Jesus began his public ministry in Galilee with these words, ‘The time has come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’(Mark 1:15). The phrase ‘the kingdom of God’ appears on the lips of Jesus more often than any other. In the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, it appears 104 times. If we look at comparable expressions, for instance, the word ‘faith’ or ‘believe’ appears only 70 times on the lips of Jesus, the word ‘love’ 36 times, and ‘the Holy Spirit’ 35 times. So all the evangelists agree that what constituted the heart of Jesus’ preaching was the theme of the kingdom of God.
Jesus did not invent this concept. It permeates the Old Testament scriptures. Jesus assumed the ancient expectation of his people that God would one day establish his liberating rule on earth. If we forget the Jewish heritage of Jesus and the cultural framework within which he lived, then we shall err in our interpretation of his message.
At the heart of Jesus’ ministry lay a vigorous challenge to the powers of evil, whether in the disease that afflicts the body, the demons that torment the mind, the guilt and indignities that crush the person, or the idolatry and hypocrisy that destroy human community. Yet it was a challenge that he made in utter vulnerability. It led to the agony in Gethsemane and the God-forsakenness of Golgotha.
Those who follow Jesus are called to identify with those ‘at the bottom’ of our social and political systems, to embrace a suffering that may not be directly our own.
As he voluntarily embraced the shame and humiliation of the cross, Jesus demonstrated God’s loving solidarity with all who suffer brutalization at the hands of others. Of course, he died in solidarity with all sinners, the executioners and bystanders as much as the victims. But we must not forget that he died a victim of a political system and on a political charge. His loving solidarity with all made him a victim with some at the hands of others. It is as one of the victims that his forgiveness extends to those who uphold the system. But the latter can only receive that forgiveness when they are willing to turn around (‘repent’) from their complicity in God-denying structures.
Those who follow Jesus are called to identify with those ‘at the bottom’ of our social and political systems, to embrace a suffering that may not be directly our own. This would involve learning to see the world from their perspective, thus rejecting the comfortable perspectives of those who benefit from the present world-order.
The Kingdom Manifesto
The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is Jesus’ kingdom manifesto. It spells out what citizenship in God’s kingdom looks like; or the new world-order that has dawned. It begins with an eight-fold description (5:3-12) of the character of those who belong to his kingdom and for whom his coming is indeed ‘good news’.
Firstly, they are people ‘poor in spirit’ (v.3)—not in control of things, including their own lives, but broken and dependent wholly on God; secondly, they ‘mourn’ (v.4)—over their own sins and the suffering and sins of the people among whom they live; thirdly, they are ‘meek’ (v.5)—not cringing cowards, but those whose ambitions do not centre in themselves; they do not push themselves into the spotlight but renounce positions of honour and privilege; fourthly, they ‘hunger and thirst for justice’ (v.6)—disciples are known as people who have a passion for God’s justice, who yearn for God’s vindication of the oppressed; fifthly, they combine the hunger for justice, which on its own can make people hard and even self-righteous, with the ability to show mercy (v.7) to both the victims and the perpetrators of injustice; sixthly, they are ‘pure in heart’ (v.8)—indicating singleness of motive and undivided loyalty of heart; seventhly, they imitate God in being ‘peacemakers’ (v.9)—they take the initiative to enter situations of conflict and violence, whether in families or cities or nations, to build bridges and restore relationships between peoples at enmity with each other; and, finally, disciples are persecuted—both for the sake of justice and on account of bearing faithful witness to Jesus (vv.10,11).
Jesus goes on to predict the impact such disciples will have on their societies. He uses two metaphors, one negative, the other positive. Negatively, they will be like salt (v.13) which when rubbed into meat or fish arrests the bacterial decay. Similarly disciples, when rubbed into their societies and living out their distinctiveness will arrest the moral and spiritual decay of those societies. Positively, they will be like light (v.14), exposing and dispelling the dark areas of business, government and other institutions in their nation. Note that it is not by their preaching but by their ‘good works’—those works of justice, mercy and peacemaking—that the disciples attract sceptical others to turn and ‘give glory to God’ (v.16).
In this way, the church is called to live as a sign, a foretaste and an instrument of the reign of God which is both a present and future reality. We do not build or bring about God’s kingdom. We bear witness to it.
Witness in the Way of Jesus
The way of Jesus, then, is the way he calls his church to go. It is neither a withdrawal from the world into a religious sanctuary, nor an engagement with the world on the world’s own terms. It is nothing less than an unflinching yet vulnerable challenge to the powers that control the present world-order, but in the name of the reign of God present in the crucified and risen Jesus. To the extent that the Church participates in the counter-cultural way of Jesus, including the suffering of Jesus, it becomes the bearer of the risen life of Jesus for the sake of the world.
The way of Jesus . . . is neither a withdrawal from the world into a religious sanctuary, nor an engagement with the world on the world’s own terms. It is . . . an unflinching yet vulnerable challenge to the powers that control the present world-order, but in the name of the reign of God present in the crucified and risen Jesus.
This sort of thinking is far removed from the measures of missionary ‘progress’ and the recipes for church growth that abound in Western evangelical circles today. Christian mission is not a developing ‘success story’ in the way the world reckons ‘success’.
The primary way the church impacts the world is not through its evangelistic or social programmes, or by multiplying religious professionals, or starting more mission agencies; but through the character and the daily work of Christian men and women in offices, schools, factories, village councils, research laboratories, corporate boardrooms, and so on. These are the contemporary sites of Christian mission.
The primary way the church impacts the world is not through its evangelistic or social programmes, or by multiplying religious professionals, or starting more mission agencies; but through the character and the daily work of Christian men and women in offices, schools, factories, village councils, research laboratories, corporate boardrooms, and so on. These are the contemporary sites of Christian mission.
I remember a meeting in an Asian country with a handful of committed Christian politicians who represented different opposition political parties in that Muslim-majority country. They came from a variety of church traditions, including Roman Catholic and Pentecostal. I asked them ‘What is the biggest source of frustration you experience in your work?’ I expected them to say something like ‘The compromises we need to make as party members’, but instead they were unanimous in their answer: ‘Our church.’ They did not receive any support from their churches, whether in the form of regular prayer, financial assistance or volunteers to help in implementing social policies or just running their offices. One woman Member of Parliament told me her church raised huge funds to send cross-cultural missionaries and young people on short-term ‘mission trips’ to other parts of Asia. But their work as politicians was not considered as ‘mission’. The only time the church leaders showed any interest in what they did was when Christians themselves suffered political harassment and wanted them to speak up for them in parliament. This story is repeated all over the world.
I have worked primarily with Christians in secular occupations, helping them to live out the gospel and communicate God’s truth and justice in the fields of science, business, the arts, medicine, education and so on. These men and women who engage ‘Christianly’ with the public square are at the cutting-edge of mission. They face huge ethical challenges thrown up by, say, new medical technologies or new social networking media, genetically modified crops, futures trading and hedge funds, anti-terrorist legislation, climate change and biodiversity loss. These all call for deep missionary engagement and missiological reflection.
Consider Rocio Parra, an academic lawyer in Chile who, inspired by her Christian conviction to care for creation, is trying to incorporate the seas and ocean into the traditional concept of ‘territory’ and so secure environmental protection in the new Constitution of her country.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has been torn apart by war for over two decades, involving rival local warlords and multinational companies exploiting the country’s rich mineral reserves. Mass rape has been a weapon in this war. Denis Mukwege is a Christian gynaecologist who developed a staged system of care for these women—combining surgery with psychological examination, helping them develop employable skills and assisting them legally so that they can bring their assailants to court. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.[1]
Most of us will not be so recognized in this life for the kingdom work we do. Even the long-term impact of our work may only be disclosed on the Day of Judgment. We will often experience opposition, discouragement or a deep sense of failure. We are called, however, not to success, but to faithfulness.