Jesus told them, “When you’re celebrating a wedding, you don’t skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but not now. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!” – Matt 9:15 (MSG)
The New Way – Part 1
Here we have a situation. An intersection, you might say. John the Baptist's followers and the Pharisees believed that you find God when you rigorously discipline your body and spirit through fasting. So they challenged Jesus, questioning Him why His followers didn’t fast…
He answered by drawing a comparison to a wedding celebration saying that “if the Bridegroom is present why would you mourn?” The Message version ends it by saying “This is Kingdom Come!”
Jesus is really saying, “you guys need to reframe your view of God! He is right here, right now and all this religious stuff doesn’t make Him closer. It’s like weeping and wailing at a wedding celebration.”
His Kingdom has come.
Straight away, that reminds me of the way Jesus taught us to pray in the “Lord’s Prayer”… “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, here on earth as it is in heaven…”
Your Kingdom come to earth as it is in heaven??? – is that even possible?
We often look at God as distant; like waaaaaay over there while we’re waaaaay over here. Vast distances between us. Heaven and earth separated beyond human attainment. But Jesus is trying to highlight that God is with us in this very moment if we choose to look for Him. And if He is here with us, then the power, the abundance, the blessing, the love, and the grace of His Kingdom (and what it represents) is with Him also.
Religious formula and behaviour can't draw it closer because it’s as close as it can already get!
Eph 4:6 says “one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”
God wants you in a relationship with Him and that means discovering the power of His Kingdom in this very moment! Don’t imagine yourself as distant because it will draw you into religious behaviour. Know that He is with you right here and right now…
It’ll make you wanna party… not mourn!
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