The Kingdom of Heaven has Come Near- Matt 4
The season of Epiphany is about manifestation. We see things about Jesus that were previously hidden. The Magi witness the Christ-child as the King of the Jews. When he humbly submits himself to Baptism in solidarity with broken humanity, Jesus is revealed as the Son of God, and we witness the presence of the Father and the Spirit. John the Baptist reveals that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. … The true identity of Jesus is being revealed.
The prophet Isaiah says,
“the people dwelling in darkness / have seen a great light, / and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, / on them a light has dawned.”
Matthew applies the words of Isaiah to the arrival of Jesus. Jesus is the light that has dawned for a a people dwelling in the region and shadow of death. The Messiah has arrived, he is the true king, … and he is the Son of God, and he is the Lamb of God. … And he announces that his Kingdom has come saying,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”.
Repent, meaning, ‘turn to the light and away from the darkness’. A light has manifested. A Kingdom has manifested.
When we hear the phrase “the Kingdom of Heaven”. We might mistakenly hear this as the place you go when you die- it is more than that. It is available before you die. It has heavenly origins, but it is also meant for us to enter while we are on earth. You can become a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven before you die.
A kingdom is where the will of the King is done. It is where what the King wants to happen, actually happens. We can become a citizen of this kingdom as we turn towards the light- as we allow God’s will to be done on the bit of earth that we have control over. That bit of earth becomes God’s kingdom as God’s will becomes a reality.
I take my little kingdom and when I allow God’s will to be done in my little kingdom, then it becomes God’s kingdom. My kingdom is where I choose. I choose how I treat the people around me. I choose what I do with my stuff. I choose how my stuff is arranged. I choose how my money is spent. I choose what I eat. I choose what I watch and how I entertain myself. I choose what I read. I choose how I react to people that I encounter. … That is my kingdom. … But as I accept Jesus as my king, then I can choose what God wants in all these areas. … I can choose to treat the people around me as God wants me to treat them. I can choose to deal with my thoughts as God would have me deal with them. I can choose to spend my free time as God would have me spend it. I can choose to spend my money as God would have me spend it. … Then, my kingdom becomes God’s kingdom. God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.
In our reading Jesus has announced that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near- he is issuing a welcome into the Kingdom of God. It isn’t an invitation we might expect. It isn’t coming from one of the religion scholars, or one of the High Priests. It’s coming from a carpenter. And who is he calling? Not pharisees and scribes who know the Scriptures. He calls fishermen.
Even the order of this call is strange. Usually, people came to a rabbi to ask if they can be his disciples. Disciples sought out their teacher. … The rabbi didn’t go around calling disciples. So, there is an unexpected and upside-down nature to how this is taking shape.
We will soon see that Jesus is reforming the 12 tribes of Israel by calling 12 Apostles to follow himself. At this point, 10 of those tribes had been lost at the hands of the Assyrian Empire. Judah and Benjamin were all that was left, along with some of Levi. The lost tribes of Israel were likely forced to integrate with other people and so they lost their identity as being part of Israel. They became Gentiles.
Jesus will call 12 Apostles to reconstitute the 12 tribes of Israel, and they will still be fishermen, in a sense. But now they will fish for people. They will start with Israel, but, ultimately, their nets will be cast wider. They will draw humanity back to their Creator. And this is part of the fulfillment of the blessing of Abraham in Genesis 12, which was God’s reason for calling Abraham in the first place. He was called as a part of the mission to draw humanity back to God. God would make his own nation, and he would send His nation to the nations of the world (as a light to the nations (Is 49)) to draw them back to God. … The Blessing that God gives Abraham is that in Abraham
When we hear the phrase “the Kingdom of Heaven”. We might mistakenly hear this as the place you go when you die- it is more than that. It is available before you die. It has heavenly origins, but it is also meant for us to enter while we are on earth. You can become a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven before you die.
A kingdom is where the will of the King is done. It is where what the King wants to happen, actually happens. We can become a citizen of this kingdom as we turn towards the light- as we allow God’s will to be done on the bit of earth that we have control over. That bit of earth becomes God’s kingdom as God’s will becomes a reality.
I take my little kingdom and when I allow God’s will to be done in my little kingdom, then it becomes God’s kingdom. My kingdom is where I choose. I choose how I treat the people around me. I choose what I do with my stuff. I choose how my stuff is arranged. I choose how my money is spent. I choose what I eat. I choose what I watch and how I entertain myself. I choose what I read. I choose how I react to people that I encounter. … That is my kingdom. … But as I accept Jesus as my king, then I can choose what God wants in all these areas. … I can choose to treat the people around me as God wants me to treat them. I can choose to deal with my thoughts as God would have me deal with them. I can choose to spend my free time as God would have me spend it. I can choose to spend my money as God would have me spend it. … Then, my kingdom becomes God’s kingdom. God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.
In our reading Jesus has announced that the Kingdom of Heaven has come near- he is issuing a welcome into the Kingdom of God. It isn’t an invitation we might expect. It isn’t coming from one of the religion scholars, or one of the High Priests. It’s coming from a carpenter. And who is he calling? Not pharisees and scribes who know the Scriptures. He calls fishermen.
Even the order of this call is strange. Usually, people came to a rabbi to ask if they can be his disciples. Disciples sought out their teacher. … The rabbi didn’t go around calling disciples. So, there is an unexpected and upside-down nature to how this is taking shape.
We will soon see that Jesus is reforming the 12 tribes of Israel by calling 12 Apostles to follow himself. At this point, 10 of those tribes had been lost at the hands of the Assyrian Empire. Judah and Benjamin were all that was left, along with some of Levi. The lost tribes of Israel were likely forced to integrate with other people and so they lost their identity as being part of Israel. They became Gentiles.
Jesus will call 12 Apostles to reconstitute the 12 tribes of Israel, and they will still be fishermen, in a sense. But now they will fish for people. They will start with Israel, but, ultimately, their nets will be cast wider. They will draw humanity back to their Creator. And this is part of the fulfillment of the blessing of Abraham in Genesis 12, which was God’s reason for calling Abraham in the first place. He was called as a part of the mission to draw humanity back to God. God would make his own nation, and he would send His nation to the nations of the world (as a light to the nations (Is 49)) to draw them back to God. … The Blessing that God gives Abraham is that in Abraham
“all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3).
And this gets repeated in Genesis 18 when Abraham hosts the three mysterious visitors, which seems to be God and two angels. We read
“Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him” (Gen 18:18).
And once again in Genesis 22:18 after Abraham nearly sacrifices Isaac we read
“by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves” (Gen 22:18).
… God’s goal has always been to draw humanity back to Himself. And we see this happening in the Apostles of Jesus.
And that is a tall order. Two of those Jesus calls are a zealot and a tax collector. You would not invite them to the same party. Socially, they should hate each other. Matthew’s life could have been at risk. And yet, Jesus calls them both. I suspect he does that because he is calling all of humanity into his kingdom, and if different kinds of Jews can’t learn to live together, then how can Jews and Gentiles, and Gentiles who have battling Gentiles for generations?
St. Paul becomes the Apostle to the Gentiles. In our reading from the letter to the Corinthians we get a hint of the struggle he is facing. Human beings seem to naturally divide ourselves according to things like gender, wealth, social class, and nationality … but there are numerous other ways that we might divide ourselves. In the Corinthian church, the people are dividing themselves on the basis of the leader who baptized them, and their particular spiritual gifts.
Christ has called the church to be a community that transcends the normal divisions that have historically torn humanity apart. We are one in Christ. We share in one baptism. We share the same Spirit. … We are called, as individual members of the Church, to seek the good of the Church, not just fight to get our own way. We fight against the divisive categories of the world bleeding into the church- where the rich are treated as superior to the poor. We are encouraged to not be puffed up with pride, the way we see in the world. … Paul challenges the Corinthians to be in agreement, to have no divisions, to be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose (1 Cor 1:10). … To be brought together into the kingdom of heaven is a challenge. We are challenged to think differently- to relate to others differently.
The Kingdom that Jesus announces is not built on competing personalities or rival identities. It is built on one King, one Lord, one baptism, one Spirit, one mission. The Kingdom of Heaven gathers and unites.
And this is part of the Epiphany message: When the true King is revealed, all lesser loyalties must take their proper place.
The fishermen who left their nets didn’t just leave their jobs — they left their old identities. They stepped out of the small kingdoms they had built for themselves and stepped into the Kingdom Jesus was forming.
And that is the invitation to us as well. Epiphany isn’t only about what is revealed about Jesus — it is also a revealing about our calling.
The same Jesus who called fishermen on the shore of Galilee is still calling. He still says, “Follow me.” He still says, “Turn to the light.” He still says, “The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.”
He still calls ordinary people — people with imperfect pasts, people with mixed motives, people who don’t feel qualified, people who are just trying to make it through the day. He calls people like us.
And when we respond, even in small ways, something remarkable happens:
our little kingdoms begin to look like his Kingdom. This is how the blessing of Abraham continues. This is how the nations are drawn back to God. This is how the mission of the Apostles continues in the Church today. Not through grand gestures, but through ordinary people allowing the light of Christ to shine in their seemingly ordinary lives.
In this season of Epiphany, may we allow the light of Christ to reveal who he is … and who we are called to be. May our little kingdoms become places where God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
And that is a tall order. Two of those Jesus calls are a zealot and a tax collector. You would not invite them to the same party. Socially, they should hate each other. Matthew’s life could have been at risk. And yet, Jesus calls them both. I suspect he does that because he is calling all of humanity into his kingdom, and if different kinds of Jews can’t learn to live together, then how can Jews and Gentiles, and Gentiles who have battling Gentiles for generations?
St. Paul becomes the Apostle to the Gentiles. In our reading from the letter to the Corinthians we get a hint of the struggle he is facing. Human beings seem to naturally divide ourselves according to things like gender, wealth, social class, and nationality … but there are numerous other ways that we might divide ourselves. In the Corinthian church, the people are dividing themselves on the basis of the leader who baptized them, and their particular spiritual gifts.
Christ has called the church to be a community that transcends the normal divisions that have historically torn humanity apart. We are one in Christ. We share in one baptism. We share the same Spirit. … We are called, as individual members of the Church, to seek the good of the Church, not just fight to get our own way. We fight against the divisive categories of the world bleeding into the church- where the rich are treated as superior to the poor. We are encouraged to not be puffed up with pride, the way we see in the world. … Paul challenges the Corinthians to be in agreement, to have no divisions, to be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose (1 Cor 1:10). … To be brought together into the kingdom of heaven is a challenge. We are challenged to think differently- to relate to others differently.
The Kingdom that Jesus announces is not built on competing personalities or rival identities. It is built on one King, one Lord, one baptism, one Spirit, one mission. The Kingdom of Heaven gathers and unites.
And this is part of the Epiphany message: When the true King is revealed, all lesser loyalties must take their proper place.
The fishermen who left their nets didn’t just leave their jobs — they left their old identities. They stepped out of the small kingdoms they had built for themselves and stepped into the Kingdom Jesus was forming.
And that is the invitation to us as well. Epiphany isn’t only about what is revealed about Jesus — it is also a revealing about our calling.
The same Jesus who called fishermen on the shore of Galilee is still calling. He still says, “Follow me.” He still says, “Turn to the light.” He still says, “The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.”
He still calls ordinary people — people with imperfect pasts, people with mixed motives, people who don’t feel qualified, people who are just trying to make it through the day. He calls people like us.
And when we respond, even in small ways, something remarkable happens:
our little kingdoms begin to look like his Kingdom. This is how the blessing of Abraham continues. This is how the nations are drawn back to God. This is how the mission of the Apostles continues in the Church today. Not through grand gestures, but through ordinary people allowing the light of Christ to shine in their seemingly ordinary lives.
In this season of Epiphany, may we allow the light of Christ to reveal who he is … and who we are called to be. May our little kingdoms become places where God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
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