Life in the kingdom of God is effortless. At least that’s what Jesus was hinting when he said the seed sown in the ground grows without the farmer watering, fertilizing, and weeding. He also hinted by the mustard plant that the goodness which comes from the kingdom of God is far greater than anything we can imagine.
Though we might think of the kingdom of God as heaven, we don’t have to wait to die to experience it. The kingdom of God is not the place we go after we die, but is right here when we live according to the teachings of Jesus. As we say in the Lord’s Prayer, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Yet, we might be thinking, “If the kingdom of heaven is effortless, then why am I struggling? Why does it seem that life is hard?”
Jesus didn’t say that the kingdom of heaven is effortless to achieve. Achieving it takes work. It takes patience. Jesus sought to create the kingdom of heaven through his ministry. He healed the sick. He spoke truth to power. He confounded the authorities. All of that was a lot of work. His efforts, however, led to his execution. Nevertheless, the people he served experienced moments of the kingdom of God, however brief.
I doubt there is anyone who would decline to live in true peace and justice, rooted in steadfast love. This is shalom, the Hebrew word for peace. This is peace that extends beyond the absence of violence. It embraces the wholeness of life. It is life without anxiety and fear. It is life without deprivation or scarcity. It is life in which we have our daily bread. It is life filled with joy. It is life that is hopeful. It is life in which we are nourished with kindness and compassion. It is life nourished by our social relationships whether they are family, friends, or neighbors.
When we have all of that, our lives will seem effortless. Life like that seems almost too good to be true, almost better than we can ever imagine.
This life is possible. It is a stretch, however, to believe that this will be possible every single day, 24/7. Like the people Jesus served, we might be able to experience its moments, too. Maybe it was in the wake of achieving a hard sought goal or accomplishment. Was it a gathering of friends or family in which everyone was enjoying each other’s company, where food was in abundance and drinks flowed? Or was it when you were with a family member or a friend who just celebrated one of life’s milestones, like graduation or first holy communion? In those moments, worries and cares fall away. Joy surrounds us. We laugh. We warm each other with our love.
But we also don’t need special events to experience shalom moments. We can generate them ourselves when we follow Jesus’ teachings. We cultivate them, just like the farmer who planted the seed. Jesus’ teachings are the seed. We weed when we uproot the distractions and temptations that can lead us astray. We water when we put the teachings into practice. We fertilize when we learn from the teachings, always refining our understanding and honing our practice. The seed grows. It flourishes. It produces grain to feed us and those around us. Its rewards are greater than we ever imagined when we put the seed in the ground.
I realize I make all of this sound easy. When we really spend time with Jesus’ teachings, we begin to realize their simplicity is actually hard to execute. In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) Simply stated. Hard to do. I can attest that during the Iraq war as clergy leading prayers in church on Sunday mornings, prayers were often lifted up for our troops and rarely if ever for our enemy.
That’s why attaining the kingdom of God on earth is moment to moment. In situations like family gatherings or celebrating milestones or achieving a hard sought objective, we can leave our anxieties behind, and we can love the ones we’re with. We get stretched when it comes to caring about and for people who are not like us, especially if they have been consistently in our faces or have wronged us in some way.
Yet, Jesus calls us. We’re called to live out his teachings, even when they challenge us. Living out his teachings, including and especially the ones that challenge us, enable us to experience shalom more often and in more settings. Attaining the kingdom of God on earth is not something we get automatically. We water and fertilize the seeds planted in us some time long ago in Sunday School. Maybe we didn’t pay attention to them and they’re lying dormant in our lives. Or maybe we watered and fertilized, but the weeds took over. Or maybe we didn’t realize that if we really took care of those tender shoots by faithfully watering and fertilizing them we could have a great harvest.
By nurturing the teachings of Jesus, we can have more moments when we experience the kingdom of God. We can nurture them with compassion, especially for those who are challenging to like. We can nurture them with generosity and gratitude. We can nurture them with forgiveness. We can nurture them by seeing beauty, not just in nature, but in every person we meet. We can nurture them with humility.
Shalom is ours if we work at it every moment of every day. We have to make an effort to have an effortless life. That effort is work, but it is not necessarily a struggle. Our struggles come when we work contrary to Jesus’ teachings. Our struggles come by our sins. Our struggles are the weeds we let grow in our lives. But, like a garden regularly weeded, watered, and fertilized, when we work consistently by Jesus’ teachings, we will find our efforts will be rewarded. We will have more peace. We will experience more moments of shalom.
Consistently nurturing the sprouts that poked through the ground from the seeds of Jesus’ teachings will reward us more than we can imagine right now. They may not seem like much. They may seem ridiculously simple. But take time to weed, water, and fertilize. The harvest will be rich and bountiful and beyond our imaginations. God’s kingdom is one of generous abundance. The promise of God’s kingdom is ours. The promise of shalom, a seemingly effortless life, is ours if we strive to make it a part of our daily lives.
Trying to Make Sense of It All 