Verse for the week of January 22nd:
And saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.’
(Mark 1:15)
When you read the Gospel of Mark, these words in this verse are the first words of Jesus that are recorded within this gospel. It takes place right after the baptism and temptation in the wilderness. Jesus came proclaiming the good news saying, ‘the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the good news.’ Then he goes and calls his first disciples.
As I reflect upon these words of Jesus, one of the words that draws my attention is the word kingdom. Most of the times when we hear the word kingdom, most people tend to think of a place. Kingdom is often thought of as a place or location—a territory that a king rules over. And this makes sense within this context for Jesus is saying that the place of God has come near.
However, the word that gets translated as kingdom really means something more than a place. The word kingdom is an action noun—a noun that expresses action. Think about words like baptism or sin—they refer to an action by someone. These are more easily seen as action nouns as these words are also used as verbs. But the word kingdom in English is not a word that is used as a verb (we do not have anything like ‘to kingdom’), this causes us to think of the word kingdom in a way that causes us to think of it as a place. However, this is not the meaning of the original Greek word.
A better word might be something like to rule or reign. Thus Jesus is saying that the ‘rule or reign of God has come near.’ The word kingdom connotes the ideas of the activity of someone ruling. Hence, Jesus is declaring that God’s rule is near—that God is working and seeking to bring his ruling to all people and that they should turn and seek to orient themselves to the reign of God.
A significant part of Jesus’ message here is to call people to see the action of God and to orient oneself to these activities. Jesus as the Word which became flesh and dwelt among us is here to call us and show us that God is at work and seeking to fulfill his ultimate desire (to reconcile the world to himself). Jesus is saying that God is at work and his reign has come near—that it is here and present. The question for us then may become: ‘can we see this work or not’?
How do we see God’s work today? How are we working towards the reality of God’s reign being seen in our world today?
Listen again to Jesus’ words: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.’ Jesus is telling us not that God is establishing an earthly kingdom or place—but rather that God’s rule is here—orient yourself to this reign and believe this good news that God is active and at work here and now.