A1259892165jvhIs

1
I Confer a Kingdom on You General audience of
November 4, 1987
2

• Let us run through again the themes of the
  reflections on Jesus the Son of Man,
• which at the same time reveal him as
• the true Son of God.
• "I and the Father are one"
• (Jn 1030).

3

• We have seen that he referred to himself the
  divine name and attributes
• he spoke of his divine pre-existence in union
  with the Father and with the Holy Spirit
• he claimed for himself power over the law which
  Israel had received from God through Moses in the
  old covenant.
• (That claim was made especially in the Sermon on
  the Mount (cf. Mt 5)
• he claimed also the power to forgive sins
• (cf. Mk 21-12 and parallel passages Lk 748 Jn
  811),
• and to pronounce the final judgment on the
  consciences and works of all humanity
• (cf. Mt 2531-46 Jn 527-29).
• Finally, he taught as one having authority and he
  called for faith in his word
• he invited people to follow him even unto death,
  and promised eternal life as a reward.

4

• At this point we have at our disposal all the
  elements and all the reasons for affirming that
  Jesus Christ has revealed himself as the one who
  establishes God's kingdom in the history of
  humanity.

5

• The revelation of God's kingdom had already been
  prepared in the Old Testament.
• It happened particularly in the second phase of
  the history of Israel as narrated in the words of
  the prophets and the psalms, following the exile
  and the other painful experiences of the Chosen
  People.
• We recall especially the songs of the Psalmists
  to God who is king of all the earth, who
• "reigns over the peoples"
• (Ps 47 8-9)
• and the exultant recognition,
• "Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages, and your
  dominion endures through all generations"
• (Ps 14513).

6

• In his turn the prophet Daniel speaks of
• the kingdom of God
• "which shall never be destroyed...rather,
• it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms,
• and put an end to them,
• and it shall stand forever."
• This kingdom which the
• "God of heaven"
• will set up,
• will remain under the dominion of God himself and
  
• "shall never be delivered to another people"
• (cf. Dan 244).

7

• Structure of the kingdom of God
• Entering into this tradition and sharing this
  concept of the old covenant,
• Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed this kingdom from
  the beginning of his Messianic mission.
• "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is
  at hand"
• (Mk 115).

8

• In this way he took up one of the constant motifs
  of Israel's expectation,
• but he gave a new direction to the eschatological
  hope which took shape in the final phase of the
  Old Testament.

9

• He did so by proclaiming that it had its initial
  fulfillment already here on earth,
• since God is the Lord of history.
• Certainly, his kingdom is projected toward a
  final fulfillment beyond time,
• but it begins to be realized already here on
  earth and in a certain sense it develops within
  history.

10

• In this perspective Jesus announced and revealed
  that the time of the ancient promises,
  expectations and hopes
• "is fulfilled,"
• and that the kingdom of God
• "is at hand
• it is already present in his own Person.

11

• Jesus Christ, indeed, not only taught about the
  kingdom of God,
• making it the central point of his teaching,
• but he established this kingdom in the history of
  Israel and of all humanity.

12

• This reveals his divine power,
• his sovereignty in regard to all in time and
  space that bears the signs of the primordial
  creation and of the call to be
• "new creatures"
• (cf. 2 Cor 517 Gal 615).

13

• Through Christ and in Christ all that is
  transient and ephemeral has been conquered,
• and he has established for ever the true value of
  the human person and of everything created.

14

• It is a unique and eternal power which Jesus
  Christ
• crucified and risen
• claimed for himself at the end of his earthly
  mission when he said to the apostles,
• "All power in heaven and on earth has been given
  to me."

15

• By virtue of this power of his he ordered them,
• "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all
  nations, baptizing them in the name of the
  Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
• teaching them to observe all that I have
  commanded you.
• And behold, I am with you always,
• until the end of the age"
• (Mt 2818-20).

16

• Before reaching this definitive act in the
  proclamation and revelation of the divine
  sovereignty of the Son of Man,
• Jesus frequently announced that the kingdom of
  God has come into the world.

17

• Indeed, in the conflict with his adversaries who
  did not hesitate to ascribe Jesus' works to a
  demonic power,
• he refuted them with an argument that ends with
  the statement,
• "If it is by the finger of God that I drive out
  demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon
  you"
• (Lk 1120).

18

• Therefore in him and through him the spiritual
  space of the divine dominion gains substance.
• The kingdom of God enters into the history of
  Israel and of all humanity.
• Jesus is in a position to reveal it and to show
  that he has the power to decide its realization.
• He shows it by freeing from demons
• the whole psychological and spiritual space is
  reconquered for God.

19

• Moreover, the definitive mandate given to the
  apostles by Christ crucified and risen
• (cf. Mt 2818-20),
• was prepared by him under every aspect.
• The key moment of the preparation was the calling
  of the apostles.
• "He appointed twelve that they might be with him
  and he might send them forth to preach and to
  have authority to drive out demons"
• (Mk 314-15).

20

• Among the Twelve,
• Simon Peter received a special power in regard to
  the kingdom.
• "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon
  this rock I will build my church, and the gates
  of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
• I will give you the keys to the kingdom of
  heaven.
• Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in
  heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be
  loosed in heaven"
• (Mt 1618-19).

21

• He who spoke in this way showed that
• he was convinced that he was priviledged
• to possess the kingdom,
• to hold its supreme sovereignty,
• and to be able to entrust the keys to his
  representative and vicar.
• He did this just as,
• and to a still greater degree than,
• an earthly king would do in the case of his
  lieutenant or prime minister.

22

• This evident conviction of Jesus explains why,
  during his ministry,
• he spoke of his present and future work
• as of a new kingdom introduced into human
  history,
• not only as a truth announced
• but as a living reality.

23

• It develops, grows and ferments the entire human
  batch of dough, as we read in the parable of the
  leaven
• (cf. Mt 1333 Lk 1321).
• This and the other parables of the kingdom
• (cf. especially Mt 13),
• attest that this is the central idea of Jesus,
• and also the substance of his messianic work
  which he willed to be prolonged in history,
• even after his return to the Father,
• and this by means of a visible structure whose
  head is Peter
• (cf. Mt 1618-19).

24

• The establishment of this structure of the
  kingdom of God coincides with its transmission by
  Christ to his chosen apostles,
• "I confer
• (Latin, dispono translated by some as "I
  convey")
• a kingdom on you,
• just as my Father has conferred one on me"
• (Lk 2229).

25

• The transmission of the kingdom is at the same
  time a mission
• "As you sent me into the world,
• so I send them into the world"
• (Jn 1718).
• Appearing to the apostles after the resurrection,
  Jesus will again say,
• "As the Father has sent me, so I send you....
  Receive the Holy Spirit.
• Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and
  whose sins you retain are retained"
• (Jn 221-23).

26

• We should note well that in Jesus' mind,
• in his messianic work and in his mandate to the
  apostles,
• the inauguration of the kingdom in this world is
  closely connected with his power to conquer sin,
• to cancel Satan's power in the world and in every
  human being.

27

• It is therefore linked to the paschal mystery, to
  the cross and resurrection of Christ
• (Agnus Dei qui tollit peccata mundi...),
• and as such it is built into the historical
  mission of the apostles and of their successors.
• The establishment of the kingdom of God has its
  foundation in the reconciliation of humanity with
  God,
• carried out in Christ and through Christ in the
  paschal mystery
• (cf. 2 Cor 519 Eph 213-18 Col 119-20).

28

• The purpose of the vocation and mission of the
  apostles
• and therefore of the Church
• in the world is to establish God's kingdom in
  human history
• (cf. Mk 1615 Mt 2819-20).

29

• Jesus was well aware that this mission,
• like his own messianic mission,
• would encounter and provoke great opposition.
• From the days when he sent forth the apostles in
  the first experiments of collaborating with
  himself,
• he warned them,
• "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of
  wolves
• so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves"
• (Mt 1016).

30

• Matthew's Gospel also condenses what Jesus would
  say later about the fate of his missionaries
• (Mt 1017-25).
• He returned to this theme in one of his last
  polemical discourses with the
• "scribes and Pharisees,"
• by confirming,
• "Behold, I send to you prophets and wisemen and
  scribes
• some of them you will kill and crucify,
• some of them you will scourge in your synagogues
  and pursue from town to town...
• (Mt 2334).

31

• It was a fate which had already befallen the
  prophets and other personages of the old covenant
  to whom the text refers
• (cf. Mt 2335).
• But Jesus gave his followers the assurance that
  his work and theirs would endure
• the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail
  against it.

32

• Despite the opposition and contradiction it would
  meet with throughout the course of history,
• the kingdom of God would be established once for
  all in the world by the power of God himself
  through the Gospel and the paschal mystery of the
  Son.
• It would always bear not only the signs of his
  passion and death, but also the seal of his
  divine power, radiant in the resurrection.

33

• History would demonstrate it.
• But the certainty of the apostles and of all
  believers is founded on the revelation of the
  divine power of Christ, historical,
  eschatological and eternal,
• about whom the Second Vatican Council taught,
• "Christ, becoming obedient even unto death and
  because of this exalted by the Father
• (cf. Phil 28-9),
• entered into the glory of his kingdom.
• To him all things are made subject until he
  subjects himself and all created things to the
  Father that God may be all in all
• (cf. 1 Cor 1527-28) (LG 36).