RBWords

     Jesus' reply to the wise scribe may have been made with a smile because the scribe was standing there in front of him!  However, the obvious context is the faith of the scribe who could see through the maze of 613 precepts of the law to the heart of it all:  Love of God and neighbor!  The scribe's strong Jewish faith simply needed a further step to see in Jesus the one who came to "put skin on" all that the law was intended to accomplish:  to prepare the way.  Jesus tells him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God!"

     How close are we to that kingdom?  In the Gospel of Luke, the dialog with the scribe goes further when the scribe seeks to narrow the scope of the meaning of "neighbor."  Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan.[Luke 15:29-37  The Final Judgment scene in the Gospel of Matthew [25:31-45] has that very chilling statement:  "As often as you did it to the least of my brothers, you did it to me."  

     The "Kingdom of God" is never far from us, but it is more than our personal relationship to Jesus.  It includes our relationship to our neighbor!  If we want to know how "close" we are to that kingdom, we need look no further than the nearest human person and then look back at ourselves.  Is our faith strong enough to see Christ in either place?  The Kingdom of God may be "hiding in plain sight!"  AMEN