Announcing the Kingdom

Announcing the Kingdom
Matthew 4.12-17

I once knew a small boy (no, it wasn’t me, actually) who used to telephone people at random. When a voice answered the phone, he would say, ‘Are you on the line?’ ‘Yes,’ the unsuspecting victim would reply. ‘Well, get off quick!’ he would shout. ‘There’s a train coming!’

The warning of an approaching object or event is always important. We need to know what’s coming, what danger it poses, what action we should take. And in the case of Jesus, and of the way Matthew tells us about him, there is one thing supremely important: we need to know what this kingdom of heaven is that he said was approaching, and what action he expected people to take. Though this is central to everything Jesus was and did, and to everything that the gospels say about him, it is remarkable how few people really grasp what was going on...

Taken from Matthew for Everyone – by Tom Wright