We read in the gospel of Luke: Jesus summoned the Twelve … and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We read in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Jesus preached the kingdom of God; Paul and the rest of the apostles preached Jesus. The proclaimer became the proclaimed. This shift happened because of the tension between the “already” and the “not yet.” The kingdom of God, a kingdom of peace and love and joy, has already come in the person of Jesus. But the kingdom has not yet permeated this poor, battered world. We hold onto Jesus as we anticipate the coming of God’s kingdom.
