Spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom: How?
One of the focuses of Christ’s teaching is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (at least according to the theological profile of the Synoptic Gospels). Jesus’s first sermon, recorded in the Gospel of Mark, reads: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel!” In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to hope for the coming of the Kingdom of God.
But how do we share about this Kingdom?
Living in a sinful world, while we ourselves are not immune to sin, sometimes leads us to be tempted by the way the world presents the worldly kingdoms.
Jesus himself reminds us: “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.” However, “It shall not be so among you.” Jesus refers to servanthood, servitude, and sacrifice. In other words, through the way of the cross, through suffering with Christ.
This seems difficult to grasp. We have a tendency to force what we believe and are convinced of through the power we possess and to enforce it harshly. Whether it’s the power to dominate others, the power to claim superior understanding, a higher position, or deeper religious experiences than others.
The Church and Christians need to be careful not to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God without the way of the cross, because that path is not used by God.
Observe how the world proclaims its ideologies. Just look at the lives of Nero, Caligula, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung, Idi Amin, and others. There is a clear similarity in their lives: not only did they not shed tears, suffer, and sacrifice to win others, they even made others suffer for their beliefs. As Jesus said, they ruled with an iron fist.
Jesus did not win people this way, but through His suffering and death. The early church was greatly blessed by God because they understood what it meant to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom through suffering with Christ. Witnessing the Gospel of the Kingdom not with an iron fist, but with a heart broken by love and service.
May God help us walk the way of the cross with Christ.