Allow Jesus to reign. Thursday 32nd Week Ordinary Time Year A

 

 

Breakfast With the Word Thursday 32nd Week Ordinary Time Year

 

Luke 17:20-25

 

Do you know that Jesus loves you more than you think? For Him to come and die for us is a sign of great love. He wants to reign in our hearts. He longs to be the one in control but we fail to observe His presence among us.

 

We are more interested in signs and wonders, end-time prophecies, self-acclaimed visions etc awaiting His coming, but He is here among us.

 

He promises His disciples to surely be with them until the end of the ages” (Matthew 28:20). We are looking upward while He is near. We can only experience His mighty touch if we allow Jesus to reign in our lives and everything we do.

 

 

 

 

The Kingdom of God is within You.

 

 

In the gospel today, a Pharisee approaches Jesus to ask Him when the Kingdom of God will come. Jesus answers that the Kingdom of God is not coming with things we observe.

 

 

It is not a worldly event that will one day arrive and we begin to say “see it here, look at it here, like someone observing something. Jesus assures the Pharisee that in fact, the Kingdom of God is already here. It is living among us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Key Points

 

1. Jesus is teaching the Pharisees that God’s Kingdom cannot be found through observation. It is not a location or any system of government. But it is within. The Kingdom is here. It is not something we await when it will come.

It is already here with us only if we can recognize the presence. But it is not worldly. It is more spiritual than physical.

 

 

2. When we talk about a kingdom, we talk about a King, Someone who is in charge. Someone whose orders and whose directives guide His place of dominion.

 

 

So, the Kingdom of God is where God reigns, where God takes control of everything. It is where God reigns as King. This is the kingdom, Jesus brings to us.

 

 

3. So, Jesus tells them that the Kingdom of God is right in their midst because the King Jesus is right in their midst and they are still asking when it will come. So, they fail to recognise His presence.

 

 

The Kingdom

 

In Jesus is that Kingdom. In John 14:8, when Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father and it will be enough. Jesus asks Philip whether it means that all these while he does not know him? and Anyone who has seen Him has already seen the Father. ( John 14:8).

 

 

 

So, by addressing the Pharisee today, Jesus calls attention to Himself and the message He brings. So, the Kingdom is not a particular spirit or a subconscious mind in you. This Kingdom is more spiritual than psychological.

 

 

This is when we allow Jesus to take control of whatever we do. His presence changes us. In simple terms, the Kingdom of God exists wherever Jesus reigns. It is wherever God is wholly and entirely in charge.

 

4. Hence we can ask ourselves, “who is in charge of my life? Is it I? Money? Somebody? Do I obey my desires more than I obey God? Is someone more in control of my life than God?

 

 

Like the Pharisees who reject Jesus and yet ask for the coming of the Kingdom, is also how we fail to recognise His presence in our lives and in the chapel.

 

The type of life we live is a testament on who is actually reigning in our lives. We want to see visions, hear end-time prophecies, see wonders and miracles etc but we fail to give Jesus a little chance to occupy our hearts. We need more of Jesus more than these.

 

 

 

5. Wherever He reigns, We see peace, love, forgiveness, mercy, humility, hunger for God, strong faith, a life of prayer, justice, hope even in difficulties, total surrender to the will of God and not our own will, kindness, generosity, joy etc.

 

Which among these is lacking in our lives? Which one is lacking in our families and places where we are? Today we want miracles but our families are totally disintegrated. There is hatred everywhere. When we allow Jesus to reign in our lives, there will be a total change in the way we live.

Let us seek for change of heart first. The only way to this is through Jesus.

 

6. Let us allow Jesus to reign in our lives, family, places of work etc by bringing peace wherever you are, working for the people we serve than suffering them.

 

We have to promote the love of one another than killing people. We have to live in unity, forgiving one another, helping one another than laughing at their predicaments

 

Then, We need to be always in God’s presence than being weak to pray.

 

Our lives needs to grow in desiring God more than we desire anyone or anything, praying for one another instead of envying one another or praying for their downfall.

 

This is when we make God the King of our lives and not the tail . Then we allow Him to take absolute control of whatever we do.

 

May God bless you dearest and give us the grace to live in total communion with Him. May He continue to protect and be with you. Amen.

 

 

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