This is the theme suggested by Rt. Revd Dr. Euyakim Mar Coorilos, the diocesan bishop of Mar Thoma Diocese of North America and Europe, for our parish retreat in London in March 2008. I have written the following as an introduction to the theme for thinking through the issues involved and prepare ourselves for the retreat so that it will be helpful in our parish life. I am just happy to share it with the ‘Light of Life’ of readers.

As ‘the kingdom of God’ is everlasting, its values are everlasting too. From this perspective we need to admit with total humility and gratitude that values of this kingdom is every bit relevant to us today as it was when it was declared during Jesus’ Galilean ministry.

One of the ways of understanding the kingdom of God is by seeing it as God’s way of putting the world right, as His salvation plan or rescue mission for the human race. Our self-centred rebellion separated us from God. Our attempt to ‘go it alone’ has been a cataclysmic blunder: instead of gaining freedom, we have found ourselves enslaved to evil and utter selfishness. Although God could have just crushed this rebellion by force, he didn’t. Instead, he launched an alternative strategy of unconditional love, a long and costly process of trying to bring the human race back to Him. He inaugurated His kingdom by paying a very costly price and therefore this kingdom is a very valuable and priceless kingdom. It is a kingdom of great value as illustrated in the parable of the hidden treasure (Mt 13: 44-46) and it also has its own unique value systems and standards.

Much of Jesus’ teaching applies to the kingdom and therefore applies to us now. As the parable of the mustard seed taught, the kingdom is at present hidden and easy to overlook. But it is, in fact, a powerful and active force for change in all situations of life. Like yeast in dough, it works slowly and silently. In spite of its apparent insignificance, the kingdom is unstoppable because it is God’s work. Unlike the Old Testament and other world-wise kingdoms, the kingdom of God knows neither geographic boundaries nor ethnic or racial restrictions; its extent is universal and people from all nations will enter it. Jesus is at the heart of the kingdom. Today, as in the past, people will only enter the kingdom through Jesus, because he is the way to the kingdom.

The gospels make it clear that nothing is more important than belonging to the kingdom. The kingdom is so valuable that no expense or sacrifice is too great to enter it. One of Jesus’ sayings sums up the importance of the kingdom: ‘And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?’ Kingdom is a gift; it is under the grace and favour of our Lord. Jesus says to his disciples: ‘It gives your Father great happiness to give you the kingdom.’ But to gain this kingdom requires humility and self emptying. The parable of the pearl of great value does not just teach that the kingdom is valuable; it teaches that we have to act to get into it. Jesus talked about the kingdom as having a narrow gate that needs to be walked through.

The basis of entry to this kingdom is to have complete trust in Jesus. Yet because being in the kingdom is to be under the rule of the king, two other conditions exist. The first is repentance. Jesus says ‘Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!’ To repent is to reject anything that will get in the way of the kingdom. The second is commitment. To enter the kingdom also involves taking Jesus as king of our lives. This may sound like giving up our freedom, but there is freedom in the kingdom to become the children of God. This kingdom is within us too and kingdom values should become our values too. Under that circumstance our identity becomes defined by the kingdom values. We cannot just have a detached attachment to it.

Kingdom values are stated in a passage in Matthew’s Gospel that has become known as the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7). Some thought of it as impossible ethics, but others have found in it the finest statement of the highest morality that mankind has known. The ways of looking at the sermon on the mount have been conditioned by cultural environment. Archbishop Blanch wrote: “It means one thing to a well-endowed capitalist society; it means something rather different to a poorer member of a third world country.” Therefore, it is quiet important for us to think about its relevance for us today in our cultural context.

Religion had been based on sacraments and external symbolic actions in the ancient times or following the letter of the law, but Jesus brought motives and desires under God’s concern. For Jesus, religious purity was no longer about external actions of wearing religious masks; it was about internal attitudes. We must abdicate our throne in favour of Jesus as the indwelling king of the kingdom within us. Jesus also broadened the law. He summarized the values of the kingdom like this: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and your entire mind.” This is the first commandment. The second is equally important: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

God gives his people the gift of Holy Spirit to help them live out the life in the kingdom in all its abundance. In John’s Gospel we read about abiding in him: ‘for a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.’ The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to be a helper who will allow us to be connected in this ‘fruitful’ way to Jesus through grace. Receiving the Spirit, following his guidance, and living under his empowering grace enable us to live the sort of lives that God wants to live today. Therefore, kingdom values (poverty in spirit, meekness, righteousness, kindness, purity of heart, peacemaking) are the consequence of faith in a living God. These are similar to the fruits of the spirit expressed by Paul in his letter to Galatians (Galatians 5: 22-23).

The values that Jesus described as being appropriate to the kingdom surprised and astounded his audience of the time. It has not lost its importance in anyway for us as they are eternal values, but we need to look at in the context of our life in the early part of the twenty-first century in England and we should make it relevant today through the grace of God. Let us think about it, pray, and prepare ourselves for our retreat.