Thy Kingdom Come
The Church teaches that God gives freedom to every person He creates: the freedom to choose and to act, the freedom to decide how we want to live our lives. When Jesus, the Word Made Flesh walked this Earth, He talked a lot about our choices and the ways of this world and of His Kingdom, and how we should live if we want to follow Him. We see this in today’s Gospel reading:
When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?”“Yes,” he said.When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him,
“What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?”When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him,“Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.”
--Matthew 17: 24-27
The first thing we read is that the tax collectors come to Peter. And what do they want? Money. This is the nature of this fallen world we live in: it costs to live; as a result of the choice of our first parents, we must work to survive – by our sweat we get bread to eat.
It’s very interesting that Jesus calls the tax collectors “the kings of the earth.” The kingdom of this world is money, material things, wealth, power and fame – things that do not last. Jesus tells us that His Kingdom is not of this world. This Earth is not our home; our home is in eternity. We are “foreigners” here, aliens and visitors – we are not subjects of the “kings of this earth.” Even though the Christian way is not the way of a selfish and materialistic society, we have to live in this world, to work and make our way, and Jesus tells us not to offend. And this is the struggle, the challenge we face: not to accept the ways of this world, but to live in it, following the ways of our King, Christ Jesus.
Also, we see that Jesus Himself provides the way to pay the tax. God provides. Although Jesus could have produced the payment Himself; instead He told Simon Peter to go and catch a fish. Why? Well, Peter was a fisherman; that was the way he made his living. God provides the way; we do the work. Finally, the coin was enough for their payment, nothing more, and I think that’s what we can count on: God will provide for us what we need.
THE KINGDOM OF STUFF
By Andrew Costello
Most of us are citizens of the Kingdom of Stuff.
We’re overloaded: our wires, our clothes, our closets, our stomachs, our lives.
There are so many plugs, so many wires in our outlets, that we always pull out the wrong one when we want to bring the portable TV into the kitchen for supper.
We don’t want to miss anything. We want to have everything.
Our suitcases won’t close, so we go out and buy bigger ones, and then we build bigger airplanes.
We dash around in the Kingdom of Stuff, driving full speed ahead, wasting time, wasting fuel, wasting our lives, looking for the latest gadgets, the latest stuff.
We don’t know how to cut, to reduce the budget, to trim the fat out of our lives.
No wonder we can’t get through the eye of the needle. No wonder we don’t know anything about the Kingdom of God, about the prayer and service. No wonder we don’t believe that there is a vast sky of possibilities on the other side of the needle.
We can’t fix it.
We refuse to sell what we have and give it to the poor. No, we keep speeding down our eight lane highway, playing our stereos, playing our song,
“Happy are the rich, the Kingdom of Stuff is theirs.”
God emptied himself. He gave up everything to come through the eye of the needle, to come into the Kingdom of Stuff.
He walked around telling people to empty their lives, empty their suitcases, in fact get rid of them “no traveling bags,” and began walking the narrow road through the eye of the needle into the Kingdom of God.
--Meditations for Everyone
Dear children! I am your Mother and I invite you to come closer to God through prayer because only He is your peace, your savior. Therefore, little children, do not seek comfort in material things, but rather seek God. I am praying for you and I intercede before God for each individual. I am looking for your prayers that you accept me and accept my messages as in the first days of the apparitions and only then when you open your hearts and pray will miracles happen. Thank you for having responded to my call.
--Our Lady of Medjugorje, September 25, 1993
When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?”“Yes,” he said.When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him,
“What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?”When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him,“Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.”
--Matthew 17: 24-27
The first thing we read is that the tax collectors come to Peter. And what do they want? Money. This is the nature of this fallen world we live in: it costs to live; as a result of the choice of our first parents, we must work to survive – by our sweat we get bread to eat.
It’s very interesting that Jesus calls the tax collectors “the kings of the earth.” The kingdom of this world is money, material things, wealth, power and fame – things that do not last. Jesus tells us that His Kingdom is not of this world. This Earth is not our home; our home is in eternity. We are “foreigners” here, aliens and visitors – we are not subjects of the “kings of this earth.” Even though the Christian way is not the way of a selfish and materialistic society, we have to live in this world, to work and make our way, and Jesus tells us not to offend. And this is the struggle, the challenge we face: not to accept the ways of this world, but to live in it, following the ways of our King, Christ Jesus.
Also, we see that Jesus Himself provides the way to pay the tax. God provides. Although Jesus could have produced the payment Himself; instead He told Simon Peter to go and catch a fish. Why? Well, Peter was a fisherman; that was the way he made his living. God provides the way; we do the work. Finally, the coin was enough for their payment, nothing more, and I think that’s what we can count on: God will provide for us what we need.
THE KINGDOM OF STUFF
By Andrew Costello
Most of us are citizens of the Kingdom of Stuff.
We’re overloaded: our wires, our clothes, our closets, our stomachs, our lives.
There are so many plugs, so many wires in our outlets, that we always pull out the wrong one when we want to bring the portable TV into the kitchen for supper.
We don’t want to miss anything. We want to have everything.
Our suitcases won’t close, so we go out and buy bigger ones, and then we build bigger airplanes.
We dash around in the Kingdom of Stuff, driving full speed ahead, wasting time, wasting fuel, wasting our lives, looking for the latest gadgets, the latest stuff.
We don’t know how to cut, to reduce the budget, to trim the fat out of our lives.
No wonder we can’t get through the eye of the needle. No wonder we don’t know anything about the Kingdom of God, about the prayer and service. No wonder we don’t believe that there is a vast sky of possibilities on the other side of the needle.
We can’t fix it.
We refuse to sell what we have and give it to the poor. No, we keep speeding down our eight lane highway, playing our stereos, playing our song,
“Happy are the rich, the Kingdom of Stuff is theirs.”
God emptied himself. He gave up everything to come through the eye of the needle, to come into the Kingdom of Stuff.
He walked around telling people to empty their lives, empty their suitcases, in fact get rid of them “no traveling bags,” and began walking the narrow road through the eye of the needle into the Kingdom of God.
--Meditations for Everyone
Dear children! I am your Mother and I invite you to come closer to God through prayer because only He is your peace, your savior. Therefore, little children, do not seek comfort in material things, but rather seek God. I am praying for you and I intercede before God for each individual. I am looking for your prayers that you accept me and accept my messages as in the first days of the apparitions and only then when you open your hearts and pray will miracles happen. Thank you for having responded to my call.
--Our Lady of Medjugorje, September 25, 1993
posted by DarrellBowles | 4:31 PM
2 Comments:
Well said Darrell! Indeed, we are junk collectors! And for what use are the riches of this world that we obtain? We come into this world naked, and we shall leave naked!
Is our worriful focus in the wrong direction?
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow nor reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father provides. Are you not more important than they?"
(Matthew 6:25, 26)
Mary calls us to great simplicity. She lived a life of great simplicity herself.
I hope things cool down a lot for you out there Darrell!! I hope winter is cooler!!
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