Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

Luke 17: 20, 21

 

The fact that Jesus pointed to in His response to the Pharisees and the other people in His audience that day was true for them and it is true for us now. As it was then, people today often miss the reality of this fact. We are waiting for a savior to come and for the world to be made right. I think that this is a part of why super hero stories are so popular, for we want there to be a magical, vicarious answer to all that is wrong with our world. Well, I believe that there is an answer, and it is not magical, but it does come out of the realm of the mystical.

 

The aspect of this answer that is hardest for people to accept is that it is not vicarious. In the super hero stories a few people are involved and most are by-standers who benefit from the defeat of evil, and who assumptively clean up the mess after the inevitable battle. In real life, God does not leave His people on the sidelines. In fact, as all of creation is engaged in the struggle with the brokenness of evil within the fabric of our existence, so Christ calls and directs His followers into lifelong commitment to His redemptive work. Make no mistake about this, Christ does call us to today’s contest, and He also has provided each of His people with what we need for the fray.

 

As Jesus was there on that day when He taught these truths; so, His Spirit dwells within each of His followers today. We are granted gifts of His Spirit to use for the sake of the Kingdom of God, and the Spirit guides us into the eternal truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In and through all of this equipping, we are granted Christ’s tools of love, grace, mercy, peace making, long-suffering, and wisdom to use against the cunning, anger, violence, and greed that Satan throws at us. As followers of Christ, we are different from the world. We live within the borders of God’s kingdom, and we serve the only true ruler of all. Although our true super hero, Christ Jesus the Lord, will come in His own time to defeat evil and to set all right again, for now, we are called by Christ to serve Him by loving souls into His kingdom as we prepare the way for our hero’s return.