See Clearly 20/20 His Kingdom on Earth

Jesus began his ministry by calling everyone to repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. To repent, metanoïa in Greek, is to change our way of seeing the world. That new way of seeing is described in His first recorded teaching in Matthew 5, beginning with the Beatitudes. We find out that the Kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit, to those who aren’t pretentious enough to believe that they’ve got it all figured out. Jesus follows up the beatitudes by repeating (emphasizing) six times, “You have heard that it was said, but now I tell you.” You have heard it said so many times that you believe a particular interpretation of the law, but Jesus then radicalizes each notion that we had believed was gospel Truth. He wants us to really change our way of seeing! To see differently and more deeply the law that we accommodated and domesticated to fit our expectations. This is at the beginning of the gospel of Matthew, at the beginning of the NT. It sets down what is to come. So how does Jesus continue to emphasize how we are to see differently the Kingdom in our midst and the fields ripe for Harvest? The sub-theme to our conference is for us to hear minority voices. Giving ear to minority voices will always help us to see the Kingdom of God that is always present, there where we don’t expect it.

(1) Jesus was Himself a minority voice.

He was an itinerant preacher with no place to lay his head.

He came from some hick town called Nazareth lost somewhere in the backwoods of Galilee.

Those with the voice of authority sought to disqualify His voice by questioning with what authority He spoke?

He had no formal education.

(2) Jesus consistently undermined those who were the official, authorized and dominant voice, the voice of the hierarchy, the scribes and the Pharisees.

At no time did He associate the Kingdom of God with those in office, the apparently legitimate voices of the Israeli people. He went out of His way to circumvent these in order to reveal the Kingdom to and amongst the lowly.

(3) Jesus consistently gave voice to the minority, the poor, the impure or the outcasts.

And in this way revealed the Kingdom of God in the most obscure places where no one would have looked.

- the Roman centurion believer, certainly a minority within the Roman army and without voice in the Jewish community;

- the Samaritan woman;

- the woman sick for 12 years who was bold enough to touch Jesus’ tunic;

- the poor woman who gave a 2-cents offering;

- the fisherman called Peter;

- the woman whom he treated as a dog who’s faith permitted the healing of her daughter.

I invite you to join us in Baltimore in late April so that we might together See Clearly 20/20 His Kingdom on Earth.

Pierre LeBel

Pierre LeBel is a member of YWAM'S Canadian Eldership as well as its' North American Cities Leadership Team. His primary role is the interpretation of Christian faith and spirituality in the context of secular, urban and post-Christian society and culture.