Lenten blog | March 26, 2025

The Reign of God is like ...

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for March 26th:  Numbers 13:17-27; Psalm 39; and Luke 13:18-21.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Today’s Gospel selection shares two similes that Jesus uses to explain “the kingdom of God.”  This phrase is going through a period of adjustment at present.  For one, there is the effort to resist referring to God with male terminology.  Male referents were the accepted designations of God in the biblical period because in the strict patriarchy of those eras male equaled superior.  As we move past this male dominated preference, however, speaking of God as male is actually a limitation rather than a language that honours all that God is. 

Additionally, God is not bound by the constraints of human definitions, and as Jesus says, “‘God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth,’” (John 4:24) which moves the discussion of God’s nature beyond the physical confines of gender.  But also, God is spirit not body so we who worship Him, sorry, we who worship God, must strive to worship God in spiritual terms rather than physical.
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King and kingdom are male oriented terms and for the above reasons should be reconsidered.

There is more though.  King is an outdated referent.  If it means anything at all to us today, it conjures images of a ceremonial position.  The king of England has castles, carriages and crowns, but no real authority.  King during the biblical period presupposed absolute authority.  I doubt many of us would emotionally or spiritually embrace either the idea of a ceremonial God or a dictator God so why accept God as king? 

Recently, at an Ecclesiastical Council, the one seeking Ordination emphasized Jesus’ statement in John 15:15:  “‘I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.’”  Jesus moves us beyond the fear of God and allows us to aspire to being co-workers with God, friends rather than servants.  And in the Greek the language is slave and master, which makes Jesus’ preference for friends that much more telling.  God remains dominant, but it is because we know and accept God’s way as our way, as friends rather than servants. [For similar reasons I refrain from using “children of God.”  “People of God” conveys much the same, but with the added degree of responsibility rather than only an eternal childish dependence.]

Some are replacing kingdom of God with kin-dom of God.  The former emphasizes the centrality of God in its expression; the latter chooses to move its emphasis away from God to those around God.  This is problematic.  It seems better to use the phrase “reign of God” to get past these several issues.

So the reign of God is like something that may seem small and feeble, but actually holds the power to grow and to change everything.  Jesus’ message is of possibility and hope.  The cross should have been the end of Jesus.  Instead, it turned into a new beginning.  There wasn’t a believing soul at Golgotha according to the oldest Gospel, but today hundreds of millions of people follow the crucified Saviour.  Never count out what is possible in the reign of God.

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.

If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.