SENTINEL WATCH May 22, 2006 Issue

CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM

ELAINE FOLLIS

THE CURRENT DEBATE about workers who cross United States borders illegally, cries out for solutions that transcend human nationality. While people argue whether aliens who have broken the law deserve the benefits of US citizenship, education, and healthcare, it is helpful to realize that the Bible offers a higher, unifying concept that is basic to a resolution that will prove just and satisfying.

In certain respects, Biblical times were not unlike our own. Residents of the United States today, like Roman citizens in antiquity, enjoy rights and significant opportunities for which outsiders often yearn. Rome was the military superpower of Jesus' day, and it exerted economic and cultural influence just about everywhere; so, Roman citizenship was unquestionably important. For example, on one occasion the Apostle Paul's Roman citizenship protected him from a violent death (see Acts 23:10, 27). Against this political and cultural backdrop, Jesus taught about another country—the kingdom of God—often through the use of parables. To him, the kingdom was not some far-off realm of imagination, but a presence at work in the midst of everyday life. He declared, "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21).

Then and now, those who acknowledge God's authority in their lives recognize themselves as citizens of that kingdom. But what about those who don't? Like the son in one of Jesus' most famous parables, who refused his father's invitation to join in celebrating his brother's safe return, some people exclude themselves from enjoying the sense of God's presence (see Luke 15:11–32). Pride and fear turn such people away, even at the very moment God's welcoming arms enfold them.