In Mark 1:15, we find the first words of Jesus’ public ministry; words in which he sets out his agenda: “The right time has come and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News.” In that statement, there is a two-fold agenda unveiled. First, that the Kingdom of God is near. Second, that he calls us to turn away from our sins and believe. In this brief article, we will unpack these two ideas and see how they relate to the Christian notion of discipleship.
The Kingdom of God
The basic theological meaning of the idea of the Kingdom of God was that a new age would replace the old age. The rule of God would smash apart the old ways of the world and the Kingdom would break through in most dramatic fashion.
But Jesus had an absolutely unprecedented understanding of this concept. The way Jesus understood it was that the future rule of God was, in some sense, present right now – even as he spoke. David Bosch, the extraordinary South African missiologist, commented that, “Christ has cleft the future in two, and part of it is already present”. As far as Jesus was concerned, the Kingdom of God was, in some sense, the presence of the future. The Kingdom of God still had to be consummated but it was a present reality. There is, then, a two-fold aspect to Jesus’ understanding of the Kingdom: it is ‘now’ but ‘not yet’. Let’s think through these two ideas in a bit more detail…
First, the Kingdom of God is ‘now’. Jesus taught that in a real, tangible sense, the Kingdom of God was already here. A revolution had taken place and Jesus was here to initiate and announce that revolution. And it was a revolution: we must not underestimate the shocking power of Jesus’ words. Here was a carpenter from backwater Nazareth coming into the heart of the political and religious establishment, threatening the power of the political and spiritual leaders. He was announcing a new Kingdom, a new rule, and, according to Luke 4, Jesus announced that work in the Temple and said that he would be the revolutionary leader.
Think about the impact of this happening: “Jesus went to the synagogue and stood up to read the Scriptures… “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people…Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. All the people in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on him as he said to the, ‘This passage of Scripture has come true today, as you heard it being read.’” What an extraordinary challenge to the political and religious leaders of the day!
And it’s important that we grasp this: the Kingdom of God, as Jesus understood it, was about God’s rule over all things. It wasn’t just a matter of the heart. It wasn’t just about a spiritual internal change. The Kingdom of God was a real tangible rule that would impact every aspect of creation. It was a spiritual Kingdom, yes, but it also had an impact on the nature of religious institutions, political institutions, the role of slaves in society, the role of women and children, Gentiles and Samaritans and so much more… We must not just spiritualise the Kingdom of God. As Jesus understood it, the Kingdom of God was intensely political and very, very tangible. The biblical scholar, Joachim Jeremias, has rightly commented that, “Neither in Judaism nor elsewhere in the New Testament do we find that the reign of God is something indwelling in men, to be found, say, in the heart; such a spiritualistic understanding is ruled out both for Jesus and for the early Christian tradition.” So, when we see Jesus begin to minister throughout the region of Galilee, we see an intensely tangible ministry revealing what the Kingdom of God is all about. The sick were healed; the possessed were exorcised; the dead were raised to life; the hungry were fed; there was authority exercised over nature; spiritual and political leaders were challenged.
But how, specifically, was the Kingdom of God a present reality? In five ways:
i. The Kingdom was present in the unique person of Jesus
The Kingdom of God was not just something that Jesus announced. In a very real sense, Jesus was the Kingdom. Jesus was not just the Messenger; he was the Message too. Jesus was both Medium and Message. The Kingdom of God was integrally bound up with the Person and Ministry of Jesus and it still is, of course. Jesus is Lord and the rule of God is exercised over creation through his reign. And because the Kingdom of God is located in Jesus, that is what gives so much power to the idea of discipleship. When Jesus, in Mark 1:17 said, “Follow me”, it was, and is, a radically different concept from discipleship to any other religious leader. Because Jesus was not just a teacher or a Rabbi, to follow Jesus means to actively seek and submit to the rule of the Kingdom of God.
ii. The Kingdom was present in the unique power of God
The Greek word for Kingdom is ‘baseleia’ and that means ‘reign’ not ‘realm’. The important distinction here is that the idea of the Kingdom of God is not a passive thing: it is not to do with a geographical area. The Kingdom of God is a pro-active idea: it is a dynamic power, a ministry. It is about effective activity. It is about the ‘act of ruling’. So, the idea of the Kingdom of God, in Jesus’ understanding is a pro-active dynamic principle. It is about God’s rule invading and breaking through the old age and the old way of living. It is about the Kingdom of God in the very person and ministry of Jesus; proclaiming the new way of being and accompanying that proclamation with demonstrations of the power and reality of that Kingdom.
iii. The Kingdom was present through a new ethical approach
The Kingdom of God has a value-system in-built into it. The Kingdom of God is an upside down Kingdom. The Kingdom of God provides a very real challenge to the values of the world. In the Kingdom of God, sinners are welcomed; the outcasts are welcomed. Prostitutes and tax collectors are the friends of God. The ethics of the Kingdom of God, as understood by Jesus challenge the ethics of Judaism and the political authorities. The first shall be last and the last shall be exalted.
iv. The Kingdom was present in the poor
It is absolutely undeniable that the poor had, and still have, a special place in the Kingdom of God. God is on the side of the poor and the rich, he shall send empty away. In a very real sense, Jesus was a Liberation Theologian. His was a political theology of Liberation whereby the poor are empowered and in which we are encouraged to see Jesus in the face of the poor.
v. The Kingdom was present by creating a community
We will move on to the community of disciples in a few moments but, at this stage, it is suffice to note that the creation of a community was one of the greatest signs of the power of the Kingdom. The proclamation of the Kingdom resulted in the growth of a Kingdom community. The story of the Acts of the Apostles is a story of how that Kingdom community continued to grow, often in opposition to the religious and political establishment.
So primarily in these 5 ways, we see that Jesus believed the Kingdom of God, in one sense, to be already present and in their midst. The Kingdom of God was ‘now’.
However, there was also a sense in which the Kingdom of God was ‘not yet’. When he was talking about the Kingdom of God, Jesus also used future language as well as present language. It was here but it was not yet consummated; the work of the Kingdom was not yet fulfilled. What is interesting about the now and the not yet is that what was still to come was slightly different from what was already happening.
The Kingdom of God has two primary aspects to it. The first aspect is Grace and, in the First Coming of Jesus – in his Palestinian ministry – Jesus exhibited that Grace in all that he did and said. He preached a message of grace. Grace was received through his healing touch. Grace was received whenever anyone encountered Him. And, of course, ultimate Grace was proved through his death on the Cross; winning forgiveness of sins for all who would believe in Him. So, in the ministry of Jesus, there is a sense in which the ‘now’ of the Kingdom was a ‘now’ of Grace. Kingdom Grace became real through Jesus Christ. The ‘not yet’, though, holds a different Kingdom dimension: God’s Judgement. Jesus warns of judgement and he spoke of it often. However, that judgement will only become a cosmic reality at the Second Coming of Christ; the Day of Visitation. Judgement Day.
The ‘now’ of the Kingdom is that the Kingdom of God is an age of grace. The ‘not yet’ of the Kingdom is that the Kingdom of God is also an age of judgement.
Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God
Since it formed the focal point of his manifesto, it is not surprising that Jesus had a lot to teach about the Kingdom of God. And because it is such an intangible topic, it is again not surprising that a lot of what he had to say took the form of parables. How else could he teach about something like that? And, interestingly, whenever Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God in the form of a parable, he would say, “The Kingdom of God is like…” The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. The Kingdom of God is like a man scattering seed on the ground and so on. Essentially, what Jesus is doing is saying that there is a sense in which we can know about the Kingdom of God because it is related to ordinary life and everyday events. However, he never says that “The Kingdom of God is the same as…” There is a real qualitative difference here. There is a mystery surrounding the nature of the Kingdom of God even though that Kingdom is identified with Jesus, the Word become Flesh, and even though it can be likened to everyday events and objects.
But second, concerning Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom, it is also important to recognise the inherent threat in what he was saying as far as the religious and political authorities were concerned. We should not be surprised by this because the power rested with them. They did not want this young upstart usurping their power and their position in society. Jesus was a very real political and social threat as symbolised by the overturning of the tables in the Temple.
The Kingdom of God and the Spirit
Any consideration of the Kingdom of God in Jesus’ teaching and ministry must take into account the role of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Spirit had, for many years, been considered a mark of the dawning of the new age. The gift of God’s Spirit was an eagerly anticipated event within Judaism, dating back at least to the prophecy of Joel in 2:28-32: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” The coming of the Spirit of God would mark the dawning of the new age. In that context, we can revisit Luke 4 and see again the power of Jesus’ words in the Temple: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…he has chosen me…” In the light of the expectations of Judaism that was one massive claim! And, of course, it wasn’t lost on the Gospel writers, either. Mark, for example, in Chapter 1:10 writes about Jesus’ baptism: “And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove.” Mark knew what he was saying when he wrote this! The coming of Jesus inaugurated the coming of the New Age. The Kingdom of God was present in Him and through Him and the Spirit of God upon him was the Sign and Seal of that. The stunning thing, of course, is that when Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God between His resurrection and ascension, he promised the same power of the Spirit to his disciples: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The community which Jesus inaugurated – the Kingdom community – was also a community of the Spirit and continues to be so today. The Kingdom of God continues to be present in the church because we have been blessed with the power of the Holy Spirit. The role of the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom of God is absolutely vital.
The Call to Kingdom Discipleship
In Jesus Call to Discipleship, James D.G. Dunn commented that, “Mark sums up Jesus’ call to discipleship in these words, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ In these words are encapsulated the challenge and the attraction which Jesus evidently exerted on many of his contemporaries.” There was a definite link between the Kingdom of God and the call to discipleship in the teaching ministry of Jesus.
First, Jesus was clarifying for them the reality of God’s rule. “The time is fulfilled…the Kingdom of God has come near.” Jesus is consciously drawing a line under the Old Testament era and stressing the fact that the fulfilment of all those promises is now about to be made a reality in Him. In the light of that, Jesus was calling his hearers to make an urgent decision: “Repent and believe in the good news.” Here we se a two-fold directive. Repent: - turn around, head in a new direction. Believe: - turn towards. Turn around and turn towards. That is the response of discipleship in the light of the Kingdom of God breaking in. James Dunn said that the ministry of Jesus was “An imminent crisis which demanded an imminent response”. So what did the call of discipleship mean in Jesus’ context? What were the hallmarks of his call to discipleship? I just want to focus in on two.
i. The call to discipleship was good news to the marginalised
We touched on this a bit earlier but the truth is that the Kingdom of God is an ‘upside down’ Kingdom with ‘upside down’ ethical values. Those who are called into the Kingdom are those on the margins of society. Discipleship is a call to the marginalised and the outcast. Let’s just look briefly at four such examples.
First, the twelve disciples. The first community called by Jesus was the community of the twelve disciples. The fact that there were twelve is no co-incidence, of course. There had been twelve tribes of Israel and in calling twelve disciples, Jesus was making a symbolic point about the restoration of the ‘true Israel’. But when we look at the twelve who were called it was not a community of the great and the good. It was a motley crew of fishermen and tax collectors and revolutionary soldiers; some of them weak, some of them strong. And, of course, the twelve were ministered to by a coterie of women which included in its ranks at least one reformed prostitute and who knows who else! The first Jesus community was an ‘upside down’ community befitting an ‘upside down’ Kingdom.
Second, the imagery of sheep and the flock. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel had been referred to as the scattered sheep: “He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms” (Isa. 40:11); “And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord” (Mic 5:4) and so on. Just as the imagery of the twelve disciples picked up on the Old Testament idea of the twelve tribes, so Jesus picked up on the sheep and flock imagery to prove a point about his mission to restore the true Israel. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24). “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32) and so on.
Third, the image of the Covenant. This is a key Old Testament image; the notion of the people of Israel living in a covenant relationship with God. Through this, Jesus goes right to the heart of Israel’s relationship with God in the way he portrays his own sacrifice on the Cross. At the Last Supper, Jesus says, “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mat 26:28). The call to discipleship is the call to a renewed and restored covenant relationship with God.
Fourth, discipleship meant a sacrificial community-lifestyle. We know Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous maxim that, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” That, of course, merely echoes Jesus’ own words that, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” There is a cost to discipleship. We cannot just spiritualise this verse. There is a call on many to die for the Gospel. There are many around the world today who are being martyred for the sake of Christ. Maybe the call will eventually be on us too. We need to be sure of what it is we are saying when we call ourselves disciples of Jesus. We need to be sure what it is we are working towards when we try to lead others into a relationship with Christ. We must be honest with them about the cost of discipleship as well as the benefits of salvation.
In conclusion…
In conclusion, then, we note that the Kingdom of God is an ‘upside down’ Kingdom. The ideas that hold the Kingdom together are upside down. The ethical values of the Kingdom are upside down. The constituency of people invited into the Kingdom is upside down. My favourite verse in the Bible is Luke 3:1: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being Governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord came to John in the desert.” If God can choose John over and above all these titled people, there is hope for us all! And that is the Gospel message that the Emerging Church must take to a broken world.
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