining hope and so forth.

Jesus spoke constantly of the Kingdom. It is mentioned around 160 times in the New Testament. It was the heart of his message, the vision he loved and died for.

The Gospels are all clear that something radically new was happening in Jesus. A new age was beginning. Israel’s history was reaching its climax. Things would never be the same again. We were at the door to freedom, hope and God’s purpose. It may not be fully achieved but the victory has been won. We now have the hope we need to struggle with Jesus to build a world where death and evil will be defeated, creation renewed, justice will reign and all of us will be united in peace with God.

Jesus showed us his Kingdom in his healing miracles, his reaching out to the poor and marginalised and restoring them to health and relationships, in his joyous table fellowship.

The Church then is the community of disciples gathering in Jesus’ name to carry on his mission: to preach, struggle for and reveal God’s Kingdom.

The Church is the first fruit of the Kingdom but the Kingdom is much bigger than the Church.

The Church exists not for itself but to be a sign of the Kingdom. It is to be a test case, it is to so live that people can look at the Church and take hope that the Kingdom is possible.

That is why Pope Paul VI claimed, that the ultimate source of mission is Jesus with his urgent message of the Kingdom. “Only the Kingdom therefore is absolute, and it makes everything else relative.” And Pope John Paul II, “The Church is effectively and concretely at the service of the Kingdom...” and Pope Benedict XVI, “The motive for mission is not that souls will be lost, but so that the peace and reconciliation of the Kingdom can reach its maximum potential in history.”

Too often we Christians live as if heaven is our home. But our home is here and our mission is the same as Jesus’ and the Holy Spirit’s. It is “to renew the face of the earth”.

Fr Noel Connolly
director@columban.org.au

Read more of Fr Noel Connolly's articles