3rd Sunday of Pentecost  
Romans 5:1-10; Matthew 6:22-33

A parishioner telephones a priest in Toronto:

- Mother is in the hospital; the doctors say that she may die within an hour or that she might live no more than 24 hours.

- When did your mother come to the hospital?

- Oh, she has been there for three and a half months.

Toronto has a population of more than two million people. It has dozens of different hospitals, and in them there are tens of thousands of patients. So, when relatives or friends do not inform the parish priest that one of their loved ones is in the hospital, how can he visit them, how can the priest take care of the sick?

Adults, middle-aged people, believe that the priest should be called and informed when their loved ones are on the verge of death – when they are about to die.

Quite a few formal Christians generally believe that God should be turned to when they have an urgent need: for baptism, marriage, or burial. Because of that, they call upon a priest to perform a function, as they would when they call upon a plumber, electrician, or "handy-man". And when everything is in order, if there is no need to baptize, marry, or if no one dies, then such people not only do not want to bother the priest, but they, they say, do not want to bother God either... They pray only when something bothers them ... Such people are rarely seen in the church. They, as they say, "pray at home /or by the lake/", and then they state that they pray better than those who go to church every Sunday...

It's hard to say how much people sincerely pray; we do not judge that. It is only certain that the Lord commanded that He will confess before the Heavenly Father the one who confesses Him before people /Matthew 10:32/, and not alone.

The Lord Jesus Christ, as we heard today from the Gospel, calls us to "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His truth..." /Matthew 6:33/

To seek something, we need to know where it might be found. We need to know at least the direction, the area where the object of our search is located. And, so, the question arises: Where might the Kingdom of God be located that Christ mentions?

The question is not in vain, because some consider it self-evident that the Kingdom of God is only the Kingdom of Heaven, and we can get there only after death.

Other people, at the instigation of some spiritually blind people who interpret or explain the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures according to the teachings of false teachers, say that the Kingdom of God will be on earth only when Jesus Christ comes a second time.

Let us explore this. In the Lord's Prayer, we daily pray:

"Let Your Kingdom come, let Your will be done, both in heaven and on earth."

From the Lord's definition, it is quite clear that the Kingdom of God can be "both in heaven and on earth." For, in that same prayer we ask God that His will reign on earth as well as in heaven. Every Christian should correctly understand that the Kingdom of God can be on earth, and not only in heaven - the Lord teaches us this through His prayer, and in general through the Gospel teachings.

The Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of the Spirit, and its participants, apart from God, are incorporeal beings. Praying for the souls of the departed, we ask for the Kingdom of Heaven for them. The Kingdom of God on an earth is not available to the deceased. I think that no one will raise any objection on that matter.

But what is the Kingdom of God on earth, about which we ask in the Lord's prayer? Where is it? How do we recognize it, find it? Will it really appear only when Christ comes the second time?

In the Gospel it is written:

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory" and will judge the living and the dead /Matthew 25:31-45/ "according to their deeds" /Revelation 20,12 /.

Thus, from this it is quite clear that people then will not have to seek the Kingdom of God. At that time the Supreme Judge will determine a place and for whom - whether for eternal life or eternal torment. The Lord clearly determined that "...these will go to eternal torment, but the righteous - to eternal life." /Matthew 25,46/.

The Kingdom of God on earth, which Christ calls to "seek" and build, is not a civil state - it is a Kingdom, a spiritual community. This earthly Kingdom is not visible to the eyes of the body, but it exists. It is necessary to learn to look for it by name and to know it with spiritual senses on earth. This spiritual Kingdom on earth is not separated in some geographical space, because its believers can and must build it everywhere, in all regions - with their lives, through the manifestation of their virtues.

This is not just our human reasoning. Christ clearly states it thus: "The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!' or ‘There it is!' For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you." /Luke 17;20-21/

To find the Kingdom of God on earth, it is not necessary to travel to Jerusalem or to any part of the world, because the Kingdom of God is "within us".

In short: the Kingdom of God must be built with our lives, our efforts spiritually in our souls, within our communities, within our society.

The bricks for the building of that Kingdom are these fulfilled commandments of Christ.

The Apostle Paul testifies to us from God:

"The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." /Romans 14,17/.

When righteousness will be revealed in our lives, when each of us will try to do good, when we will try to do good for our neighbours, when we will strive first for spiritual enrichment, union with God, when we will try not just to declare, but to live according to the Commandments of God, the Commandments of Christ, when "righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" reign in our souls, then we have built the Kingdom of God on earth. Then it is within us, among us, "Your will" - the will of God - will reign, as we ask for it in the Lord's Prayer.

And spiritual treasures on earth will be, at the same time, our "treasures in heaven", for which the Lord can grace us and the Kingdom of Heaven, eternally. The treasures of demonstrated virtues and good deeds will never rust, no one will ever steal them /Matthew 6:19-20/.

This brings our conversation to a close on the evangelical topic of seeking the "Kingdom of God and His truth". Let us just note that people who remember God and want to connect with Him only when it is necessary to baptize, marry, or bury relatives - will never be able to find the Kingdom of God. For them, it will always be a distant, abstract concept.

Amen.

Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko

Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.

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