Kingdom of God - Part 1

One of the things I do believe in, and that might even be at the core of my faith, is the idea of the kingdom of God. I can believe in Jesus' purpose being to initiate and open our eyes to that kingdom much more readily than I believe in anything in particular about obtaining forgiveness of sins. I can even believe in the Resurrection as God's yes to the vision Jesus presents – much more readily and meaningfully than I believe in it as some sort of demonstration that there's an afterlife. To my understanding, the kingdom of God is about sustainability, social justice, love, and community.

Sustainability might seem out of place there, but I think it's critically necessary for the others to work. It's true that the gospels don't say much (or anything?) about environmental issues, but that's really not hugely surprising for the time period – it wasn't so much on humanity's radar at that point. There is a bit of biblical support in Ezekiel 34:17-19 “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?” To me it seems to at least talk about the injustice of destroying natural resources such that others are preventing from having access to them. It might be vague, but it stopped me in my tracks when I first came across the passage in high school.

And of course there's the part in Genesis where all creation is proclaimed by God to be good, and the fact that the garden is given into humanity's keeping. This concept has a history of being used to justify humanity's domination over the natural world and bending it to our own uses, but there is presently a movement towards understanding it as more of a stewardship role which includes preserving the goodness of the earth for the future. Or, in the words of a friend (paraphrased because I don't remember the exact words): “God made all these species and we have a responsibility to preserve them.” (Which belief, by the way, does not preclude an understanding of evolution as the way in which God made all these species).

In addition to the biblical ideas, it seems to me that there's also just a common sense aspect. The world is in fact finite. Any other planets we could use are a long way away, and the species that live on Earth are unlikely to be found on some other planet. We can't have justice while we're using up resources and destroying natural systems – denying them to future generations. So we need to figure out what is actually doable for the long term – what can we as a society use and consume without doing permanent damage to the other life on the planet and to our own descendants? As the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy (www.steadystate.org) points out, it's hard to have justice without knowing where you stand.

Social justice is the next point I want to talk about – one could argue that the reason sustainability is important is that it's necessary for social justice. And unlike sustainability in and of itself, the Bible is full of exhortations to social justice. These start in the Old Testament in the very basics of the Law: only go through your fields to harvest once so those in need can glean from the remains, don't keep someone's only coat as collateral on a loan overnight, every 50 or so years all debts are canceled and all land reverts to its original owners – no possibility of someone building up personal wealth forever while others long for a clean slate. (I understand that it's unclear whether some of these laws were actually really in force, but they remain as ideals that were valued at the time and perhaps deserve to be taken seriously today).

Getting into the prophets, there are fierce condemnations of the people of Israel, and particularly those in power, for taking advantage of the poor. The passage in Ezekiel that I quoted above is surrounded on both sides by more traditional-sounding social justice verses: 15-16 “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice” and 20-22 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.” And of course there's Micah's instruction to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”

Finally, Jesus himself talks constantly about social justice: the commands to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, etc; the instruction to give to anyone who asks of you; the stories of the rich young man, of Lazarus in Hades, of a camel through the eye of a needle; the cleansing of the Temple; etc. And the fact that we never see Jesus turn away anyone who asks for his help. It almost seems silly to go looking for references to wealth and poverty issues in the gospels because you practically trip over them.

But we as a society aren't very good at this. Some of us, myself included, have far more than we need, while others lack nutrition, shelter, medical care, and hope for improving their situation. Practices like predatory lending and sweatshop employment take advantage of people's desperation – is that so different from the false weights and measures the prophets condemn? Some individuals grow very wealthy from practices that take advantage of others, but we're all complicit when we buy food and clothing that can be sold at low prices because those who labor to produce them aren't justly compensated. And selling all our belongings and distributing the money to the poor doesn't look any more appealing or feasible than it did in Jesus' time.

But in the idea of the kingdom of God, I see a different vision: one where everyone does work that truly helps society, and everyone shares in the benefits. One where cheating your neighbor is unthinkable. One where we don't need so many rules because we can trust one another to act in good faith. One where all God's creatures are cherished and protected. One where love and community are the basis of day-to-day life.

In future posts, I'll talk more about love and community, and also about the actual work of bringing about the kingdom of God and my own inadequate efforts there.