The Kingdom of Heaven

Don: In Matthew 18 (the story of the 99 sheep and the one lost sheep) we saw that Jesus is in the business of bringing lost sheep back into community, and it seems safe to assume, therefore, that there is value in so doing.

Jesus clearly regards individualism as a state of incompleteness. The idea that any one of us individually can represent a whole seems manifestly impossible. Each of us has different strengths, weaknesses, skills. Qualities such as creativity need the whole. They cannot exist on the basis of individualism.

The central theme of the message and the ministry of Jesus is that community—which he refers to as the Kingdom of Heaven—is the body that brings the greatest strength to the individual. Yet the community he builds is puzzling in the extreme. It is a community of misfits, of dissidents, ne’re-do-wells, and outcasts. These are “other” sheep that are too unlike to be normal members of the fold.

In contrast to the Kingdom community so constituted, Jason has suggested that man-made community is faulty by (human) nature, because we tend to build communities of like-minded people—people with similar ideas, thoughts, beliefs, actions, diets, language, genetics, liturgies, and so on.

Religious communities have developed ways of dealing with what they perceive as threats from contrarian points of view and behaviors and from people who get out of line. Those methods are known as disfellowship, isolation, excommunication, shunning, etc. All churches have something like it. Excommunication in the Middle Ages was practically a death sentence. Some Amish communities still “shun” members who transgress the requirement to conform.

[Postcript by David: I have just read that the idea behind shunning is based on Matthew 18:15-17: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you . . . But if he will not listen, take one or two others along . . .. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Other references are 1 Corinthians 5:11 and Romans 16:17. I have not checked these references, but have no reason to doubt they are genuine. As one wag mentions, Jesus used to hang out with tax collectors all the time. There’s another bit of a contradiction here.]

Don (contd.): On what basis does the Kingdom of Heaven exist? On the basis of like-mindedness? Belief? Like behavior? Or is there something utterly unlike that is characteristic of the Kingdom?

Matthew 7:21-23 provides a somewhat negative definition:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

But there is apparently something more than just belief or even action:

Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

You would think that the those who prophesy, cast out demons, and perform many miracles all in god’s name could be forgiven for thinking that the statement: “he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” would apply very much to them. Yet there seems to be a contradiction in this passage, which begs the question.

Ephesians 2:13 talks about the richness and grace of god’s mercy as being a primary ingredient of entry into the kingdom of heaven:

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Community building and peace formation appears to be the work of Jesus.

In the Sermon on the Mount and particularly in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6) another characteristic of the kingdom of heaven seems antithetical to the kind of thinking that we generally associate with commonality of belief in a religious community. In teaching the disciples how to pray, he makes the provocative statement that we should pray that “Thy kingdom, thy will be done, on earth as it in in Heaven.” The notion that the kingdom of heaven on Earth should be associated with the will of God, not with the will of Man. This worth looking at in our search for how and who constitutes the kingdom of heaven. What criteria exist for membership? What defines it? Most religions consist of people who share common beliefs, understanding, rituals, liturgies, expectations, etc. Yet Jesus ministry teaches a social workers nightmare: a community of people from every different strain and background.

What are the criteria? How does one become a member? Can I just walk into church and ask to be a member of the kingdom of heaven? Can I sign up here? Is it my responsibility to apply for membership? (In the parable of the wedding feast, there is not only invitation but also active aggregation of people from the streets, bustled and almost coerced into the banquet hall.) What is the central glue that holds together the kingdom? To what extent is it volitional? To what extent is it something that I have to wait for and respond to? How can the kingdom of heaven be real, on Earth, now?

Emma: The prayer says “Our father in heaven.” It is universal. It is a mind-boggling command. The way we believe in God now is not the way God wants us to believe in him. He wants us to believe that there are no limits to what he can do. Yet most people ignore those three or four verses in the Lord’s Prayer.

Tom: The kingdom of heaven is based on love, which is the solution to every human problem. If we have enough love for each other, we ignore our differences and look out for one another’s interests. The bible says the kingdom of heaven is in you.

Harry: Well said. Everybody is different. I myself find myself kicking against this pseudo community, the church. But love is real. It leads you to accept people whether or not they think like you, whether or not they frustrate you. So my chosen path is to get to know, and love, my next door neighbor [as compared to my more distant fellow Adventist.]

Everyone has a different path to the kingdom of heaven. Pseudo community may be a necessary beginning – it can get us started on a path, help us create friendships. But the true path is not dictated by the pseudo community – it must be self, internally, generated.  The kingdom of heaven is abut what your heart tells you to do, and not to judge others who take different paths. In this sense, being an individual but accepting all other individuals is where the kingdom of heaven is. It allows you to integrate with everybody. But once you limit yourself with a creed, you ostracize people. If you were to walk into a church and ask to join the kingdom of heaven, you would first be expected to learn their ways, their liturgy, etc., first, rather than just saying Yes, you are a brother (or sister) according to the Bible.

David: I was going to say that the Jesus you quoted in Ephesians, who told people who said “It doesn’t matter that you’ve done good things, you are lawless, and you can’t get in. But if as Tom implied the law is simply Love, then the remark makes perfect sense. It’s the one thing you need for entry into the kingdom of heaven. Yet the book Kingdom, Grace, and Judgment came to the conclusion that the only requirement for entry is Death. That god forgives everyone upon their death, and welcomes them into the kingdom of heaven. My inner light tells me that Love is sufficient to get into the kingdom of heaven, though one cannot love in order to get into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus seems to say you need love, yet there are so many places in the bible that imply you don’t!

Robin: The ancient Jewish religious hierarchy were proud of being direct descendants of Abraham, and thought this gave them an edge over the gentiles and the sinners. They didn’t believe that Jesus was who he said he was. He is telling them who he is in Matthew 7:21 (quoted above). Their response (in verse 22, also quoted above) is to argue: “Hang on, I did this and that and the other thing – why won’t you let me in?” But is it likely that that someone who genuinely feels in need of a messiah is going to argue with him? Their real motivation is that they want recognition for their piety; it is self-love, rather than love for others.

Tom: I attend bible studies with Baptists and Anabaptists and others. We get along well because I introduce my Adventist beliefs carefully and slowly, and I talk about my beliefs from their point of view. They were suspicious of me at first, yet now I get more warmth from them than I get from my own church.

Jay: 1 Corinthians 12 uses the body as a representation of coming together into one Kingdom, one body, one flock, one whole. Though the parts of the body are not the same, their common characteristic is that when one member suffers (or is honored) the whole body suffers (or is honored.)

Harry: You don’t find much true love in our church. Most people don’t really care at a deep level what happens to you. It’s superficial caring. Some churches have so much doctrine, and you are accepted only by what you believe, not by how much love you have. If you don’t agree with them, you’ll be ostracized or ignored. Little churches, with little in the way of structure, are truer communities.

Eb: I happened to be at an Immigration office recently. I quoted something from the Bible to one of the officials. It’s a habit of mine to do that. The official was impressed, and wanted to know more. A few days later, after I had talked with an acquaintance at the gym about certain principles of mine, a lady who had been listening in approached and said my remarks encouraged her to tell me some personal things, and to give me her email address.

Nobody has told me to do these things, but it seems right to share my beliefs, in a way that is perhaps child-like, with my neighbor, wherever s/he happens to appear.

Harry: We had a Jehovah’s Witness over for dinner. She was uncomfortable talking religion. I think she was afraid I would attack her beliefs. What she wanted was friendship, not argument. So avoid it! Love people for who and what they are.

Tom: Many people know what is right but don’t know what’s important.

Don: Regarding the criteria for membership of the kingdom of heaven: There are two aspects of particular importance. First is the metaphor of the body, and the interactivity of its parts. The parts are not independent, they are controlled by something. The idea of giving the parts of a body the free will to act as they please seems inconceivable within the metaphor of a body that represents a community of faith. “Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven.” The notion that you can do what you like with your free will and just accept the consequences, seems to be called into question by the Lord’s Prayer.

We’ll discuss this further next week.

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