In some of the less attractive periods of Church history (think of The Inquisitions and the Salem Witch Trials), the people of God used violent means to purge from their ranks those they considered to be in league with evil. In one of the King’s stories, however, He shows us the way He prefers these things to be dealt with. As we unpack the story we will find there are no witch hunts allowed in the Kingdom of our God.
In last week’s post we discussed the fact that the King used stories to illustrate what the Kingdom of God looks like as it is manifested in our time and space. He did this to hide the truth from those who really didn’t care, and to preserve the truth for those who cared enough to press in to it and understand it. In today’s post we want to discuss a very popular parable and see where we fit in the picture it portrays.
Through all the teaching and preaching we find in the four Gospels, never once did Jesus provide a clear definition of the Kingdom of God. This was largely due to the fact that His audience, because of their history, would have had some idea what it referred to. He did, however, tell lots of stories related to the Kingdom. What was that all about?
I don’t know how many of us recognize the impact of Jesus’ words when He announced, “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mark 1:14 – 15) It was revolutionary. He was literally announcing that everything was about to change.
Living in the Reign 