The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture had some serious consequences for the early humans. On the positive side, the food supply became more reliable and accessible. On the negative side, property rights now had to be defended and the fields had to be worked. Soldiers and slaves would do that. Faced with these new challenges, families united into tribes and nation states. Leadership became more concentrated onto fewer hands. Instead of individuals competing for resources, nations led by kings commanding powerful armies began to rule the world.
As pressure from the outside and corruption in leadership from within increased, the Jews thought the best defense was to get a strong king too, a strategy that had already proven to lead to nothing but destruction and suffering. Voices in opposition were ignored so sure enough, that's exactly what they got.
The arrival of Jesus into the chaos rekindled a hope for what could have been. Here was a man with radically different ideas about how to fix the world. Using language familiar to the Jews, he told about a different kind of kingdom, the Kingdom of God, a world freed from domination, violence and greed.
For us today, it is plain to see that the Kingdom of God still has a ways to go. Famine, war, poverty and conflict seems to be on the rise rather than in decline. What is the holdup?
Tolstoy published The Kingdom of God is Within You in German in 1894 after it had been banned in Tsarist Russia. That title is a direct quote from the King James Version of Luke 17:21. Newer translations interpret the Greek word for "within you" to mean "in your midst" or "among you." In other words, it is up to us, but perhaps not the way you might imagine. One thing is for sure, using more force, domination and calling each other names isn't going to do it. The first step is to believe. Believe that a different way is possible. Next, identify and quit doing the things that harm or separate us from one another. Commit to always be on the side of compassion and love. Make that the foundation for everything that you do. Do nothing but that.
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