“But strive first for the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Of all the “worship choruses” I have heard over the years, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” has always been my favourite. Like today’s Gospel, from which it comes, it puts the matter very clearly: always we are to try to keep our faith in God central in our lives – God’s Rule of love, justice and peace in the world and our participation in it – and regard all other matters, including our own physical and material needs, secondary.
First a comment about the Greek word here, basilea, often translated as “kingdom”, “reign” or “rule”. I think most commentators would say that the correct meaning of basilea is the power or authority exercised by a ruler, such as a king or queen, over his or her subjects. That may have been the original meaning of king-dom but today “kingdom” often implies a geographical state or area that is governed by a king. That definition can wrongly imply a male or patriarchal quality to God’s rule and even suggest that there is a parallel earthly institution equivalent to the divine Kingdom of God, namely a particular church or denomination. When a Church claims to be the Kingdom of God, we need to step back and question.
Rather, “rule” or “reign” is a much better translation of basilea. We are called to seek, support, fulfill and implement God’s Rule in the world in Jesus Christ. For many years I have used an English translation of the Lord’s Prayer that reads, “Your RULE come, your will be done”. This translation suggests dynamism and growth. God’s Rule of love, peace and justice in Jesus Christ has already come; yet it also continues to grow, develop and spread, both through the church and all women and men of good will. We are invited into that process. Christ’s love is God’s Rule.
Here there is a link with mission – God’s mission in Jesus Christ. In seeking God’s Rule, we are invited into God’s sending of Jesus Christ into the world for the sake of love, justice and peace (which we might broadly call salvation), and we are sent out, a part of God’s Mission, at the same time, seeking the Rule of God. Participation in God’s mission requires a certain simplicity: putting God first, sometimes leaving family and friends, giving up what we do not need, what have become idols in our lives. “Seek ye first the Rule of God”.
All of that sounds very theoretical. But to be more practical, today we are marking Harvest Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, of course, is rooted in God’s grace and our thanksgiving for that grace and all its bounty: it is that thanksgiving and faith that causes us to want to seek God’s Rule. Part of God’s rule is a seeking for justice. Justice demands that all have enough to eat, that no one starves or is malnourished. Our collection of food and funds for St. Matthew’s House today is a manifestation of our seeking God’s Rule.
Sharing with others is a basic manifestation of God’s Rule. That can sometimes be difficult if we do not have very much or we have other important concerns – for a church, such concerns might be repairing a roof or paying the utility bills – but we are reminded that if we put God’s Rule first – and share with those in need beyond ourselves – “all these [other] things will be added” unto us. Indeed, Sue’s small financial update show that much has been added unto us.
Our first reading, from the prophet Joel, reminds us of God’s bounty in creation, even though there will be times of drought, famine, pestilence and storm. Our response should not be a desire to accumulate but joy that there is much to share. It is good to know that one of our local Corktown community gardens supplies St. Matthew’s House with fresh vegetables when the harvest comes.
Of course there are other implications here: the importance of looking after the earth well, that is, the stewardship of creation, and being mindful of the ways in which we have made land infertile and commodified the food chain for the sake of profit. (Next week I’ll be away visiting my uncle in my birthplace, Iowa, for his 100th birthday. On one visit he told me that Iowa once had the richest soil in the world but now it is sustained only by massive doses of fertilizer.) Challenges to Ontario’s Greenbelt designations by developers show that that process is still going on. With all of the political decisions being made about the environment, always as Christians, we come back to the question, is this action, this decision, a genuine seeking of God’s rule: will it produce and facilitate Christ’s love, justice shared with all, and genuine peace and reconciliation.
And in North America and other settler nations such as New Zealand and Australia, there is also the history of wealth and bounty built upon unjust theft or cheap acquisition of indigenous land, at the expense of indigenous cultures, languages and, indeed, indigenous lives themselves. There is also the legacy of slavery of Africans that has benefited North America, including Canada. Seeking God’s Rule, demands that we ask: What can return? How can we express our penitence? How can we restore justice? How can we help to restore friendship that is just and mutual, not coercive or colonial or enslaving?
The Rule of God is also about peace. Today’s epistle to Timothy speaks of living “a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity”. The author was writing at a time of strife, both in the Roman Empire and in the church. Through genuine faith in and reconciliation with Christ, a genuine peace, rooted and grounded in Christ comes about. It is both personal and political. It is a peace we need if we are to be participating in God’s rule and mission in the world. It relates also with Matthew’s plea in the Gospel today not to be anxious – to be more like the flowers of the field and simply bloom and not be anxious about it. Or, to be more colloquial, not to get our knickers in a knot all the time. For knitters among you, an earlier, less racy version of that expression, was “don’t get your knitting in a twist”.
Today we thanked members of the parish who have done special work in expressing our hospitality to others. Of course, that is a task for all of us. But hospitality is also about peacefulness. We want to invite new friends into a peaceful and non-contentious community. Perhaps the best recipe for peace is not looking inward all the time but, again, putting the Rule of God and our participation in it first – looking and doing outwardly; then we have something to work together on in mission, in sharing, in joining with others seeking love, justice and peace in the world.
So on this joyful Harvest Thanksgiving morning, surrounded by this beauty lovingly created, we come with thanks to God in the Eucharist (remembering that that word means “thanking well”), offering all our lives to God, and sent out as more committed and faithful seekers of God’s Rule, and doing so without anxiety, both in the church and in the world. Amen.
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