If those who lead you say, “Look, the kingdom is in heaven,” then the birds of heaven will precede you. If they say, “It is in the sea,” then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and outside you. When you know yourselves, you will be known, and you will know you are children of the living father. But if you do not know yourselves, you live in poverty and you yourselves are the poverty. – Gospel of Thomas
My friends, let us consider these powerful, challenging words: If those who lead you say, “Look, the kingdom is in heaven,” then the birds of heaven will precede you. If they say, “It is in the sea,” then the fish will precede you.”
Now, what is this telling us? Thomas is cautioning us against having a lazy faith, isn’t he? Against the sort of spiritual pipe dream that pushes the glorious promise of the Divine’s reign off into some far-off, cloud-cuckoo land. Some people want to make the Kingdom of the Divine a treasure buried so deep in the sky, or so far beneath the waves, that it’s completely separate from our day to day lives here in Royal, and right in your own home.
They say, “Just wait, brother! Wait ’til you get to heaven, and then you’ll see the Kingdom.” But Thomas says that kind of waiting is a fool’s errand. If it’s only in heaven, then the birds who already fly there have a head start. If it’s only in the sea, the fish are already living in it.
No, my friends, Thomas’s message tells us something infinitely more personal and more urgent.
The passage continues with the very core of this revelation: Rather, the kingdom is within you and outside you.
Did you catch that? The Kingdom isn’t just a physical place you travel to. It’s not a future event you merely wait for. It is a present reality. It’s not just in the church building. It’s within your heart. It’s within your conscience. It’s within the quiet Divine given dignity of your very soul.
And it’s also outside you. It’s in the honest work of your hands. It’s in the fellowship of your family. It’s in the love you show your neighbor down the block. The Kingdom is the active, living presence of the Divine’s will being done right here, right now, through you.
But how do we tap into this incredible power? How do we stop being spiritual paupers and start living as the children of the Kingdom? Thomas tells us the key: When you know yourselves, you will be known, and you will know you are children of the living father.
In our busy modern age, full of new cars, television, and the rush of business, it is tragically easy to lose ourselves. We chase after fleeting pleasures, we worry about what the Joneses have, and we forget to sit down and ask: Who am I, really? Am I living up to the potential the Divine placed inside me? Am I letting the Divine light shine through my actions?
Thomas says, when you truly know yourself – when you strip away the pretenses, the false pride, and the silly vanities – you will discover the divine spark. You will realize you are not a mistake, not a nobody, but a precious, beloved child of the living father. The moment you see that Divine given identity within yourself, you are known by the living father, and the full dignity of the Kingdom is yours to claim.
And what is the alternative? Thomas gives us this solemn warning: But if you do not know yourselves, you live in poverty and you yourselves are the poverty.
Think of that. You may have a comfortable home, a fine job, and money in the bank, but if you do not know the immeasurable wealth of your soul, Thomas says you are living in the deepest, most crushing poverty imaginable. You are poor not because you lack dollars, but because you lack identity. You are the spiritual emptiness itself.
My friends, that is not the life the Divine intends for you. He wants you to wake up. To look inside, to see the image of the Divine that resides there, and to step into the spiritual abundance of the Kingdom – which is within you and outside you.
Don’t wait for the birds or the fish to precede you. Don’t push the Kingdom off to a distant place. Let us resolve today to live as the known, knowing children of the living father, bringing the light of the Divine’s reign into our homes, into our jobs, and into our community – one humble, honest, self-aware step at a time.
Amen.
