Word to the Wise
Thursday, November 14, 2024 - Thursday in the 32th Week in Ordinary Time
[Phlm 7-20 and Luke 17:20-25]Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, "The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed , and no one will announce, 'Look, here it is,' or, 'There it is.' For behold the Kingdom of God is among you." [Luke]
Although there will be a "second coming" of Jesus, the Kingdom of God has already arrived and is in our midst just as it was in the midst of the community for whom Luke composed his gospel portrait of Jesus. Furthermore, that community was indeed suffering and being rejected by many as it is in our own day. There may be traces in this quotation of a future tension in Christian thought between a "Platonic" and "Aristotelian" view of the world that continues to this day. Yes, these two ancient Greek philosophers impact our Christian philosophy and theology to this very day.
The "Platonic" approach distrusts all things material as being mere images of intangible "ideas" that give reality to all things. St Augustine was strongly influenced by this philosophical current. The emphasis is on the life to come beyond this life and what is physical cannot be trusted. The "Aristotelian" approach, adopted and promoted by St. Thomas Aquinas, finds the universal only in the particular. The Kingdom of God is incarnated in the faithful believer and not just in a reality beyond the grave. Too much emphasis on the Platonic view has led to a criticism of Christianity as promoting "pie in the sky, by and by." While the meaning of "the Church" is not simply the sum of its members, neither is it to be found outside those members, who are the Body of Christ. "The Kingdom of God is among you!" Love of neighbor does not begin at the grave. Today and tomorrow are both important in Christian faith. AMEN