The Kingdom is not thing; the Kingdom is a Person

Readings:
• Ezek 34:11-12, 15-17
• Psa 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6
• 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28
• Matt 25:31-46

Sacred Scripture is bursting with kings. With close to 3,000 references to kings, it’s safe to say they are the most mentioned group of men in the entire Bible.

“There is scarcely a grander or more widespread image used in the Bible than king,” states the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (IVP Academic, 1998), noting that in two royal images are presented by the inspired authors: God as king and humans as king. Meanwhile, sheep are the most mentioned animals in the Bible (around 4,000 references), and shepherds are mentioned often, befitting the nomadic, agricultural way of living among the Israelites.

Of course, the relationship between sheep and shepherds makes for a clear and apt metaphor. The reading from the prophet Ezekiel is an example of this, expressing essential truths about the relationship between God and his chosen people. It draws upon an ancient connection between kings and shepherds, a relationship brought to the fore in person of David and eventually brought to completion in Jesus Christ. God the Shepherd tends his sheep, seeking those scattered and lost, providing care for his flock. Jesus drew on all of these actions in discourses and parables (cf., Mt 18:12-13; Lk 15:3-10: Jn 10).

But while there is care and protection, Ezekiel also presents the stark possibility of separation and judgment: “I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.” A few verses later, the prophet presents God’s promise of a future, Davidic shepherd:

I will save my flock, they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. (Ez 34:22-23)

Jesus Christ—fully God, fully man—is both King and Shepherd. His rule and care far exceed anything David could have imagined, for his perfect kingship extends over the entire world. David was a man after God’s own heart, but he often faltered, and the golden age of the Davidic kingdom lasted just a few decades. While the kingdom established by David was marked by geographical boundaries and shaped by military might, the kingdom proclaimed and established by Jesus Christ, the son of David (Matt. 1:1) was different.

It was so different that Jesus had to explain the Kingdom constantly, often using parables, as we’ve seen in recent weeks. The heart of those explanations was summed up well by Pope Benedict XVI in his first Jesus of Nazareth book. “Jesus himself is the Kingdom;” he stated, “the Kingdom is not a thing; it is not a geographical dominion like worldly kingdoms. It is a person; it is he.”

In other words, the kingdom of God is the actual, true, and transforming presence of God among men. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” wrote the Apostle John, “full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (Jn 1:14). The kingdom of God, Benedict further explains, referring to today’s Epistle, “is present whenever [Jesus] is present. … To pray for the Kingdom of God is to say to Jesus: Let us be yours, Lord! Pervade us, live in us; gather scattered humanity in your body, so that in you everything may be subordinated to God and you can then hand over the universe to the Father, in order that ‘God may be all in all’ (1 Cor 15:28).”

There are numerous references to kings in Scripture but Jesus Christ, as Eusebius of Caesarea wrote in the fourth century, is “the only high priest of the world, the only King of all creation…”

(This “Opening the Word” column originally appeared in the November 23, 2014, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)