Talk on the Hill, part 2. Matthew 6.

Read Matthew 6 online here.

Heaven was a very real place to Jesus.

Duh. However obvious that should be, it took hours for me to see it in this chapter. Heaven was foremost in Jesus' mind. Heaven. The place of the Father. The place where the Father's will is accomplished perfectly. The seat of the kingdom. The kingdom that was now present.

"Change your ways, for the kingdom of heaven is here." That was Jesus' message. Now in my mind, I usually convert that phrase "kingdom of heaven" into "God's kingdom." And that's not a bad thing or an untrue thing to do. In the other accounts of Jesus' life, the writers used the phrase "kingdom of God". Since Matthew wrote mainly to a Jewish audience, he used "kingdom of heaven" as a way of referring to God without saying God's name. Jews did that. Jesus likely did that. For the Greeks and Romans, who had no compunction about saying "God", it was necessary to use the direct reference to God. So Luke and Mark used "kingdom of God" to mean the same thing Matthew meant. And I do too. After all, I'm a gentile.

So as I'm reading this chapter, and the two before it, I hear in my mind, "God's kingom", "kingdom heart", "the blessed ones in the kingdom", "kingdom righteousness", and "kingdom rewards". And it's all true. Jesus invited us to enter fully into God's kingdom by following him. We're Christians, if we are Christians, because we accepted that invitation. We became his followers, his disciples, citizens of the kingdom, and sisters and brothers of the Son. Our ways are changing. Through the power of God's presence in our life, and our conscious, willful submission to His purposes, we're being transformed into godly, kingdom people.

But there are stumbling blocks in this process of change. You can probably come up with a big long list of them. I sure can. But in this part of Jesus' talk, he concentrated on two big ones. A particularly insidious one, because it can occur in the very practices that both develop out of righteousness and help develop righteousness, is the desire for the approval of others. “Be careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people." (v.6:1a) Wrestle with that one for a while.

The other stumbling block is our desire to achieve security through material wealth. "Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (v.6:19-21) We're nailed on that one too, right?

And so, Jesus said, "But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (v. 6:33). Yeah. Kingdom values. Kingdom righteousness. That's what I've been talking about. That's what I hear. If I'm living in Oregon, and will always live in Oregon, why would I be accumulating wealth I can only use in California?

Aha! Oregon's a very real place for me. Heaven is that kind of real (and more so) for Jesus. Yes it's the realm of God, the place where He reigns fully. And on earth, that realm, even if incompletely realized, it's present. But to Jesus, heaven is more than a concept of rule, or a way to talk about God's relationship to His creation (King and kingdom). It's home. It's destiny. It's perfect. Papa's there.

I need to think that way too.