Reflecting on Luke 23:50-56“He himself was waiting for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 23:51)
What does it mean to ‘wait for the kingdom of God’.
If I wait for the bus, I sit at the bus stop and anticipate that it is coming.
If I wait for the light to turn green, I am in the lane, ready to proceed.
Waiting is not being passive; you need to be in a certain place and mind frame.
Joseph was hopeful and eager for the arrival of God’s better world.
He was committed to goodness, and could not consent to Jesus’s wrongful treatment.
He was disappointed when the bus did not come, the light did not change.
Even then, he still risked much to take Jesus’s body… his hope could not let go.
If God’s kingdom is a world where people love and serve and share and care…
Does my life show that this is what I desire, what I am seeking?
Jesus defeated Satan, sin and death, and has guaranteed God’s kingdom victory.
God’s better world of love, joy, peace is ours to discover by his Spirit.
Am I in that lane, am I at that stop, is my position and lifestyle aimed toward it?
Do people say of me, that this is the life I am committed to, and hoping for?
Even when, as for Joseph and the women, the cause seems hopeless?
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, if I am hopeful for a world of honesty, am I being honest? If I am eager for a world of compassion, am I being compassionate? Help me to actively wait for your kingdom, because it is coming!
We pray the Lord’s prayer, Your Kingdom come. It will, but in the meantime, I need to be an instrument of His peace. His kingdom is here in part through His own but when He returns, it will be complete. Until that time I need to be His servant.