Jesus became incarnate to inaugurate God’s kingdom, on earth as it is in Heaven. His Father’s plea at Jesus’s Transfiguration was ‘Listen to Him!’ (Luke 9:35). His gift of the ‘Our Father’ proclaimed that truth.  His life, giving the very last drop of his blood, enacted that truth.  Are we seeing and hearing with spiritual insight to absorb and enact our role in this Kingdom reality?

Disciples, both then and now, have a genuine hunger for God and a desire to help build His Kingdom, not their own.  Jesus used parables as an effective vehicle to convey divine truths to satisfy that hunger.  Parables contain great depth of meaning, illustrating a spiritual truth in very few words.  Their rich imagery is not easily forgotten. Without the light of the Holy Spirit, listeners easily miss that truth and are left in the dark. So, Jesus chose to teach in a way that would enable followers to enter His Kingdom.

As well as asking, ‘How is this parable about me and my relationship to God?’ we can reflect and ask, ‘How is this about Jesus and the inauguration of God’s Kingdom?’ When we start there, we can see more clearly the new way of living that Jesus offers with His announcement of the Kingdom arriving through Him.  His words, ‘Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done’ are keys to the doors of the kingdom. 

May we see, hear and respond to the spiritual reality of discerning and following God’s will wholeheartedly, to be truly blessed to enter His Kingdom.

By Margaret O’Shea