Text: Isaiah 2:2-5
“Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
This short phrase is one of the most subversive and radical things that we can say as Christian people.
And we say it every week.
Too often, we rush over the words, practically tripping over them to get to the end, because they are so familiar and bring such comfort.
But are we prepared to accept the consequences of WHAT we are praying?
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
If we are going to be daring enough to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth – maybe we should better understand what we are praying for.
Let’s start by going farther back than our own Christian tradition.
Jesus himself is speaking out of a reality and understanding of God’s intentions for this earth.
From the perfection and goodness of the garden…
To the commandments that were to define the people of Israel…
And the glimpses of God’s promised future in the prophets…
The scriptures speak consistently of a reality in which all of creation thrives.
Isaiah holds before us a vision of what this might entail: all people will gather at God’s Holy Mountain.
“God will show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made.” (MSG)
God’s word will bring about fairness and righteousness and peace for all.
We are invited to live the way God intends for us to live.
But there are two important realities that come into play with this.
First, this is not my kingdom, or your kingdom… my family or yours…
This is God’s household and it supersedes all other ways that we might separate and divide our lives apart from one another.
Every nation is under God’s rule.
All powers and agendas and borders are nullified.
Last summer, this congregation read together through the book of Acts and those early Christians were accused of terrible things by those who didn’t understand their worshipping practices – but something they were correctly accused of was sedition and treason.
They openly confessed in the face of the Roman Empire that they belonged to the Kingdom of God, that their citizenship was in heaven.
And some were willing to die rather than to worship or honor an earthly king.
They got these radical ideas from the gospels. As Daniel Clendenin reminds us:
“The birth of Jesus signaled that God would “bring down rulers from their thrones” (Luke 1:52).
In Mark’s gospel the very first words that Jesus spoke announced that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (1:15).
John’s gospel takes us to the death of Jesus, and the political theme is the same.
Jesus was dragged to the Roman governor’s palace for three reasons, all political: “We found this fellow subverting the nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King” (Luke 23:1–2).””
I am reminded of the moment when Jesus stands in Pilate’s headquarters and is asked a simple question: “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus responds the best way he can. My kingdom is not from this world. If it was, then those who followed me would be fighting tooth and nail to protect me and keep me from being handed over to you. But my kingdom is not from here.
The Kingdom of God is not something that can be mapped out on a piece of paper.
Or that fits in a box of race or ethnicity or belief.
And contrary to much of our contemporary sentiment, it is not simply a place that we go to after we die.
No, we pray every week: Thy kingdom come on earth.
The Kingdom of God may not be from here… but it certainly is for here.
It is God’s intentions, God’s will, for how we are to live in this life.
So, the second reality we must face is that life in God’s household will turn our own expectations about what is good and fair and right upside down and inside out.
Too often, we focus on our own needs and desires and will, but in this prayer we lay aside our pursuit of “me and mine” for “thee and thine.”
We are called to see with the eyes of Jesus the needs and cares and concerns of others – especially those without power or agency.
As we continue to follow the thread of scripture through to the New Testament we are reminded that:
In the Kingdom of God – the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
In the Kingdom of God – you love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
In the Kingdom of God – you love your neighbor as yourself.
In the Kingdom of God – you forgive one another 70×70 times.
In the Kingdom of God – our ruler is the one who gets down on his hands and knees to wash our feet like a servant.
In the Kingdom of God – the widow and the orphan and the stranger are honored guests at the table.
This vision is not all that different from the one in Isaiah.
Not so different from the Garden of Eden.
Entirely the same as the promises we read about in the book of Revelation – where hunger and crying and pain will be no more.
God’s will and intention for creation is that all would thrive and find a home.
In, “Listening to your Life,” (page 304), Fred Beuchner writes:
“…the Kingdom of God in the sense of holiness, goodness, beauty is as close as breathing and is crying out to be born within ourselves and within the world; we would know that the kingdom of God is what all of us hunger for above all other things even when we don’t know its name or realize that it’s what we’re starving to death for. The Kingdom of God is where our best dreams come from and our truest prayers. We glimpse it at those moments when we find ourselves being better than we are and wiser than we know. We catch sight of it when at some moment of crisis, a strength seems to come to us that is greater than our own strength. The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it.”
For the last two thousand years, Christians have tried to bring the Kingdom of God to bear in their lives.
There are times when we have been wildly successful – and there are times when we have failed miserably.
There are times when in the name of Christ our King we have brought hope and joy and peace to the lives of our brothers and sisters.
And there have been times when we have subverted Christ as King for our own purposes to seek power and money and land at the cost of our brothers and sisters.
In our lives, we are saturated with information and news about what is happening in the world.
Think about the places of pain, tragedy, or injustice we have seen just this month come across our newsfeeds and headlines:
Trans girls no longer being allowed to play sports.
Tornados that have caused incredible destruction and loss of life.
A deadly shooting outside of one of our area schools.
An indiscriminate war being waged by Putin in Ukraine.
The continued loss of life and strain upon health care systems due to Covid.
When we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” we are being asked to hold these realities up to God’s light.
Not to declare that it is God’s will – but to ask the question… what IS God’s will in the midst of all that we see and hear?
How is God calling us to respond in a way that will bring about God’s intention for all of creation to thrive?
Where do we need to upend our agendas and expectations to care for the vulnerable and to cross boundaries and borders for the children of God?
How do we allow love and grace and mercy to rule?
What would it look like for us to start turning swords into shovels and guns into garden decorations and to stop planning for the destruction of our fellow human beings?
In the book of Revelation, God’s will and intention for all of creation is fulfilled as heaven comes down and God dwells among us.
“I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God… I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them and they will be his people.”
When we pray Jesus’ Prayer, we are yearning for the home of God to be made among us.
For God’s will to take root in our hearts.
For our lives to be stretched beyond the borders we have artificially made.
For our actions to be rooted in the care of creation.
For the love and compassion we offer to be greater weapons than any tank or bomb or handgun.
For us to find the boldness to feed and clothe and heal our brothers and sisters without waiting for the government to help.
We are praying to be made uncomfortable.
For us to not be content with peace in our hearts until your peace truly reigns over the nations.
For our allegiances to shift from brand names and politicians and parties to the one who is and who was and who is to come.
The Kingdom that Christ is ushering in is not one of military victory and political power, but of human relationships, redemption, restoration and wholeness. And that is the kingdom that we pray will reign over the entire earth.
If we pray this prayer like we mean it… it might just change everything about our lives…
As Daniel Clendenin describes:
peace-making instead of war mongering,
liberation not exploitation,
sacrifice rather than subjugation,
mercy not vengeance,
care for the vulnerable instead of privileges for the powerful,
generosity instead of greed,
humility rather than hubris,
embrace rather than exclusion.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
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