The Third Kingdom

Acts 1, 6-11

Church of the Reformation

November 9^th, 2003

Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb

But I have to confess that this was not plan A of our forefathers. Their plan A was to restore the kingdom of Israel. Their vision was one of a Jewish state, a strong, mighty and powerful state. And they thought this is a very ambitious vision. They thought they are thinking “big” by dreaming of such a state. In fact they were so narrow minded: If it were to them, we will not be here today, Palestinian and American Christians worshiping the Lord of Lords and king of kings. In retrospective we have to say that what they thought to be an ambitious goal, was but a very nationalistic and narrow minded goal. In retrospective we can clearly see how blinded they were: they were eager for Jesus to “restore the kingdom”, they wanted to reproduce history, to restore a lost kingdom. As if the story and history of this ancient and lost kingdom something to be proud of. Wasn’t this whole project called “Israel” nothing but a chain of fatal failures?  Isn’t the idea behind the new American Century nothing but another attempt to restore an earthly kingdom? Aren’t there here many Congress people and senators who are so one sided because they are interested in restoring ancient Israel in the Middle East today?

But it seems that our forefathers were so blinded, they couldn’t read history anymore. They were so much living in the past, and they glorified this past. In their imagination this past was transformed into something different, they forgot all about the failure of that lost kingdom and slowly it was felt as if it were the lost paradise. I have a friend like this. He lives in the past. Everything which took place in his childhood and youth is sooo good. The past gets a life on it own. But it is a life only in his brain. It was never the reality. In fact by fantasizing about the past, my friend is but escaping reality. Our forefathers were living in the past, that the best they could think of was to restore a Kingdom lost, a kingdom never functioned, a kingdom defined by nationalistic ambitions and desires, and in fact a kingdom that is so limited by so few square miles. Because they were living so much in the past, they were not able to see what God in Christ was preparing them for. They couldn’t think of the future, they couldn’t think big enough.

Christ doesn’t want us to live in the past trying to restore the first lost kingdom, nor does he wants us to stand there, gaze at the heaven and wait for his second kingdom to come. But he calls us to be witnesses of a “Third Kingdom”. This third kingdom was for our forefathers something new never heard off before, but it is something outrages never thought of: You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria until the end of the earth. Let’s us look more deeply into this third option, and into this 3^rd way and kingdom Jesus was proclaiming. Here are some of the characteristics of this new mission and kingdom:

·        This mission thinks really big. It encompasses the whole world. It aims at reaching even every corner of this world. Nothing should be left or overseen. But this mission talks about concrete countries and realities. It takes even the divisions of this world seriously. It takes into consideration that Judea and Samaria are divided.

·        This mission acknowledging these divisions does not stop at their boundaries. And although those called were Jewish, this mission is challenging them to reach out to Samaria, something unthinkable. But Jesus wants us to think of the unthinkable. He wants us to think of the foreign lands, to reach out to hostile lands. The missionaries of this kingdom they keep crossing boundaries, all kind of political, social, economical and ideological boundaries. The are always on the way, always hitting the road, constantly discovering that new territories are God’s territories.

·        These missionaries are crossing boundaries not as soldiers, sent to occupy new territories, but as witnesses. There crossing over is a witness by itself. By doing that they are stating that they are not living for and by themselves. By doing that they witness to the kingdom they belong to, that knows no boundaries and where its king is a servant, a suffering servant, in fact a victim of religious and national ideologies.

·        The vision of this kingdom is big. Yet a starts small, its starts at home. The missionaries called to this kingdom they think very big, yet they start very small. And the art of being ambassador for this kingdom is how to think big, to have the whole picture in mind and yet at the same time to know what is the first and small step leading in that direction. You keep the goal in mind, yet you move one step at a time, starting in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria until you reach the end of the earth (Center).

·        The vision of this kingdom reaches the end of the earth, but it starts at home. People use to say that charity starts at home, but in fact mission starts at home. Many Christians tend to think of mission as something done in foreign lands. But mission starts at home. Bethlehem is a mission field like the US, like Africa.

This is our problem: We kept thinking of reaching the end of the earth, forgetting that Jerusalem is a mission field, that Christianity is to disappear from Samaria, that Palestinian Christians are struggling in the West Bank. We have to reclaim these lands to the kingdom, to this third kingdom. We are called to a mission impossible to make sure that Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria will not become mere Christian Theme parks.

The witness to this kingdom and its Lord starts at home, but doesn’t stop there. As Witnesses we can’t just cater for ourselves. We have to cross boundaries ourselves. We can’t but to be engaged in other countries. Mission at home and mission abroad they belong together. If we live for ourselves we die, and if we just do mission abroad we die as well.

• It is very difficult because we have to leave our safe territories behind us.
• It is very difficult because we have to put aside our national pride, and we might be accused of being unpatriotic.
• It is very difficult because of have to think of the wellbeing of the enemies. For Jonah it was easier to be swallowed by a wall fish than going to reach to Niniveh.
• Being witnesses meant often becoming martyr: People have to give their lives for what they believe. James and John, Peter and Paul.
• Being witnesses is not a mission project we choose. Its not something we volunteer to do. We don’t choose to be witnesses (April 2002 in Bethlehem).

·        We want to think so nationalistic and narrow minded.

·        We want to flee all the difficulties to a better world.

·        Yet Christ’ voice in us says: you are my witnesses. You are not yours. You are mine. Let’s pray that we will be guided by this his voice. Amen

Back to Articles