The Inward Kingdom

A kingdom concerns what reigns.

Within a person, fear can reign by making safety the final measure of every choice. Desire can reign by making possession the condition of fulfillment. A defended identity can reign by requiring every encounter to confirm its account of itself.

The inward kingdom acquires its meaning as another allegiance becomes effective through attention, will, speech, and action.

The person may still have to disagree. A boundary may disturb an arrangement. A truthful answer may disappoint someone. The sanctuary does not require every outward relationship to become immediately harmonious.

Its relationship is directed toward the Father.

The action that follows still asks for discernment. Offering an emotion does not make its first proposed action divine, and a sense of certainty does not remove the need to examine it.

The inner kingdom becomes a life of renewed availability.

Now the saying preserved in Luke, “the kingdom of God is within you,” is heard from inside the temple. Its words point toward the place from which life can be lived.

Jesus’ temple saying, explained in John’s Gospel as referring to his body, and Paul’s descriptions of embodied life as a temple now stand beside us. Both belong to the Jewish world from which these writings emerged. Their images allow the sacred building to become a living human possibility.