As we see in our Gospel this morning, everyone in the time of Jesus wanted to know when the Messiah would come, they wanted to know when God was going to establish His Kingdom on earth. But Jesus’ response to those questions reveal the misconception that people had about the Kingdom of God, the misconception people had about who the Messiah was going to be or what He was going to accomplish. They thought that the Messiah would be some political leader that would bring about a temporal sense of liberation.

Jesus is basically telling them that they have no clue who God is or what His main concern is. He tries to set the record straight…but clearly the people still didn’t get it. Because they continued to question Him, they continued to challenge Him, and ultimately, they would end up putting Him to death because they thought He was “claiming” to be the Messiah. They missed the boat.

Jesus tells them that the Kingdom of God is among them. Meaning, Jesus is in their midst. He is the Kingdom of God, He is the Messiah, it was being established right in front of them and they couldn’t see it. But also, the Kingdom of God was going to continue to be established even after His Passion and Resurrection. And, in fact, because Jesus is, in a theological sense through our baptisms, is present within us and because He continues to be present in the world through the Eucharist, that Kingdom is still being brought about. He is present in the Church and she is now continuing His work and will do so until Jesus returns in glory.

How often do we miss the boat? How often do we get so distracted by our misconceptions of who God is, of who Jesus is for us, that we miss the reality of His presence, of His Kingdom among us? Jesus is literally going to be in our midst in a physical sense in just a few moments through the Eucharist. And He invites us to receive Him, to consume Him, to allow Him to enter into our physical bodies so that we might become Him to the world. Let’s not miss that. Let’s not miss the opportunity to allow the King of the Universe to enter our hearts and change us.

The Lord is not focused on being some political change-maker; He’s focused on winning our hearts; He’s focused on allowing us to experience His love so that He can draw us toward His heart. This morning, may we see the Lord for who He truly is and respond to Him with faith and trust.

Photo: Dino Reichmuth. Giverola Resort, Tossa de Mar, Spanien. Used under Unsplash license.