In our Gospel today, we have two parables of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom was the central message of Jesus’ preaching. “The Kingdom is within. The Kingdom is at hand. Pray for the Kingdom come.” Jesus came to bring the Kingdom. But what is the Kingdom?

The Kingdom of God is wherever God is King. Heaven is the Kingdom of God, because in Heaven God is King.  Everything operates according to His plan and His will.  The Garden of Eden was the Kingdom of God, because, before the coming of the serpent, everything operated according to God’s plan and God’s will. After the Fall, the Kingdom was lost. The Kingdom of God exists in every human heart which has made God King of their lives, seeking to serve Him in all things and to obey His commandments and live according to God’s will and plan.
    
“The Kingdom is within.” We begin to recognize the Kingdom as we come to know the peace of God living within us.
    
“The Kingdom is at hand.” You can reach out and touch the Kingdom. It is everywhere around us. We just have to learn how to recognize it and receive it.
    
“The Kingdom Come.” In the Our Father, we are taught to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, the Kingdom is here, but not yet. There is a future dimension to the Kingdom, and we must pray and work that every human heart might be filled with the Kingdom, and that all human enterprises in this world operate under Kingdom principles.