Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

Not everyone who says to me "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven.

This evening we prepare for the passion of our Lord by reflecting on the petition in the Lord’s Prayer, Thy Kingdom come. Luther assures us in his Small Catechism that the Lord’s kingdom will indeed come without any help from us, but that we pray in this petition that it may also come to us. On the surface, this seems a very attractive petition for most people and who would not be pleased with the prospect that God is about the business of kingdom building and for our benefit? It seems like a parallel endeavor to our many of our own efforts does it not? We should like to have a kingdom to call our own and building them is an enticement often hard to resist. The most controversial issue, however, is the matter of who gets to be in charge.

From the earliest of ages, Christian children, when introduced to the idea of heaven and the Kingdom of God, like to imagine that it will provide everything that their hearts could desire. For some with a strong sweet tooth, they imagine and hope for God’s heavenly kingdom as an everlasting Big Rock Candy Mountain. Others who love the fairy tales, imagine that in the real heavenly kingdom, there will be talking animals for personal friendships just like in the Narnia Chronicles. My Son, Joshua - still so much a child - insists that there can be no thunderstorms or rain in heaven for the simple reason that he does not like them. The imagination of our children about heaven, reflects well how the desires of the sinful self are still so very alive, even as we confess the Lord of our baptism and desire his Kingdom among us. And we grown up Christians cannot shake the thought so early on encouraged and egged-on by our self-centered desires, that if God’s kingdom would come to us one day . . . it will be so wonderful because it will be everything we ever wished for.

But, when it comes to God’s kingdom, we must be reminded about what Jesus told his disciples: the Kingdom of God was not coming with signs to be observed, but rather that it was already in their midst. (Luke 17:21) He was, of course, referring to Himself and He was referring to the then and there - on his way with his disciples to His date with the cross in Jerusalem, just as we are this Lenten season. The kingdom has already come to us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And with that, perhaps we can see some tension. On the one hand there are the self-absorbed thoughts and desires about kingdoms in general and the Lord’s in particular that are with us because of the fleshly sinful self. These are thoughts that go back to when we were children that imagine that God will simply be making his Kingdom in the image of all that we have ever wanted for ourselves. On the other hand, we do not want to imply that God’s Kingdom is not something suited to our own tastes. We pray for God’s Kingdom to come to us understanding that it will fulfill what are acquired tastes that He has worked in us . . . first and foremost, a taste for the Divine, a taste for God Himself. And He has already been at work developing this taste through His incarnate Son, our Lord Jesus.

The Kingdom of God that has come to us in Jesus, is the Kingdom that fulfills His desires for what He has wanted for us from the very beginning. Thy Kingdom come is a petition that has us raising our voice as a second to the will and working of our Creator in the face of our lost sinful condition here in this fallen world. The prize in the Kingdom for God is nothing other that the possession of His heart’s desire - and that would be you. He has brought his Kingdom to you through his Son, to repossess that which he lost, to sin, death, and the Devil. God has so loved the world; He has so loved you . . . that He gave his only begotten Son. (John 3:16). The date with the cross that has returned to God, His hearts desire, is the redemptive work of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. To receive him is to receive the Kingdom of God - to be rescued from the unholy triad and returned to the One who loved you first.

Thy Kingdom come. In a sense we pray in this petition that God’s heart’s desire might be also our hearts desire - that He would so visit us with the Kingdom of His Son that our hearts and minds might be transformed by his grace in faith and love. The arrangement that God has established for His Kingdom is that He would be our God and we would be His people. To pray Thy Kingdom come is to pray that we might be included among God’s people. And that is why we would keep a date with His Son in Jerusalem. For there on the Cross God would ransom His Son to win us back for Himself and His Kingdom.

In the final analysis there is only one real Kingdom and it belongs to our Creator and Redeemer. The kingdoms of children’s imaginations and even those of the children when they get older are just that, imaginary kingdoms. Those who will have membership in God’s kingdom do not simply encant - Lord! Lord! But rather those who do the will of the Father in heaven. And it is the Father’s will that you believe in the Son and why He now travels to Jerusalem. That in His Kingdom you might be there - one among the great multitude where He will be your God and you will be His people. That is the Kingdom that is coming, that is here already, that is yours.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. A-men.