WE'RE NOT KINGDOM BUILDERS..?| KAIROS GLOBAL | JANUARY 2022

Author: Chris Cammarata

Intro: Chris Cammarata explains why we are not really kingdom-builders. 

Recently I was speaking to a priest and I shared some of my dreams and desires. At one point I mentioned my desire to ‘build the kingdom’. He cut in and pointed out something very interesting: Do you know that the Scriptures never instruct us to ‘build’ the kingdom?

We read in letters to the Corinthians and Ephesians of the need to build the Body of Christ (i.e. the Church, our community), but interestingly, we are never charged with building the kingdom. Similarly, the descriptions about the kingdom of God in the Gospel are many: it is like the mustard seed, the leaven of dough, and a wedding banquet. Jesus tells the disciples to preach the kingdom (as Jesus himself did at the very beginning of his ministry). He instructs us to pray every day for its coming in the Our Father. He tells us that unless we are like little children, we can never enter it. Yet for all this, he never instructs us to build the kingdom. Why is that?

‘The kingdom of God’ is a complex idea which eludes being put into a neat little box, but the reason we do not ‘build’ the kingdom is quite simple: it is God's kingdom, not my kingdom. That is why it's called the ‘kingdom of God’. The kingdom, that is, the Lordship of God, is not something we could ever construct. What could we ever add to God's greatness or to his Lordship? Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain (Psalm 127:1). We do not ‘build’ the kingdom – we receive it, an inheritance that has been promised to us. That is why we pray each day, ‘thy kingdom come’.

How many times have I fooled myself into believing I could build God's kingdom for him? Like David offering to build a temple for God, I have set out with the best of intentions to build for myself what God gives to me freely! Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).

Pope Benedict remarked that Jesus Christ is the kingdom of God in Person; Jesus is the coming of God's kingdom. When I look at it that way, it starts to make sense why building the kingdom is not my job. There's no improving on Jesus himself! Why spend so much time and effort building my idea of the kingdom, when Jesus has already built one for me? We labour under the sun all day to build our own utopias, when all along Jesus promises us that his yoke is gentle and refreshing to lay on our shoulders.

‘My’ image of what my life should be, ‘my’ plans for this-or-that ministry, ‘my’ idea of what the Church should be – I am safe to lay all of these aside at Jesus' feet. He has a kingdom far greater than my ‘kingdom’. All he really asks of me is to pray to receive it, preach it, and be faithful to it. Jesus Christ is the kingdom of God, and the Father was pleased to give him to me (and to you!). What a happy relief. 

Chris Cammarata works as a clinical systems analyst in Houston, USA and has degrees in Catholic theology and philosophy. He also writes for Catholic Café.