The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,
and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’
The coming of the Kingdom of God would not be the result of a military conquest by which oppressive powers like Rome would be overthrown in order to give way to a new Davidic kingdom on earth. Much Messianic fervor surrounded this hope that great power would enter in and change the circumstances and social structures. It was an precursor to the utopianism of later times. They imagined that if the external structures were perfect such a kingdom could be worthy of their hope and aspiration, even if human hearts remained as they were. As such, the Pharisee were incapable of recognizing the true Kingdom that Jesus began his ministry by announcing, and had no sense of how his parables about the Kingdom could in fact have anything to do with it.
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.
The point was that the Pharisees were already missing the point. Jesus was the King of the new Davidic Kingdom and where he and his followers were present that Kingdom was there. This was a difficult pill to swallow for those who were hoping for freedom of circumstance. But the Kingdom of God promised freedom of soul before freedom of circumstance. Members of this Kingdom would truly be priests, prophets, and kings themselves, not politically, but living in the royal freedom of the Holy Spirit. It would be from the inside out of each individual that the world itself would be changed.
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.
There were two ways to hear this statement. The first was that it must not amount to very much if the world still appeared as broken it always did, and that the King of this Kingdom must not be very powerful. But for those with eyes of faith this saying meant that there was the new possibility to experience spiritual power, freedom, and joy in even in the midst of a still imperfect world. Which of these ways of viewing the Kingdom do we choose? Does the Church seem like too little in the face of the overwhelming darkness of the world? Or do we realize that a Kingdom much greater than the darkness of the world is already in our midst?
The days will come when you will long to see
one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.
The Kingdom continues to be hidden in our midst, primarily spiritual, though embodied in the Church. We long to see the Kingdom in fullness when everything will be set right and every tear wiped away. But we are called to remember that the Kingdom is indeed here, and the we do in fact have access to the presence of the Son of Man even if we cannot see him.
For just as lightning flashes
and lights up the sky from one side to the other,
so will the Son of Man be in his day.
The lightning is known everywhere because things are illuminated by it, even briefly. Our experiences of the Son of Man triumphing are often like this. Light is suddenly given that somehow illuminates and comprehends the darkness around us. For a moment we are able to see the bigger picture and to know with greater certainty the direction in which we are headed. Learning to see the world by the light of our faith is to recognize the Kingdom breaking through. When we do, we become better able to pray for it in the Our Father and able to welcome it when it manifests in surprising ways. Recognizing this light is Wisdom, as the first reading describes.
Compared to light, she takes precedence;
for that, indeed, night supplants,
but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.
Indeed, she reaches from end to end mightily
and governs all things well.
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