The kingdom of God is among you.
Luke 17,21
The Pharisees had asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come. They were expecting a visible, political, and dramatic arrival of God’s kingdom— something that would overthrow Roman rule and restore Israel’s national glory.
Before Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is among you” (or in some translations, “within you”), He first responded that the kingdom does not come with “observable signs” (v.20). In other words, it would not arrive in the outward, spectacular way they anticipated.
Jesus simply says to them that the kingdom of God is among them.
When it comes to the kingdom of God it is often less a place and more way of life.
Jesus’ statements often leave us perplexed, wondering what exactly He meant. When it comes to this statement that Christ made, I believe we should stop asking questions concerning the where and start asking questions concerning the how.
Instead of asking where the kingdom of God is, we should ask how we as Christians are reflecting the kingdom in this world through the way that we live as Christ followers.
May we be Christ-followers whose lives quietly, faithfully, and beautifully reveal that the kingdom of God is indeed among us. May our lives be marked by the love of God, with lives reflecting not the standards of the flesh, but that of the spirit.
Amen. Pastor Ingrid van Sittert
