Metanoia 9
The "Kingdom of God"
The Church The Mystical Body of Christ
The Kingdom is the revolutionary event brought by Jesus, "repent", "metanoia", for the kingdom of God is at hand", announces the Baptist, and repeats Jesus (Mat.3:3, 4:17, Mr.1:15).
Jesus came to earth to establish "His Kingdom", (Mat.16:18-19)...the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, or simply the Kingdom.
18And I tell you that you
are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of
Hades will not overcome it.
19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on
earth will be loosed in heaven." (Mt.16).
Only in Matthew the Kingdom is mentioned 55 times, 35 times as the "Kingdom of Heaven".... Matthew often does not say "Kingdom of God" in respect to the Jews who did not mention the name "God" out of respect to God... the "Kingdom of God" in the gospels is the same as the "Kingdom of Heaven" or just "the Kingdom".
... But after the Gospels, the Kingdom is not mentioned anymore in the Bible, only 3 times... why?... what is this Kingdom?...
What is this Kingdom of God?... A Riddle!:
This Kingdom is never defined in the
Gospels, rather they present it as "a riddle":
1- It is something "so big" that the
whole world can enter into it... each one of us has to enter into it (Jn.3:3,5,
Matt.18:3).
2- But it is "so small" that he enters into each one of us, it is within
us (Luk.17:21, Matt.6:10).
The answer is "Jesus
Christ":
It is so big, that it is the "Mystical Body of Christ", his Church... and it
is something so small, that it is the same Jesus in our hearts.
Jesus Himself is the King and the
Kingdom:
Jesus not only came to show us the Way, but He Himself is "the Way", I
am the way and the truth and the life (Jn.14:6)... and He Himself is "the
Truth" and "the Life"...
... In the Kingdom of God, Jesus is the King... and He came to preach the
Kingdom... but not only that, He Himself is "the Kingdom", praise the Lord..
The "Kingdom" and the
"Church" are considered the same thing
in Mat.16:17-18... and this is why the apostles never mentioned the Kingdom
after the Gospels, because when they mentioned the Church, or simply Jesus
Christ, they were preaching the Kingdom, their task (Matt.10:7, Lk.9:2).
You "in Christ", and Christ "in You":
This is the essence of a "Christian": To be in Christ, and Christ in him, as repeated 7 times in the center of the Sermon of the Last Supper, In John 15:2-7: "Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit" (Jn.15:5).
- To "remain in Christ", is to abide in his only Church, in the "Mystical Body of Christ", says Paul (1Cor.12, Rom.12)...
- "Christ in you", "I in him"... Jesus is in you since Baptism. A Christian is the temple of God, the tabernacle of Jesus, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Gal.2:20, 1Cor.3:16).
For Christ "to dwell in
you", you have to be a member of "his only Church", a branch of his only
tree, says
Jesus in Jn.15:5... only one Church, as only one tree!...
... Paul says the same: You have to be a
member of the only one Body of Christ, of his only Church! (1Cor.12, Rom.12).
... Peter repeats it other way: You have to be a
living stone of the only one building (1Pet.2:5).
However, if you are in his Church, but in sin, you are still in the Church, but as a member with gangrene, you will not bear fruit, rather you will rotten your neighbor members... when you go home in sin you will not bring Jesus home, but Satan, though you are still a Christian.
Jesus is great when he talks about a Christian "dwelling in Him" , and "He in the Christian": "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done to you" (Jn.15:7)... ask for "whatever you wish"... "and you will get it", says the Jerusalem Bible....
... And continues Jesus, in the same Sermon: "whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do, and will perform even greater works" (Jn.14:12)... "a Christian will do even greater works than Jesus!"... and this has been true in the history of the Church: St. Patrick resurrected 38 persons; an evangelist on TV has an audience of millions...
All of this is
mind-bugling, it gives me vertigo just to write about it, "I in Christ", Christ
in me", to be "another Christ"... but it is the truth, "real", the essence of
Christianity... yes, you are another Christ walking on earth today!
The "KINGDOM"... is the "CHURCH":
The "Kingdom of God" is identified with the "Church of Christ" in Matt.16:18-19: "on this Peter I will build my church... I will give you, Peter, the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" .
Some people believe that Jesus is to come again to establish his Kingdom... it is already established!... it is His Church!... the Mystical Body of Christ.
If you abide in the Church of Christ, and Christ abides in you, you are in the Kingdom of God now!, doing on earth marvelous wonders, even greater than those of Jesus Himself, and you live with the love and joy and peace that no one and nothing can take away... now, on earth!. (Jn.14:12, Rom.8:28-39).
In his Second Coming, Jesus will not come to "save" but to "judge", to bring the good ones to Heaven and the bad ones to Hell... the living and the death... but now, and only now, while you live on earth, is the time of salvation! (2Cor.6:2).
Don't wait for Jesus to
come to establish a 1,000 year kingdom on earth... a "1,000 year kingdom" is
almost nothing... compared with Heaven, is like a drop of water compared with
the ocean.
The
Mystical Body of Christ... the only one Church of Christ:
The Mystical Body of Christ is the only one Church of Christ... as it was just mentioned, Jesus compares His only one Church to one tree with many branches (Jn.15), Paul to one body with many members (1Cor.12, Rom.12, Eph.4, Col.1), and Peter to one building where Christians are the stones (1P.2).
Jesus is the head of this Body, the trunk of the Tree, the cornerstone of this Building... the Christians are the members of that Body, the branches of the Tree, the stones of the only one Building.
If you are a Christian, you are now part of the Body of Christ... and when the Father looks at you He sees the Body of Christ, and He loves you as much as He loves Jesus, because you are a member of His Body, part of the Body of Christ, Father.. I in them and you in me...to let the world know that you have loved them even as you have loved me. (Jn.17:23).
It gives me vertigo to thing that God the Father loves me as much as He loves Jesus Himself, because I am a part of the Body of Jesus Himself, and, of course, if we love a person, we love his head as much as his hands or legs...
On a live radio talk I answered a lady that God loved her as much as He loves Virgin Mary!... I thought at that time I had said something very wrong... and it was live, I could not retract it... nobody told me anything... but one day I stumbled on Jn.17:23, and if it were today, I would tell to that lady that God not only loves her as much as Virgin Mary, but as much as Jesus Christ Himself!. Praise the Lord!.
That's why Jesus repeats us 13 times in His declaration of the Last Judgment:
- For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat...
to Jesus himself!... to a member of His own Body!
- I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink... to
Jesus himself!
- I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in
prison and you came to visit me.' ... to Jesus Himself!
-Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of
mine, you did to me.'... to Jesus Himself! (Mt.25:31-46).
Read it in full, it is one the most beautiful pages of the Bible.
Christians are "brothers" more that if they were born from the same mother... they are "brothers" as much as my right foot is brother of my left foot... we are members of the same Body... we have to love each other as much as my right hand loves my left hand... that's Christian love!.
Jesus founded His Church to keep up with the work He started... you and I are the hands and feet of Jesus today... and the heart of Jesus to bring joy and love and peace to the world, to our world...
Our greatest love for someone is to help him to go to Heaven... to our child or mother, to our friend or enemy...
And, of course, each one of us is a different part of the Body: Someone may be part of the eyes of Christ, others the nails of His fingers... but each one very important... when there is a thorn in the foot, the eye only looks, but the nail is the one that gets it out!..
Christians are now on earth the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to bring the great good news of Jesus to the poor, to anyone who is not ashamed to listen... and to make the same things Jesus made on earth, and even greater things that he did, I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (Jn.14:12).
And all of this is real, not a symbol: The greatest audience of Jesus was about 15,000?... when I preach on TV I reach well over one million... my Internet sites are visited by over 150,000 persons per day!... Jesus resurrected 3 persons, in the history of the Church, of His Body, over 400 persons have been resurrected... Jesus healed dozens or may be even hundreds of persons, in the history of the Church millions have been healed of all kind of sicknesses... after the death of Christ, there were about 120 Brothers of Jesus (Act.1:15), now over 2 billion!...
In John 15, the chapter of the Church as a Tree, Jesus told us: apart from me you can do nothing (Jn.15:5)... Nothing!.
And this is true, because the Christian who is apart from Jesus, in sin, is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned (Jn.15:6).
But there is the other side of this fact:
Who gives the fruit and leaves and flowers on a tree, the trunk or the branches?... right, the branches!... and you and I are the branches... Jesus is the trunk of the tree, the vine... Jesus can do nothing without you and me... if you and I don't give love and joy to our family and friends, they will never have it!... Jesus needs us to help our relatives to go to Heaven, and to preach the Gospel, to be evangelists and missionaries... yes, without you and me Jesus can do nothing!... indeed, it is mind-bugling.
If you don't help your child to go to Heaven with your life and words, that lovely child will never receive that help Jesus expected you to give.
If you don't help you spouse or mother or father to go to Heaven, they will never ever will receive that important help you were born to give...
Please, read as Paul puts it in 1Cor.12:12-31
The 3 Stages of the Kingdom:
In his Second Coming Jesus will establish his definitive Kingdom or Church "only in Heaven", for ever and ever... Jesus will not come to establish a little Kingdom on earth for only 1,000 years... all the goodness of earth compared to Heaven are as an atom compared with the universe.
But right now there are "3 stages of the Kingdom", 3 stages of the Mystical Body of Christ, of his only Church:
1- The "Militant
Church":
Those Christians who live on earth. They are not in Heaven yet, and they
still can go to Hell.
2- The "Triumphant Church":
Those who died and their "souls" are already in Heaven for
eternity... and their "bodies" will be resurrected glorious and go to Heaven on
the Second Coming... now the only ones in Heaven in body and soul are Jesus and
Mary (Dogma of the Assumption of Mary).
3- The "Purifying Church":
Those who died and are in "Purgatory", and they will go for
sure to Heaven after they have been totally purified. Some Christians do not
believe in Purgatory, and their prayers for the loved death are in vain...
because if they are saved in Heaven, they don't need prayers, and if they are
not saved, in
Hell, any prayer will be good for nothing...
These 3 stages will be part of the next chapter... meanwhile, metanoia!... are
you in the Church of Christ?... do you obey its authorities?...does Jesus lives
in you, or are you in sin?...
Quotations: NIV at the Bible Gateway
Continuation: Metanoia 10