Jesus and the Kingdom

Firstly it is clear from even the briefest study of the synoptic gospels that the Kingdom of God is the central concept. In fact, Jesus’ entire earthly ministry in both word and deed, whether implicitly or explicitly, can be understood through this message. The very first words of Jesus’ ministry are “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” For the writers of the synoptics this is the message through which is the entirety of the good news. When Jesus sent out his twelve disciples he told them to “proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’” Throughout his entire life this is the message that Jesus proclaims ‘the kingdom of God is at hand’ and not once does he declare that the kingdom of God is here. In fact, he warns specifically against any such line of thought. However, Jesus also taught that the kingdom of God was breaking into the world. When Jesus was challenged about the authority by which he cast out demons he responded that “if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.”. The Gospel according to Luke records Jesus’ first message as, “’The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim the release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour…Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Further to this Jesus pointed to the fact that “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news brought to them” when he was queried as to whether he was the one to usher in the messianic kingdom. Finally, Jesus lived out what the kingdom of God should be like, “in fact, the reality of Jesus' new redeemed community was part of the Gospel of the kingdom”. Amongst Jesus' followers there were “prostitutes who had repented, tax collectors who had renounced oppression, disabled who had been healed, women who were no longer ostracized, poor who were no longer hungry, and revolutionaries who had forsaken violence”⁹. He did not discriminate against anyone who came to him.