How did it go so wrong?

No matter which Gospel story you take there is an underlying theme that is consistent with Christ's initial and ongoing ministry.  In John it is couched in a heavier disguise than the others yet the same message is there for us to contemplate and feel concerned.  Perhaps it is found in its simplest in Mark (1.15).  The fact that the Kingdom of God or rather the Reign of God is come, here, upon you, immediate, present, etc.  It is not future orientated but present orientated and yet through the ages an accrual of disappointment has arisen that has allowed theologians to point to a future kingdom / reign.  This is something of utmost importance for us in today's society and the world around us and it is something that we must fully come to grips with if we are to fulfil our mission in Christ.  Perhaps the major issue is in terminological understanding or in our dreams / strivings / wishes / wants, etc.

A kingdom or a reign what do we seek?

Let us start with the terminological understandings that has perhaps led to the issue that faces the faith community today.  The word form used in the Greek in Mark 1.15 and other places is "basileia" or "ßασιλεια" that is usually translated as "kingdom" but can also be translated as "reign", "monarchy" or "royalty".  The fact that the automatic translation of the word has come down to us as "kingdom" has automatically coloured our expectations.  In this case we perhaps strive for conquest or for a cohesive whole or a place.  In other words, we base our reality of God's wishes on our own empires and domains ruled by someone, perhaps in this case God.  This being the case then the perception carries through that those who head the conquering thrust are senior officials in the Kingdom having power and authority of their own.  In this sense then the Kingdom is still to come as the final conquest has not occurred as the whole of creation is not "Christian".  or perhaps it is to come in the "afterlife"...  What then if we change our perceptions?  Not something that is easily done as we have to divorce ourselves from a static entity "kingdom" to embrace a fluid understanding of "reign" or one of the others.  There is no specific place that comes to mind but rather an ethos or the way of being.  It is a much harder concept to visualise or even to understand, in a manner of speaking it is somewhat like the concepts of peace, justice, etc.  So if we are to understand this as our interpretation the presence of the "reign" being here and now is a much easier concept to embrace.

Here though comes the second challenge for it is easier to strive for, dream about, wish for a concrete reality in a geographical space such as a "kingdom"  than it is to dream about a concept that is all encompassing.  Yet when Christ says that the reign of God is close it is for it as close as the effort that we put in to make it so.  We have perhaps chased after a golden dream with our theological understandings rather than a practical working of the dream in the present reality.  Instead of being intellectual and waiting perhaps we need to be practical and doing to achieve the reality of newness and the reign of Christ.  Have we perhaps made too much of our theological prowess and created an over complex understanding for a simplicity that is inherent in the Gospel call.  Christ called fishermen not theologians into a simple life that meant we lived for the moment not for the ideal.  Paul states this magnificently in his Corinthian passage (1 Cor. 7.29-31) granting us a paradoxical upside downess that is the reign of Christ, happy in mourning, possessing without possessing, etc.  This is what we are called into not a future so obscured by theological non-insightful insight that it is unbelievable in today's age and unachievable in any.  Have we really let the reign of God slip so easily through our fingers as we have searched for a blessed time to come in a future that never arrives?  Maybe there is time for us to seek the kingdom of God in our lives if only we were to look for Christ's reign.