Kingdom of God

If the Kingdom of God is united in love, do yo ubelieve it is here on earth? What does the Kingdom of God mean to you? Where do you see it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVa4Luyj0Qw

Sugarland "Love"

Jesus Politician? Part 2

Jesus was more concerned about the fact that the Pharisees and Zealots were the people getting in the way of the liberation of the "kingdom". Jesus says that it is not so much the oppression of the Roman government that is ruining the chances of a "kingdom", but the extreme measures to which the leaders of Judea take their religion. Nolan retells how Jesus thinks, "the only way to be liberated from your enemies was to love your enemies, to do good to those who hate you, to pray for those who treat you badly." However according to Jesus the Pharisees, Zealots, and Essenes took part in a loveless religion, so unless they change, the kingdom Jesus is working for will never come.

Chapter 13- Jesus: Politician?

Jesus wanted Israel to be free from the Romans, the Zealots, Pharisees, and Essenes. So some may say that he was heavily involved in politics. However, in 1st century Judea, there really was no distinction between religion and politics. Everything was "thought of in terms of God and the law."
The way Jesus saw it the base of all of humanity's downfall is a lack of compassion. Even if the Romans were overthrown, the Jews would rule their own people the same way because of all the exploitation within. It wasn't just the Romans, it was every class in 1st century Judea who was oppressing the other, and for that, Jesus said that a change in every aspect of life was in order.

Chapter 6 - The "Kingdom" of God - Summary

The poor and the oppressed play a major role in the coming of the kingdom of God. It is early pointed out that the deaf, dumb, blind, lame, poor, broken-hearted, captives, and down trodden are in need of great liberation in the form of healing, restoring sight and hearing, bringing joy, setting free, proclaiming liberty or favor, and bringing of the good news. The "good news", or gospel, that Jesus brought to the poor and oppressed was a prophecy of a future event that would be a blessing to the poor. This prohecy we recognize in the Beatitudes:

• Blessed are the poor, because yours is the Kingdom of God.
• Blessed are you who are hungry now, because you shall be satisfied.
• Blessed are you who weep now, because you shall laugh. Continues (Lk 6:20-21)

Heaven in those times was taken in a literal sense to mean the sky, and figuratively was a synonym for God. People did not understand the concept of going to heaven after death, all that was known was the thought of the sheol , or grave/underworld. The Kingdom of God cannot be found in any one person, but should be thought of as a place in which a person can live. People enter or don' t enter into it, and it is not of this world. The Kingdom was thought to be a politically structured society for people on earth because Jesus condemned all political and social structures of his time and said that they belonged to Satan. It is like a house in the way in which it cannot stand if it divided. With the coming of the Kingdom comes the elimination of evil because God will replace Satan and bring good to all of humanity.

Multiplication of the Loaves (John 6:1-15)

1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
7Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.