Lk 17:20-25 The Kingdom Among YouAsked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”
Which of the following do you desire the most: war or peace; death or life; indifference or love; resentment or compassion; infidelity or fidelity; falsehood or truth; fear or faith; despair or hope; prison or freedom; slavery or purity; pride or humility; comfort or righteousness; loneliness or friendship?
The answers should be obvious. And yet, when we choose to sin, we choose what is so unwise!
“There will be those who will say to you, ‘Look, there he is,’ or ‘Look, here he is.’ Do not go off, do not run in pursuit.”
How quickly we join the bandwagon! How quickly we wish to be “team players”. How quick I am to jump ship! It never ceases to amaze me how we look forward to the next generation of ideas and things. We are way too quick in throwing away what always worked and seek what is novel, fashionable or trendy, and...does not always work. Our technology has not improved our lives. The computer did not reduce the amount of paper being used. Cell phones did not make us more secure – they made us more dependent. E-mails did not quicken communication – it gave us more junk. The Internet is not a new found treasure trove of information – it is a endless pit of filth and bottomless hole of human gossiping.
Your word, O Lord, is forever! (Ps 119:89a)
Which of the two do you desire the most: war or peace; death or life… Do you to see that one comes from above while the other comes from below? War can only occur when we disobey the Lord’s commandments: Love your enemy. Love your neighbor. Love one another. Life did not come from us. Life comes from above. We did not start this amazing and glorious universe; we only inherited it and only some of it – a part of it – a tiny part of it in terms of time, space and achievements. The only possible way that a divorce could ever occur is if vows were severed, hearts were broken or minds turned inward.
One day I will write a meditation on helmets and condoms. Yes, football helmets and condoms! The football league is re-considering the use of football helmets in games. Critics claim that helmets do not make our players safer because of the way they are using their heads! In other words, because our players use helmets, they have a tendency to tackle with their heads, causing small but constant concussions to the head! If players did not have helmets, then they would never put their heads at risk or put them down when making a play. Rugby players, a pretty tough sport if you ask me, don’t use helmets.
Funny, isn’t it? In theory helmets should protect. But the psychology of a player makes it that helmets can actually be harmful to their health! By using a helmet, they think they are safer than they really are! Get it? Do you understand what I am saying? Now, they same psychology and behavior applies to teens and adults when using condoms. Condoms in theory should make sex safer. But the psychology of a teenager - who, by definition is not an adult, not mature and not responsible – makes it that condoms can actually place teens in harm’s way by giving a false sense of security. No wonder why the number of kids with STD’s has gone up significantly in affluent neighborhoods over the past ten years! Our kids feel safe and engage in risky behaviors. If adults cannot seem to get enough and engage in risky behavior, then imagine our teens?
Our world, our Kingdom is forged by our decisions. Today, the Lord invites us to make wise decisions. And the first and wisest decision we could make is to stop excluding the Lord from our conversations, our politics, our schools and our nation!
We all need to pray the prayer that our Lord taught us, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” Then, and only then, will our world make sense, our lives be at peace, and our very existence be secured!
