A Kingdom of Love… In What Sense?

 

It could be said that a kingdom is the territory and the people which is subject to a king. The king possesses his kingdom: it belongs to him by inheritance, by conquest, etc. Jesus is king for many reasons: He possesses the universe. Jesus possesses our hearts as well, but in a very particular way. He does not enslave people in order to increase His kingdom: He sets people free. He adds people to His kingdom by preaching the truth, and those who welcome this truth are set free.

In fact, those who embrace the truth about themselves, about their happiness and about God Himself are set free: they are empowered to become children of God, they are empowered to become light, beacons of peace. They do not fight for control, but for freedom; they fight to deliver people from their sins, to deliver people from ignorance and error, to deliver people from addictions, from existential angst, from hopelessness and from fear of death. Only Jesus’ truth can set people free from those things.

One day, Jesus will come back to deliver people from death, His last enemy, and to reward his people, all those who fought for freedom and won. When He comes back, He will also punish His enemies: those who abused their power in order to enslave people, those who hid the truth by misinformation in order to keep people in ignorance and under control, those who persecuted and killed the body of those who fought for truth and freedom. They will be punished one day for having hurt their brothers and sisters.

The kingdom of God is many things, it has many aspects… but, first, the way God wants to govern, the way God wants to possess people is by love, not by slavery. You truly earn someone’s heart when that person is in love with you. This is the way God wants you to belong to Him. If you enslave someone, that person will do whatever you say, perhaps, but will think of you whatever they want and will not necessarily love the things you love. They may be your slaves, but you do not own their hearts.

For Jesus, this is too little. Jesus wants people to think the way He thinks, because He is right, and He doesn’t want people to be in the wrong. To be in the wrong is bad for people, and Jesus does not want that. This is why Jesus preaches the truth, so that people know and are set free from ignorance. So that people know who they really are, where they come from, what is happiness and what is the way to happiness.

Jesus also wants people to love what He loves and, most of all, Jesus wants people to love Him as a Person. He wants us to fall in love with Him and thus to endeavor to possess His Heart. This means two things. First, what keeps united the Kingdom of God is not the law, but love. Or, perhaps better said, the law of love. Those who do not love God above all things and their neighbors as themselves, as Jesus loved us, are outside of His rule. Second, this Kingdom is a kingdom of queens and kings, a royal people, a royal priesthood: because the Kingdom and the King belong by love to each one of us. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). We will inherit the Kingdom because, in Heaven, we will possess God Himself and everything that belongs to Him will belong to us in a perfect way. We will possess the Kingdom because the King will bestow Himself upon us, in an act of love. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23); “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

The Kingdom of God has already begun because Jesus has already given Himself to us on the Cross. He gives Himself to us in every Eucharist. He is uniting us with Him in love constantly. He keeps His Kingdom united. He keeps His flock together.

So, insofar as Jesus loves us, and we receive His love in poverty of spirit, we own His Heart. “Set me as a seal upon your heart!” (Song 8:6); “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3). And insofar as we love Jesus back and try to please Him, Jesus owns our hearts. If we disobey Him and put other things first, we lose His Heart and leave His Kingdom. But if we persevere in His love, even when they kill us, they cannot take away Jesus from our hearts. This is why nobody can snatch Jesus’ sheep from His hand, and nobody can steal the Kingdom from us. This is what it means that Jesus’ Kingdom is firstly spiritual, even if one day, when He comes back, Jesus will establish His Kingdom with power, to reward those who fought for Him and His freedom, and punish those who fought against Him and His brothers and sisters.

I invite you to take possession of your Kingdom… When you receive Holy Communion, you own God’s Heart, you make Him a prisoner of your love. He wants freely to be imprisoned, and, in this way, He wants to conquer our Hearts. To serve God is to reign with Him.

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