Leo Tolstoy has a wonderful reflection which is well worth reading: “The kingdom of God is within you.” He reflects on the personal conversion that each one is called to if they are to be faithful followers of Jesus. Certainly a good message to have. However, the text he uses as the basis for the reflection is actually a mis-translation of what Jesus said. “The Kingdom of God is among you.” Jesus says the kingdom is “among you,” in the midst of the community. He is not stressing in that statement our personal appropriation of the faith but rather how we as a community are called to embody the values of the kingdom of God — justice, compassion, forgiveness, generosity, love. The Son of God chose to enter into human existence so we are called to bring his message into the concrete circumstances of our lives. When people look at how we are living in the world they should see the Body of Christ.
