The Gospel reading this morning is a scene set in the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus has recently entered Jerusalem on a donkey and been hailed by the crowds as King. This is religious and political dynamite. The Romans rule not a Galilean prophet called Jesus. The priestly authorities who manage and serve in the temple do not want any change to the status quo. But Jesus just seems to carry on. He has driven out those who sell things in the temple and declared, in the words of the prophet Jeremiah, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers’.
Now we come to the scene in today’s Gospel reading. We’re in the temple again. Remember: the temple is the focal point for God’s people Israel; it is the place where God meets with his people. King Herod, Rome’s client King, had some years before hugely embellished the temple. So we read, ‘… some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God.’ Jesus, however, seems unimpressed. ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all with be thrown down.’ Then he goes on at length. False Messiahs will appear; nations will be at war with each other; there will be signs in heaven; those who follow Jesus will be imprisoned. Finally, ‘You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.’
It takes a bit to process all this stirring language. What is clear is that a crisis is coming, to Jerusalem and to the wider world. Jesus throughout his ministry has been working towards this. His ministry right from the get go has been about the Kingdom of God. ‘Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand’. This is his opening message.
But what does it mean? If the Kingdom of God is the core concern of Jesus’ ministry we had better understand it properly. It is best to start with the meaning of ‘the Kingdom of God’. It means the active rule of God. God who is Lord of all, is living, active, passionately desiring that God’s just and compassionate rule become real in the world. It is precisely what Jesus taught us to pray in what we know of the Lord’s Prayer: Your Kingdom, your rule, come, that is become a reality in the circumstances of the world now. Your will be done; that is what God wills, wants and passionately desires, become real in the world as it is now.
If we have any inkling of this, it means change, a change of heart, a change of priorities. Old habits of thought and action will have to be renounced. That is, we need to repent, turn around and focus on what God wants. Selfishness is going to be a thing of the past.
As Jesus’ ministry unfolds in Galilee and later in Jerusalem it becomes clear that he himself is an embodiment of the rule of God. If you choose Jesus you are aligning yourself with God’s rule and will aligning yourself with the Kingdom. If you reject Jesus your court disaster. Wars, tumults, breakdown in society, false prophets, people pedalling easy solutions will come.
The Church, the body of Christ, of which we are part, are those who seek to align their lives with what Jesus shows us: the rule of God, the will of God for God’s world. This finds its expression in a number of ways, but it can be summed up in a word: intercession. You might find that a little surprising.
Intercession is praying and living for others. It means praying and living in the presence of God for the neighbour, the world. It is living out what Jesus commanded: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and your neighbour as yourself’. In political terms it spells out as a passion for justice and a dedication to the common good. In worship it means taking the prayer of intercession seriously. There’s an old saying: If you want to find out about a church. Listen to what it’s praying for.’
As we well know it is a part of every Eucharist to have prayers of intercession. It is prayer that looks outwards with a generous reach. It embraces the whole Christian family the Church; it looks towards the family of nations, including our own; it looks outward to the local community; it looks outward to the poor, the sick and the needy; it looks outward to great multitude who have died and now, in that lovely phrase, ‘worship on another shore and in a greater light’. This is part of our spiritual work in every Eucharist. It forms the Christian community, forms our souls, to be shaped more and more by God whose rule we see perfectly embodied in Jesus.
The Church of England, in its agreements made with other churches in recent decades, has owned a wonderful definition of the Church: ‘The Church is a sign, instrument and foretaste of the Kingdom of God’. The Church, we ourselves, are to be signs that God’s rule is alive and active. Does our church, do our lives, look like that? The Church, we ourselves, are an instrument of God’s rule. Do the things we choose to do bring in God’s rule? The Church, we ourselves, are a foretaste of God’s rule. Does our church, do our lives, anticipate the joy of the world to come?
Jesus concludes this morning’s Gospel reading with these words: ‘By your endurance you will gain your souls’. This is not the endurance of grim determination but the endurance of hope. Because Jesus, the bearer of the Kingdom in word and deed, – because Jesus has come, he will come again, As the angel Gabriel said to Mary when he announced the conception of Jesus in her womb, ‘His Kingdom will have no end’. No end. God’s rule cannot fail. For this reason we continue faithfully in prayer, ‘Your Kingdom come, your will be done.’
Service: Canon Bill Croft, 16th November 2025. (St John the Baptist Church Peterborough UK)
Readings: Malachi 4.1-2a; 2 Thessalonians 3,6-13; Luke 21.5-19