Sermon for Pentecost 4: "Thy Kingdom Come"

 + 4^th Sunday after Pentecost – July 6^th, 2025 +

Series C: Isaiah 66:10-14; Galatians 6:1-18; Luke 10:1-20

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 

 

Jesus says these words to his disciples as he sends them out – literally chucks them out like fish at Pike’s Place market. Jesus’ words are the church in an acorn shell. Everything he gives his disciples to do he gives his you, his bride, the church to do as well. 

 

So, there’s food and fellowship. A table and teaching where Jesus dwells with and for sinners. Healing and peace. Preaching and promise. All in the name of Jesus. All by the grace of Jesus. This is how Jesus rules…not with a show of force, but by sins forgiven. Not in the ways we would think: God reveals his glory and power and kingdom in hidden, ordinary, seemingly weak and lowly ways and words…words and actions which are at the same time creative, sufficient, and for you.

 

Jesus is the King after all, and he is good. And so is his reign. His rule is peace for rebels. Healing for the broken. Rest for the weary. Calm for the anxious. Hope for the despairing. Honor for the shamed. Pardon for the guilty. Life for the dead. Outrageous forgiveness for undeserving sinners. A King who is crucified and risen all so that he can bring you into his kingdom.

 

But what exactly is the kingdom of God? Jesus says it quite a bit. Preaches about it all over Judea and Galilee. Sends his disciples out to preach the good news that “the kingdom of God has come near to you.” We hear it and sing it; we even pray it – “Thy Kingdom Come”. But what does that mean? What does this kingdom and rule and reign of Jesus look like? Where is it found?

 

In the Old Testament the kingdom of God is seen in God’s creating life out nothing: a whole cosmos, creatures and all creation simply by saying the words: “Let there be…” The kingdom of God is seen in God sharing his rule and reign with Adam and Eve as they work the garden.

 

The kingdom of God is seen in the ark, that flagship of YHWH’s salvation navy, that delivers Noah and his family out of the old and into a new creation. Or in the dove that YHWH sends bearing good news of an olive branch in its beak.

 

The kingdom of God is seen when YHWH makes a promise to Abraham and Sarah that’s so wild she laughs out of joy and later calls this promised son, Isaac (laughter). 

 

The kingdom of God is seen in a tiny, woven basket, floating down the Nile River out of the wreckage of Pharaoh’s slaughter of the young Hebrew boys. And then through the waters of the Red Sea. And later the Jordan.

 

The same river…not coincidentally, many years later…where the Son of God in the flesh steps into and the Father speaks that this is his beloved Son with whom he is well pleased. And through whom he is well pleased with you too. Where the Spirit descends in the form of a dove to bring rest and peace and shine his holy spotlight on the King and the coming Kingdom there in the water.

And so the kingdom of God is seen in the New Testament too. In Peter making a fool of himself yet later restored by Jesus.

 

You see the kingdom of God in a sycamore tree where Jesus tells Zaccheus, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”… “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

 

You see the kingdom of God when Jesus heals the sick, makes the lame walk, raises the dead, feeds the hungry, and washes his disciples unclean, filthy feet. When the Lord of all becomes the servant of all. When the Rabbi reveals that he is also the Redeemer. That the Holy One of Israel comes in great humility to save you. That the King prefers to wear a crown of thorns to bring you into his kingdom. 

 

There on the cross, that’s where you see your King and his kingdom most clearly. That is where everything he says, everything he does, every sermon, teaching, and conversation points to. To miss this leads only to sadness and rejection. Not because he rejects you. No he doesn’t work that way. But because you will have chosen your kingdom over his. That’s the thing about this King and Kingdom. You don’t come to him; he comes to you. You don’t find the kingdom, the kingdom finds you. You don’t deliver yourself; your King delivers you. 

 

This is why Jesus teaches his disciples that, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’” Peace… because you and I are a mess of broken, weary, wild, wicked sinners. Our sinful flesh is kaleidoscope of transgressions spinning in rebellion against the King. Our lives are spent living in a world of hurt, sorrow, suffering, pain, and despair. One gut-punch after another. You and I are bruised reeds. Fainting wicks. Sinners in need of forgiveness. The sick in need of the Physician. Traitors in need of a true and good and gracious King.

 

So what does King Jesus do? He quells our rebellion with his own blood. He makes peace for you by his pain and agony. He brings you healing by being humbled unto death on the cross. King Jesus rules and reigns and brings his kingdom to you in humble, hidden, yet holy ways and words.

 

What does the Kingdom of God look like? Where is your King found? Right where he promises to be for you. The kingdom of God comes to you in a flood of forgiveness. In the font where the Spirit-dove brings you something better than an olive branch. He brings you Jesus, the righteous branch who died on the tree to save you. And he plops you in the ark and ferries you over the raging waters.

 

The kingdom of God comes to you in words spoken by a sinner to fellows sinners, a word that opens heaven for you, sets you free from sin, and makes you whole and holy in Jesus. The same Jesus who said “Let there be light” in creation, now says “Let there be forgiveness” and makes you a new creation.

 

The kingdom of God comes to you, as it did for Jesus’ disciples: at the table and in the teaching. Supper and Scriptures. Body and blood and promise. Given and shed for you. the kingdom of God comes to you in humble, yet holy words that give you what Jesus promises: peace, healing, life.

But there’s more. Jesus not only gives you his kingdom, he sends you out to proclaim his good and gracious rule. 

 

So you see the kingdom of God when you pray with your neighbor who just got off the phone with their oncologist and the news isn’t good. You see it when you offer a word of hope to someone who’s despairing: Jesus died for that too. He is for you. You see it as you bear one another’s burdens, Paul says. You see it as you tell your friends and neighbors, come and see. Come to our Lord’s house. For The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ Jesus, the King, is here with all his peace, pardon, and promise for you.

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.