The Kingdom of Community

We have moved from the Christmas Holiday to the brink of the New Years Holiday. This being the last Sunday in December I thought it appropriate to continue touching on the theme of Kingdom. Although I have completed the sermon series on the advent themes: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace; I want to continue searching the idea of Kingdom as it relates to the early life of Jesus. In fact, this is the fifth Sunday of Advent, and so it seems fitting to end our advent celebration with a last look at the Kingdom.

So, I think it is rather appropriate to ask ourselves “what is Kingdom?” What is this thing we call a “kingdom”? As it is traditionally understood—and it may seem quite obvious—Kingdom is the realm where the King rules. But that realm is not just physical, it includes the subjects, the “ones presided over”. A kingdom is not just a physical space or boundary, but it also incorporates the composition of people within such a boundary. Thus, “kingdom” is both place and people. And because it includes people, it necessarily includes community.

An exploration in community in this context forces us to ask a couple questions: Where do we find community? What should the community in the Kingdom of God look like? I think we can begin to glimpse answers to these questions by looking at our lectionary text this morning from Luke. This is a passage of scripture that presents the early life of Jesus, after his birth but well before his public ministry.

Flip through your bibles to the Gospel of Luke, the second chapter. As you do so, it may strike you that we have been focusing on Luke's version of Jesus' early life quite a bit in the last month. This is true for several reasons. If you are familiar with the Gospels, you will notice that Mark and John have virtually nothing to say about Jesus' birth and early life. In fact, only Matthew and Luke comment and narrate on the early life of Jesus. And between these two Gospels, Luke gives us more than Matthew. Now, there are some important differences between the Gospels which combine to give us unique information and narrative, such as Matthew's account of the flight to Egypt. But for our purposes this morning, we return to the Gospel of Luke and the story of Jesus and his parents in their trip to Jerusalem.

Text: Luke 2: 41-52

I was talking about this story with my mother, and she wondered to me “how is it possible that Joseph and Mary could lose their child, Jesus?” If you will remember, Mary had a messenger come and tell her that her son would be incredibly special. So it is hard to imagine Mary and Joseph casually unconcerned with Jesus' whereabouts. It is tough to comprehend how they could lose Jesus. So I would like to offer some historical context which might make this event seem a little more understandable. Also, historical context will provide us with the reasons for which Mary, Joseph and Jesus were traveling to Jerusalem in the first place.

First, if we were to look back at the Hebrew Bible and search the Law, we would find that every male of the covenant was to travel to Jerusalem for three feasts. These feasts were: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Now this law had been in effect for hundreds upon hundreds of years, beginning at a time when most, if not all Israelites, had relatively easy access to the temple. But in 586 BCE, the Babylonian Empire invaded the Israelite land and conquered the Israelites. To prevent the Israelites from unifying and revolting, the Babylonians dispersed, scattered, and spread out the Israelites within the Babylonian Empire. Many Israelites were sent to Babylon. This event sparked many prophetic texts and new ideas concerning how to maintain the Israelite religion despite the new circumstances. It was now very difficult for the Israelites to come to Jerusalem three times a year for these feasts.

Over time, it became customary for Jewish men to attempt to travel once during the year to Jerusalem for one of the three feasts. This custom was particularly true to Palestinian Jews who were in relatively reasonable traveling distance to Jerusalem. Joseph and Mary, being Palestinian Jews, traveled every year, as our text informs us, to the feast of the Passover. This was their attempt to fulfill the Law according to their custom.

Now you may ask yourself, why is it that Mary accompanied Joseph if the Law only required the male to travel and attend? Well it was also common for women and children to make the pilgrimage with the men. Often, large groups of family and friends would travel in a caravan to the Holy City. You may notice that our text seems to imply that Jesus did not typically travel with his parents on these journeys, but that this year he did. So why is it that Jesus came? Well, when a male child of the Jewish religion reaches puberty, usually around age 12, he then becomes a man of the Jewish faith. Thus, Jesus, upon his 12th birthday, became a Jewish man subject to the edicts of the Jewish Law. As a result, Jesus accompanied his father to Jerusalem in this customary pilgrimage.

But we must turn to my mom's question: How did Jesus get lost? Well, I believe the historical context will provide us with some insight. The text appears quite plain, yet it seems that Joseph and Mary were quite irresponsible. It was tradition, at later times, for women and children to separate from men. Small women and children went ahead and men followed. If this later, documented tradition, arose during the time of Jesus, then it is possible that Joseph and Mary were separated as they left Jerusalem. Thus, each parent may have believed Jesus was with the other. This caravan would have traveled for an entire day before setting up camp, and upon doing so, Mary and Joseph would have found each other and realized Jesus was missing.
Hoping Jesus was with relatives or friends in the caravan, Joseph and Mary searched the people who had traveled with them. After three days of frantic searching, Mary and Joseph returned to Jerusalem to find Jesus in the temple. It was typical at that time, that teaching took place in the temple courtyard. This is precisely the image we see when Mary and Joseph arrive at the temple. Jesus, sitting in the courtyard, is among teachers. It was also typical in Jewish education for problems to be worked out in discussion. The student would question the teacher and a dialog would develop. So it is in this context that Jesus remains at the temple. And it is here that Mary and Joseph, distraught and probably exhausted, arrive. Mary, bewildered and frustrated, asks Jesus: Why have you treated us in this way? Behold your father and I have been searching for you in great distress” (v. 48).

It appears Mary did not understand why Jesus had not returned with them, for there seems to be some criticism or rebuke in her voice as she questions Jesus. And Jesus answers in a very interesting way: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?” (v. 49). Jesus seems to be saying that this is the place that he had to be, that he needed to be. What's more, Jesus uses very peculiar language in saying “My Father's House.” This is terminology that was not typical and indicates to us that Jesus has begun to recognize a special relationship to God. But Jesus also recognizes the importance of the temple and this his “Father's House.”

So we must ask ourselves what it is that the temple served to do during Jesus' time. Well, the temple in Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish religion; the cultic center. This was the place where the Jewish people would come to find instruction (commune with each other), to sacrifice (perform religion), and to pray (commune with God). Thus, the temple was a place of communion, and as such it was also a place of community. Community as a Jewish religion and community before Yahweh. It is in this place of community that Jesus says: “I must be in my Father's house.”

So let's look at community here and now. Obviously, Jesus recognizes the importance of community in his Father's house. So too, we must look for and recognize community in our lives, especially as it relates to the idea of “God's Kingdom.” So to begin, I figured it would be appropriate to take up a very theological perspective. This is a perspective which assesses our humanity in light of God's divinity. Many of you may have heard of “the Trinity.” This is the concept of the “three-in-one” or “one-in-three.” It is a difficult, paradoxical, seemingly incompatible notion of God. It places three co-equal beings under the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. You may remember some time ago when Pastor Fullard attempted to explain during the Children's moment the concept of the Trinity. I was amazed because I find this concept hard enough for myself as a young adult, let alone a small child.
Despite the paradox which appears to be built into this concept, the Trinity offers us some valuable insight into the idea of community. Under the umbrella of God's individuality (the Godhead), is God's Community. The three (community) being one (individuality). What makes this important for us, is the realization that we, as God's creatures, are reflections of God. As a result, we too have an internal desire and need for community despite our independence and individuality.

Now, there is an anthropological (anthros being “man” in Greek) perspective as well, one that doesn't assess our position in light of God's being, but that simply observes and assesses humanity. A famous and ancient philosopher, Aristotle, argued from such an anthropological position. He argued that human were political animals. But a "political animal" is not one that is democratic, republican, independent, libertarian or other group that deals with politics as we know it. Rather, a political animal means an animal whose nature is to live in a polis or city, not without others or in very small groups. Ultimately, Aristotle recognized that humans were “social” animals. Aristotle recognized that very thing we saw from the theological perspective: that humans exist in and need society, other people, community. We are people who are by nature social. He also argued that "Civilization" (from Latin civitas, a city) is the natural state for humans. It is the natural state not because it is the original state—we are not born into social our fullest social relationships—but in the sense that the natural goal of human development is life in society, life with people.

Now there are lots of people who think that faith, spirituality, and Christianity can be done independently, individually. To some extent they are correct, for faith and Christianity is a personal matter. But it is also a public matter, it is not solely individual. There is a need, desire, and built-in sense of community that must be fulfilled. This is a necessary and important part of Christianity, an important part of following Christ. In fact, Aristotle rejected the idea common at the time, and since, that civilization is artificial, conventional, unnatural. He argued that instead humans need community. If we look around and judge for ourselves in our own experience I think we might find ourselves in agreement with Aristotle; in agreement with the theological perspective. People exist in and depend on society.

We can even move to the project of sociology, which seeks to study companionship and association. The founder of Sociology, Auguste Comte, sought to unify economics, psychology, and history under one academic discipline. He felt that humans passed through similar stages including philosophy and science, which could be studied. The studies could then yield solutions to social ills.

If we apply theology, anthropology and sociology to our notion of Kingdom, we see that the Kingdom of God is a special society, a special community; a society of people who need each other and the God they unity under. But where do we find this community now? Where do we find this idea of the Kingdom of God in our present day, especially when this is an incomplete Kingdom? Where do we find our sense of social belonging and our sense of community?
I suggest to you this morning that Church provides us with our physical, emotional, and spiritual society. Church, the House of God, is our place of community. It unites theology, economics, psychology and much more to prescribe remedies for social ills in the Spirit of God. The church provides people, united under God, a place of worship, communion, celebration, comfort, edification, instruction, and much, much more. The church is the physical manifestation of God's
Kingdom in its present form, even if incomplete.

Since we have touched on the notion of the Kingdom of God during this advent season, we now must realize that such a Kingdom begins here, in our church. The Kingdom we long to see built-up in the world around us must first begin within the walls where we worship. To build-up the Kingdom of God means to build-up our churches, our communities of faith. We have to have a strong church to work toward a strong and completed Kingdom of God. And God's House is not limited to the church building, but it does include it. Thus the Kingdom must begin inside these walls. If these walls do not contain the attitude of the Kingdom, the Hope and Love of the Kingdom, then we are spinning our wheels, we are only “talking about the Kingdom” instead of being the Kingdom.

The purpose of up-building God's Kingdom is to make these walls expand... but not physically to create a larger church, although this might happen. Instead we are called to include everyone inside these “walls” of love, compassion, hope, joy, and peace. As we reach out to those in our community we are reaching out beyond our physical walls to include them in our walls of Love, Hope, and Joy. That doesn't only mean bringing more people into our building, although that does and sometimes should happen. But it does mean reaching out to a community in action, thought, prayer and compassion so as to expand our walls to include everyone in our city, county, state, nation.

Are we building up God's Kingdom within our very walls? We must begin there in order to build “outwards” (in a sense upwards). We must remember that Jesus could be found at his “father's house.” Where can we find you? Are you committed to the Kingdom through your commitment to church? Are you celebrating, fellowshipping, and worshiping God in God's House? Many people lose God's guiding presence in their daily lives, but there is a place where that can be restored, where God's guiding presence can be re-discovered... that place is in God's House. This is where we find Christ, offering us guidance as we work to build-up the Kingdom of God.