In the dead center of St. Matthew’s gospel, addressing a huge crowd, Jesus talked about something called “the Kingdom of God.” He talked about this more than anything else – more than sin, obedience, morality, salvation, etc., maybe because his audience was expecting it to arrive soon – an invincible domain who’s throne room would be smack dab in the middle of Jerusalem.

When this kingdom came, the Jewish people would forever occupy the top of the global political food chain.

Predictably, Jesus’ version was different.

His kingdom had already arrived.

But His parabolic explanation of things didn’t offer much clarity, save that this kingdom was small, hidden, wielded and worshipped only by those who had the wisdom to understand it.

“The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. A man found it, and he concealed it. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44).

‘The kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it grows larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree. The birds of the air can come and make nests in its branches.’” (Matthew 13:31-32).

Whatever Jesus’ kingdom is, no matter how hard it is to see, or worthless it might seem, we’re supposed to find it, get excited about it, and pour our lives into it.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His right way of living, and everything will come together for you.” Matthew 6:33

Understandably, we get confused about what “it” is. Some Christian folk believe that, in the next life, the kingdom that the Jewish world was expecting will finally arrive. It will be beautiful, just, fair, compassionate, overthrown by love – everyone will finally submit to God’s rules, vote the right way, etc. But for now, the world is a horrible and broken place that in no way resembles what’s coming next.

Others believe that the kingdom has already arrived, but only partially – like a seed that’s about to sprout.

In either perspective, the Christian’s job is to live like kingdom citizens now – to do our best to obey the king’s rules, treat others just and fairly, etc. Understandably, we get confused, believing that it’s our job to force the arrival of this kingdom, compelling folk who don’t think like we do to think like we do.

That’s where religion get’s ugly, and wildly unpopular.

Not “What” But “Where”

Before we try to understand what the Kingdom of God is, we should understand where it is. On that point Jesus was crystal clear. But we don’t like what He said.

“The Kingdom of God is within you”

In many of our english Bibles Jesus’ words are translated to something a bit different:

“The Kingdom of God is among you.”

The problem is that Jesus, describing the whereabouts of His kingdom, used the word “ἐντός,” a preposition that’s never used in the New Testament, or anywhere else in the ancient Greek world (far as I know) to mean “among.”

This word always means “within.”

For comrade nerds, it looks like this in our Greek manuscripts:

γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντὸς (entos) ὑμῶν ἐστιν,

and should only be read “For the Kingdom of God is within you.”

But the idea that God’s kingdom is living within everyone doesn’t sit well with us. When Jesus said this, he was addressing a group of religious leaders who would soon have a hand in His murder. They were the very embodiment of evil – the bad guys in the story.

How can the holy, pure, perfect kingdom of God possibly dwell within people like this?

Jesus singled out the worst people you could imagine and tells them that His kingdom is somehow living inside of them – not the potential for it, or the idea of it, but the very Kingdom of God itself.

We don’t like that.

So, in many of our translations, “within” gets changed to “among,” which is one of the reasons why we get so confused about what this kingdom actually is.

Whatever it is, it’s here, living inside all of us, regardless of the fact that we might not want it, respect it, deserve it, or believe it.

If you want to know the were/what of God’s kingdom, take a good, long, disappointing look at humanity.

I know how offensive that sounds. We’ve come to believe that the holy, pure things of heaven are only bestowed upon the holy, pure people of earth. But don’t take offense – our sacred scriptures claim that there are no holy, pure people here.

To be human is to be beautiful and broken, and somehow, simultaneously, have God’s Kingdom living inside. I don’t know how that fits together, but it sounds to me that God’s world isn’t a place, or a golden palace, or some nebulous thing that we’ll only understand in the afterlife.

It’s human.

Us.

And because humanity’s not fully formed yet, neither is this kingdom. To Jesus’ point, it’s like a seed, or in this case, a soon-to-be-born baby that’s about to be spat out into a bigger reality.

If you’re wondering how you might invest in this kingdom, that’s easy. Sacrifice, compassion, peace, love, kindness, forgiveness, mercy, justice, etc. are the currency of God’s world. These will ripple far beyond you.

Spend all that you can.

Learning to view humanity this way has changed the religion game for me. I’m still a Bible-believing Christian to be sure, but I think that God has been overthrown by us.

I’m compelled to have the same posture towards humanity – all of it. But that’s difficult. Humans so often seem worthless to me, like an abandoned field, or a tiny seed.

I’m growing here, and to the degree that I’ve managed to embrace this perspective, I’ve found more hope, more peace, and a greater ability to live as God wants me to.

Turns out that the way I view humanity affects the way I view my world. If people are inherently bad, the world is bad. The better humanity looks in my eyes, the better the world looks.

The more I forgive, invest, sacrifice, encourage – the more that I manage to love us – the more my world is transformed into a good place, and vice versa.

It’s the best investment I can make, and gives new meaning to Jesus’ encouragement to put first things first.

Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His right way of living, and everything will come together for you.