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The Reign of God: Jesus’s Mission

St. Mary’s Confirmation. The Reign of God: Jesus’s Mission. Zanzig , Thomas. Confirmed in a Faithful Community . St. Mary’s Press: Mn , 2006. Lectio Divina 20 minutes.

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The Reign of God: Jesus’s Mission

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  1. St. Mary’s Confirmation The Reign of God: Jesus’s Mission Zanzig, Thomas. Confirmed in a Faithful Community. St. Mary’s Press: Mn, 2006

  2. LectioDivina 20 minutes • Central to Jesus’s identity, his life, his mission and message, and all his words and actions is the notion of the Kingdom of God, or Reign, of God. • His parables proclaim and describe the Kingdom. • His miracles are signs of the Kingdom’s presence in the people’s midst. • Therefore, we have to understand what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of God if we are to understand him.

  3. LectioDivina 20 minutes • Please get into your LectioDivina group. Make sure you have your Bible. Let’s now pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us through the Scripture. • Proclaim Luke 4:16-22. After the reading, take a moment to identify a word or phrase that catches your attention. Then share. • Proclaim the Scripture a second time. Pause and ponder whether God might be calling you to say a word or two in your small groups. Is there an insight or lesson in the passage? Two or three short responses only. • Pray a brief prayer from your heart. • We will now spend a moment or two in quiet to simply let God love us and to bask in the wonder of this kind of love.

  4. The Kingdom of God 25 minutes Proclaim Matthew 13:10-53 In trying to get people to understand something as mystifying and overwhelming as the Kingdom of God, Jesus used ordinary objects like… seeds and light, salt and yeast. salt light yeast seeds

  5. He chose everyday actions like farming, fishing, and baking. And in doing so, he helped the people of his time understand that new life comes with the Kingdom of God.

  6. What is the Kingdom of God like for you? This bag holds a variety of everyday objects. Each group will choose one object from the bag. The task of your group is to try to imagine how Jesus, the master teacher, would use that object to describe the Kingdom of God. For example, “The Kingdom of God is like a telephone. It connects you to everyone else in the world no matter who or where they are.” Each group will need to create at least three statements that begin, “The Kingdom of God is like….”. You have 10 minutes. Each group will then present your statements.

  7. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God was the reign of God’s love over the hearts of people and, as a result a new social order of “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” Romans 14:17.

  8. “By his word, through signs that manifest the reign of God, and by the sending out of his disciples, Jesus called all people to union with him, to enter the kingdom of God. To enter it, one must first accept Jesus’s word” (Catechism 542 and 543)

  9. According to Jesus, the Kingdom of God was not to be established through military overthrow of political oppressors. God would establish it as people came to recognize God’s reign over their heart and life and began to live as true brothers and sisters.

  10. When Jesus said that “’the Kingdom of God has come near’” (Mark 1:15), he was saying that because of his own unique relationship with God and his profound love of people –even his enemies –he was himself establishing the Kingdom among people. As a result, those who would eventually witness Jesus’s death and Resurrection would recognize him as the One they had been waiting for –their Messiah. Many times Jesus taught through parables, a simple story illustrating a lesson. Why do you think this would be effective.

  11. Role-Playing: Sharing the Mission of Jesus 30 minutes Distinction between the Church and the Kingdom of God The Church is the seed and the beginning of the Kingdom of God. Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God as already and not yet, a present and future reality. God’s presence is also in the Church, but not in all its fullness. God’s Reign is present in the world but not yet fully realized.

  12. It is an error to assume that the Kingdom is something that will come into existence only in heaven, when life on earth is over. Likewise, it is a mistake to believe that we can create the fullness of God’s Reign here on Earth. We are, however, called to live toward the fulfillment of God’s Reign; in other words, to participate by doing our part as children of God.

  13. The Church’s mission is to proclaim God’s Reign, to cooperate with God’s plan to establish the Kingdom among all people, and to serve as the seed of the Kingdom. That happens whenever and wherever the love of God is lived out, whenever and wherever the will of God is fulfilled.

  14. All people are called to belong to the People of God –to form a community transformed by the Holy Spirit into a people of faith, hope, and love, and to be witnesses of the presence of the Kingdom to the world.

  15. Because of the influence of sin, however, the Kingdom of God will never be fully realized on Earth. We wait in hope for God’s will to be fulfilled, and we continue to pray with Jesus Christ, “thy kingdom come.”

  16. Jesus’ call to love is not restricted to loving only those in our own family or social group. We are called to reach out to those who are poor, oppressed, and lonely, and to in fact show concern and practical care for the “least of these” (Matthew 25:40) is the heart of Jesus’s life and mission. Value must also be in the heart of any who claim to be his followers.

  17. Refer to Luke 4: 16-22 Jesus was using a selection from Hebrew Scriptures to explain what his mission was. See Isaiah 61: 1-2

  18. Activity You will be divided into four or five groups. I will give each team a question slip, discuss the question in your groups. Each group will share their discussion on the questions with the large group. Now each group will express your discussion in two ways.: Human sculptures. You can form the members on your team into a human sculpture that is some way expresses the team’s response to the question. All members must be included. You should then prepare to first read their question, demonstrate your sculpture, and then invite other groups to interpret what you try to represent. Miming. You can mime a brief vignette that represents your team’s response to the question. Again all members must participate. Note that in a mime the performers usually use exaggerated movements but no dialogue to express their message. Again, you are to first read your question, perform your mime, and then invite the group to interpret your performance. You only have five minutes to create your expression and prepare to share it with the group.

  19. Journal Activity The Good News Proclaimed to Me Jesus proclaimed that in and through him healing was available for people in painful situations. Poor people will hear the good news; brokenhearted people will have their brokeness mended; people in captivity will experience liberation; and people in mourning will find comfort. Of these five promises Jesus made, which one speaks most to your heart and life right now? In what area of your life do you most need healing?

  20. Closing Prayer Jesus and his followers are called to “bring good news to the poor? (Luke 4:18) Jesus and his followers are called to “recovery of sight to blind” (Luke 4:18) Jesus and his followers are called to “proclaim liberty to captives” (Luke 4:18) Jesus and his followers are called to “release to the captives” (Luke 4:18) Jesus and his followers are called to “let the oppressed go free” (Luke 4:18)

  21. The Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity. He is very much on the same level in the Trinity as the Father and Jesus. His role in the Godhead (Trinity) is different , just as the roles of the Father and Jesus are different. The Father is the Creator and the Son(Jesus) is the Savior. The Holy Spirit is the Counselor and Comforter. The Holy Spirit’s job is to empower and guide you in living the Christian life. In order to have the power of God working in our lives we must surrender and submit ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit. We can surrender and submit to the Holy Spirit simply by asking him to fill us with his prsence. John 14: 16-17 John 16: 7 Burns, Jim. Spirit Wings. Servant Publications: Michigan, 1992.

  22. Prayer Spirit of the living God Take control of me; Spirit of the living God; Take control of me Spirit of the living God: Take control of me: Melt me! Mold me! Fill me! Use Me! Asking the Holy Spirit to fill, empower, and control your life is connecting with the power source of God. It is putting God in the driver’s seat of your life with your in the passenger seat. If you make that commitment, hold on because you are in for the greatest, most exciting and challenging ride of you life. Burns, Jim. Spirit Wings. Servant Publications: Michigan, 1992.

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