Dr. Christopher Graham

The Just and Peaceful Reign of Jesus Christ
Dr. Christopher Graham
Amos 3:1-11, Psalm 139, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, Matthew 4:12–22

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” (Col 1:13)

As we do every time we come together in worship, again this morning we will make this petition: “Thy Kingdom Come.”  What are we praying for when we pray for God’s kingdom to come? The catechism focuses on two specific questions related to this petition: What is the nature of this Kingdom? How does this Kingdom come? Our Scripture this morning gives us insight into these two questions.

First, What is the nature of the kingdom? The answer provided by the catechism is that “The kingdom of God is the just and peaceful reign of Jesus Christ.” As heard from the book of Amos, God desires justice and peace for his people and for his creation and he will not tolerate injustice or the disruption of peace:

Amos 3:1Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel  . . . ¹⁰ “They do not know how to do right . .  those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.” Therefore thus says the Lord God: “An adversary shall surround the land and bring downyour defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.”

And lest we are tempted to think the God speaking through Amos is the judgey God of the OT who is different than the loving Jesus and his Father in the NT, remember that we will also confess this morning that our Lord, Jesus, “will return to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.”

God desires justice and peace for his people and for his creation, and he will not tolerate injustice or the disruption of peace in his Kingdom. According to Matthew, the Gospel is that God has inaugurated his kingdom of justice and peace and that we can enter that kingdom without fear because Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled:

 ^“the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

A light has dawned. It has always struck me that the vast majority of the prophetic books, such as the passage we read here, are written in poetic form because poetry like prophecy is meant to move us. So how should this prophecy and its fullifillment move us?

In artistic terms, the light spoken of here is not the glare of the inquisitor’s bare bulb in the face of a criminal in a film noir. This is not Claudius’s frantic cry in Hamlet “Give me some light: Away” as he confronts his own guilt.

The light here is one that moves us to draw closer: It is “Morning has broken like the first morning; Blackbird has spoken like the first bird; Praise for the singing, praise for the morning; Praise for them springing fresh from the world.” It is the answer to U2’s cry “ I wanna feel sunlight on my face.” It is “Sunshine on My Shoulders makes me happy, sunshine  in my eyes can make me cry”

How do I know that this is the nature of the light? Because of the text itself. The light has dawned. And it has dawned on Zebulun and Naphatli, which are mentioned twice. What is the significance of Zebulun and Naphtali?

They are the sixth and tenth sons of Jacob. Zebulun by Leah, Naphtali by Rachel’s handmaid. So not only is their middle child drama, there is momma’ drama. Read Genesis for the drama. When the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali enter the promised land, they settle on the west and northwest of the Sea of Galilee. They were in a prime position to be called upon multiple times to fight for Israel. They will comprise the area where the Assyrians attack and besiege, an Assyria that God tells Israel through his prophet Isaiah that He will use to deal with their injustice! Of all the tribes, those of Z and N need respite from the dark night of oppression and God promises that this respite would come. Light would come as the dawn.

And so our kingdom this morning, which is light, is a light that is refreshing, enlivening. It offers peace and justice in a way that is not threatening. But justice and peace are not the most fundamental characteristics of the Kingdom. “The kingdom of God is the just and peaceful reign of Jesus Christ.” The kingdom is peaceful and just because it is a kingdom with a King who is the Prince of Peace. Who is justice. Just after his words of prophetic hope to Z and N, Isaiah says these words:

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.

Z and N and we live in light because the Light himself has stepped into our reality. What Isaiah says poetically, and Matthew says narratively, John says propositionally . . .  ^“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. . . .The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  We will confess God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. . .”  We sang this morning, “Light of the World you stepped down into darkness.” The Gospel holds out a kingdom with a King who can do something no king of this earth can do: perfect justice is maintained alongside perfect mercy. It is a kingdom where the realities voiced by the psalmist this morning are not a threat but reassurance?

⁷ Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.

He provides a peace that is both hard-fought and a place of rest. A light that is penetrating, healing, and comforting. A kingdom where the burden that is light. Where one must lose his life to gain it? How can this kingdom be one of such paradox? Because it has a king, in fact the only king, that is able to offer both peace and justice in perfect measure. And so what is the nature of “Thy Kingdom Come” that we petition for this morning: “The kingdom of God is the just and peaceful reign of Jesus Christ.”

Now the second question related to our petition found in the catechism is “How does the Kingdom come?” “God’s kingdom is announced to the people of Israel, arrives in Jesus Christ, and advances through the Church’s mission. It will appear in its fullness once Christ returns in glory.”  Our passage gives insight into the hinges between these latter elements: “arrives in Jesus Christ, and advances through the Church’s mission.”

Notice that, like John the Baptist, repentance is necessary.

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 

Repentance for some of us conjures up scary notions. We think of the billboards that we still see occasionally, along our interstates, “Turn or Burn.”  We remember sermons designed to scare the hell out of us. That are meant to get us to cry out like Claudius, “Light, I Need Light.” That may be one way, but that is not the way depicted here. Again, Mattthew:

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  ¹⁸ While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Repentance as pictured here, and elsewhere in the gospels, not as a threat to bow under but an invitiation that compels action. If you are going to accept this, you must leave that. As the light, Jesus compels us in this manner.

“Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee.”

So how does the Kingdom come? When people, compelled by the light, accept the invitation to enter the kingdom and, by doing so, leaving the vain things that charmed them.

But as the catechism says, the Kingdom “arrives in Jesus Christ, and advances through the Church’s mission.” Jesus calls these to make them “fishers of men.”  The kingdom comes as those who are in the kingdom extend the invitation and make the introductions to the Prince of Peace, to the one who has the government on his shoulders.

We will end our time this morning, as we do every week with these words “And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.” In the terms of Isaiah’s prophecy, we now carry the light into the world. In fact, in just the next chapter in Matthew, we read Jesus’s words to this effect, “You are the light of the world.” I gave you a rather lengthy quote from the second-century bishop of Lyons that speaks to the Church’s role in this world as the bearer of light. The Church itself becomes the beacon of light.  

“You have made us together, you have made us one and many, you have placed me here in the midst as witness, as awareness, and as joy. Here I am. In me the world is present and you are present. I am a link in the chain of light and of presence. You have made me a kind of centre, but a centre that is nowhere.” Thomas Merton, from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (The Abbey of Gethsemani, 1965, 1966)

It is appropriate that we are ending our Christmas season and transitioning into ordinary time comparable to the way that we began it. You may remember that we ushered in Christmas by lighting candles on Christmas Eve night, remembering with anticipation the advent of the one who was to come. Having celebrated this Light Who Came into the World and the revelation of this Light as our King, it is appropriate this morning that we pray for his kingdom to come, trusting in his faithfulness to reign with peace and justice, while also offering ourselves as faithful witnesses, as lights into the world, in such a way that others will be drawn in.