Mystical Supper
Building on what I shared in the last issue of this article, I would emphatically state that the kingdom of God is the content of the Christian faith – the goal, the meaning and the content of the Christian life. According to the unanimous witness of all scripture and tradition, it is truly the knowledge of God, love for him, unity with him and life in him. The kingdom of God is unity with God, the source of all life, indeed life itself. It is life eternal: “And this is eternal life, that they know you (John 17:3). It is for this true and eternal life in the fullness of love, unity and knowledge that man was created. So in a real way, the Eucharist provides us with a clear expression of the meaning and the purpose of life. It helps us to understand life as God understands it.
The prophets of the Old Testament (OT) hungered for this kingdom, prayed for it, foretold it. It was the very goal and fulfillment of the entire sacred history of the OT, a history holy not with human sanctity (for it was utterly filled with falls and betrayals) but with the holiness of its being God’s preparation for the coming of his kingdom.
And now, “the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). The only-begotten Son of God became the Son of man, in order to proclaim and to give to man new life. By his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead Jesus has come into his kingdom: God “made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, for above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things” (Ephesians 1:20-22). Christ reigns, and everyone who believes in him and is born again of water and the Spirit belongs to his kingdom and has him within himself. “Christ is the Lord” – this is the most ancient Christian confession of faith, and for three centuries the world, in the form of the Roman empire persecuted those who spoke these words for their refusal to recognize anyone on earth as lord except the one Lord and one King.
The kingdom of Christ is accepted by faith and is hidden “within us.” The King himself came in the form of a servant and reigned only through the cross. There are no external signs of this kingdom on earth. It is the spiritual kingdom extended into time. And for those who have believed in it and accepted it, the kingdom is already here and now, more obvious than any of the “realities” surrounding us. “The Lord has come, the Lord is coming, the Lord will come again.” This triune meaning of the Aramaic expression maranatha! contains the whole of Christianity’s victorious faith, against which all persecutions have proven impotent.
This can only be true by faith and faith in the presence of God’s Kingdom calls believers to live in a certain way, which is summarized by unconditional love for others. What is your faith? What does this mean to you?