The very first reference to the kingdom comes in Matthew 3. Here we find John the Baptist crying out in the desert "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near". His message carries immediacy. For John the kingdom is not some distant promise - a hope for the far future - but rather it is at hand and his reaction to Jesus shows that he recognises him instantly as the one of whom he has been talking
Later, in Matthew 11 we see John, in prison and plagued with doubt, send messengers to Jesus to ask if he had in fact been right. Jesus characteristically does not answer the question, but points to what is happening around him. If John's proclamation was true, that the kingdom was at hand, then perhaps what Jesus points to tells us a little of what the kingdom is. "The blind see, the lame walk, the sick are healed and the good news is preached to the poor."
If the kingdom was at hand nearly 2,000 years ago then it is here now. The kingdom is not something we are waiting for, but something we are called into. Right here, right now. Yet the kingdom Jesus points to seems very different to my daily experience.
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