YEAR B
Old Testament Genesis 22:1–18
Psalm Psalm 25:1–10
Epistle James 1:12–18
Gospel Mark 1:9–15
GOSPEL
Mark 1:9–15
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Goal: All people
are called to the kingdom of God, not through their works, But through God’s
call.
Malady: We cannot
by our own reason or strength enter the kingdom of heaven.
Means: God’s
kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His
grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in
eternity.
Thy Kingdom Come
Grace Mercy and Peace be unto from God
our Father and Savior Jesus Christ his Son our Lord Amen
The focus for our sermon is the final verse, “The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
I must admit, my first thought when I think about Kingdoms, and kings
tends to be out of the medieval times, with kings and queens, knights and court
jesters. Men like King Arthur and Robin
Hood come to life when think of a kingdom, because in many ways kingdoms don’t
really exist anymore, only countries.
Sure there is the United Kingdom, but while they have royalty, they are
figurehead of power, and parliament does most of the governing of their
country. The idea that any one person or
family having ultimate rule is the story of tyrants and despots in this day and
age, so how can we identify with a kingdom of any sort, much less the kingdom
of God? Yet we still pray in the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, Thy Kingdom Come. We cannot by our own reason or
strength enter the kingdom of heaven or even understand it, but God’s kingdom
comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace
we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in
eternity. All people are called to the kingdom of God, not through their works,
but through God’s call.
Why do we pray for a kingdom at all?
It seems a little funny to me that we pray for thy
kingdom come each and every day when we pray the Lord's Prayer, when we as a
people have rejected the idea of having kings and queens almost altogether.
Sure we like the idea of Kings and queens, as long as it fits into our story
book ideals of kingdoms, but when face with the reality of it we often rebel
against such notions. Old kingdoms are
well and good, but new governments must be more modern and less central
authority figure oriented.
Can the idea be changed into modern view? Perhaps we
should pray instead for God's representative government through democratic
election like the United States of Heaven.
The bible would be the outline for our heavenly government. And we can call Jesus the President of Heaven.
This really sounds like something else entirely. It
sounds like we have completely changed what it means to pray for THY Kingdom
come into OUR kingdom come. Now I will
admit, I was going a little over the top attempting to bring the language of
the Lord’s Prayer into our language, but there was a reason for it. It is because when we are praying, we are
praying for something completely different than our own earthly preconceptions
of governments and with republics and monarchies allow. Because when most Americans think about
government, it is how we control
government. We allow people to become
citizens either by birth or showing how they can contribute. But the kingdom of God is all about God’s will
for all people, how he created us and all creatures, how when living as members
of his kingdom, we live and serve him. God
calls us to him, not because of what we can do, but simply asks for our repentance. He is the king and he rules wisely and
fairly.
We cant understand an invitation like this because in
our earthly governments, every single participant is a sinner. And because of that, every person wants to
be represented so that their own wants, needs and desires are brought before
the counsels of this earth. We are
afraid because all politicians seem corrupt and governments do evil things due
to their own sinfulness and greed. Martin Luther called this the Kingdom of the
left. God rules the earthly or left-hand
kingdom through secular and (earthly) church government, by means of law (i.e.,
the sword or compulsion). There
is faulty logic at work if you think that God does not have a hand in the
earthly kingdoms, for even the body of the church represents one arm of his
kingdom. The earthly governments can
work against the kingdom of God though, through attempting to appease themselves
and not God. Even church governance has
the chance to be corrupt, because its leadership are sinful human beings.
When Jesus came, there were many that thought that he
was coming to rule in this earthly kingdom.
He came preaching, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at
hand;” When Jesus was brought before Pilate, the crime laid at the feet of
Jesus was “Are you the King of the Jews?” And Jesus answered him, “You have
said so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate
again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring
against you.” 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. And it was under these charges that when the
crowds yelled, “Crucify him.” Pilate had the inscription of the charge against
him read, “The King of the Jews.” The
king of heaven and earth was killed because of the fear of earthly authority.
As you may know, or at very least have guess, if there
is a Kingdom of the Left hand, there must be a kingdom of the right hand. It is the kingdom of the right hand, the heavenly
kingdom. And unlike earthly governments
that rule with the sword, with fear and compulsion, the Kingdom of God comes
through the gospel. Yes the perfect
king, the perfect kingdom came because of the fears and greed of earthly kings
and kingdoms. It is because of our
sinfulness that Christ the Lord came down to this earth so that through living
according to all of the laws of God for those in the kingdom of the left, we
could experience the grace of the gospel through his death and
resurrection. He died as the king of the
jews, but he arose as king over life and death, King of Heaven and of Earth. He can rule victoriously because he is
without sin or greed. We can trust in
him, because he and the father are one, and all people are called to be in his
kingdom.
How does God’s kingdom
come for us? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy
Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here
in time and there in eternity. We are brought into the kingdom through God’s
riches at Christ’s expense, his death on the cross. Because
of his great and abundant mercy, we pray to the father, bring us into your
heavenly kingdom. And we also pray,
while we live here on this earth, guide us and all people so that your Kingdom
here on earth may answer your call and live in your word as well. We are called to repent, and we confess that
we are lost and a condemned person without your word, but with you there is
forgiveness in the Gospel of your Son, Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord
forever. AMEN
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