What the Kingdom of God Looks Like

 

On this the fourth Monday in Advent, we hear from Isaiah who tells us what the Kingdom of God will look like when God visits His people, when God becomes one with us:

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.  He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Is. 11:1-9)

During this last week in Advent, we remember that God has become one with us in the Word made flesh.  During this last week of Advent, we are reminded that we are called to be bearers of God’s image in the world and to be instruments of God’s transformative grace.  During this last week of Advent, we look forward to Christ coming again to restore all things to God the Father.

God has been faithful to His promise.  Just looking around the world today, I am not so sure that we have been faithful to our task.  With the horrors of Aleppo and the destruction and persecution of Christians in Cairo, and the countless other acts of violence around the world, it is safe to say that we have fallen short of being bearers of God's image to the world.  As we come closer to the celebration of God's faithfulness to us, let us remember to be God's image bearers in the small things, to smile at someone, to offer a word of greeting or thanks, to be patient in traffic, to be mindful of our loved ones.  Starting small is the start of a larger transformation.

Let us pray: Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Ame