Did you ever study a foreign language?  When I was in high school, I took two years of French.  I was very excited going into it, because even before the first day of class, I already knew some French words, such as ooh la la! and bon voyage.  I also knew, “Voila!”, which makes it sound like something appeared by magic.  Fancy, right?  That’s what I was hoping to become by studying French.  Fancy.  Clearly two years of high school French was not enough if I wanted to make such a profound transformation!

But I do love the sound of some of those French words, like Voila!  In French class I learned that Voila! isn’t just an expression we use to sound fancy or surprised.  The more precise meaning of voila is “there it is”.  And there’s a similar word, voici, which means “here it is”.  Voila is used for object some distance away.  And voici is used for objects nearby.

These French words came to mind as I was thinking about our scripture this week, because Jesus offers two very different ideas about the kingdom of God.  In the second lesson we read, he says we won’t be able to say, look, here it is, or look, there it is, because the kingdom of God is within you.  Yet Jesus in the first lesson, Jesus clearly talks about a Kingdom we can point to and see!

The kingdom of God.  What is it?  Where is it?  How do we get there from here?  Growing up, I imagined the Kingdom of God to be a lot like the Magic Kingdom in Disney World, where everything is beautiful, clean, and fun.  And while that may not be all wrong, it’s certainly not all right, either.  I don’t think it will cost $95 to buy a sweatshirt in the Kingdom of God like it does in the Magic Kingdom!  As Jesus describes the Kingdom of God, we know it’s not a destination requiring a plane ride or long road trip.  It’s not a place we can find on a map.  It has no borders or boundaries.  We also know intuitively that it is a place of justice and fairness and abundance for all.

So where is it?  What is it?  The best explanation I’ve ever heard is that the Kingdom of God is everywhere and anywhere God’s will is done.  Wherever the naked are clothed and the hungry are fed, there is the Kingdom of God.  Wherever people love kindness and do justice, there is the Kingdom of God.  Whenever we choose to forgive, the Kingdom of God is present in that moment.  Whatever sets the oppressed free, and restores sight to the blind, and binds up the brokenhearted—that is the Kingdom of God!

And that kingdom is growing!  But maybe not in the ways we might think.  There’s a little surprise in the parables Jesus told.  First, Jesus said the Kingdom is like a mustard seed that a man planted in his garden.  It grew and became a tree.  Everyone knows how little mustard seeds are.  So it is a surprise when the tiny mustard seed gets planted and grows into a big bush, maybe even over ten feet tall!  How did a seed that little make a bush that big?  But that’s the thing:  mustard seeds grow into bushes.  Not trees.  They don’t have strong trunks.  They don’t have strong limbs and branches.  Mustard bushes are not really good candidates for birds perching in them!  But, nevertheless, voila!  Jesus says this is what the Kingdom of God is like.  So here’s something else we know about the Kingdom of God:  its growth, size, strength and hospitality are surprising!

Jesus goes on to say the kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour.  Now this doesn’t sound surprising to us.  This is how bread is made, right?  But in the Bible, yeast is often seen in a negative light.  Yeast is usually compared to sin, which often starts as a little thing and then turns into big problems.  And the “large amount” of flour Jesus talks about may have been fifty pounds or so.  I’ve met some strong women, but I don’t know anyone who would want to work with fifty pounds of flour at a time to bake bread!  Not alone anyway!  But, voila!  Here it is, this description of the Kingdom of God—a description that tells the Kingdom of God will surely require teamwork, a description that tells us that good may sometimes look like evil, a description that gets us thinking about how a little change agent can make a big difference.

A few chapters later, Luke records Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God again.  Only this time, it’s not a “Voila!” moment.  It’s a “Voici!” moment.  Here it is.  The kingdom of God is within you, or some translations say, among you.  But surprise!  Look at who Jesus was talking to at the time.  The Pharisees!  What was he saying?  That the Kingdom of God was inside of them?  I don’t think so.  Maybe was he saying the Kingdom of God is contained within its King, Jesus.  Or maybe he was speaking aspirationally, meaning, they too could be part of the Kingdom of God, if they chose to.  They wouldn’t have to travel anywhere.  All they had to do is receive the King who was right here, within, among, standing right next to them in that very moment.

Which of course, we know they did not do. At least, they didn’t do that before Easter.  They thought Jesus was like the negative connotation to yeast—an evil presence that was corrupting the Jewish people.  So they felt it best to eradicate him.  But we know Jesus was yeast, as in the very definition of goodness itself.  Jesus was a catalyst not for evil but for good.  That is why we call the day of his crucifixion “Good Friday”.  He sacrificed his life to work a profound transformation for which there is no other word than good.

Like all kingdoms, the Kingdom of God has its own language.  I suppose it sounds trite to say the language of God’s kingdom is love.  But I think that’s true! It’s also the language of transformation.  Each of these descriptions call us to new ways of thinking.  Transformation is at the heart of the Kingdom of God.  Changing from caring about ourselves, to caring about others.  Changing from seeking short-term payoffs, to seeking long-term blessing.  Changing from resigning ourselves to the ways of this world, to being convinced that something better is possible.  I signed up for French in high school because I wanted to become fancy.  Jesus calls us to learn the language of his kingdom so we can make an even deeper transformation.  Jesus wants us to become people who can see the Kingdom of God in our midst, and carry it to places where it isn’t yet.  Voila!  Voici!  Jesus wants to transform us into people who embody the “right here” and the “over there” of the Kingdom of God.

Which means, basically, that God is inviting us to join in a cosmic smuggling operation.  We know the word smuggle, right?  It means to import or export goods from one country to another without paying the required taxes, or without proper permission.  I don’t think most of us would usually call ourselves smugglers.  But what a great word to describe our job of being “right here” and “over there” Kingdom of God people!  We get to smuggle the ways of God’s kingdom into the kingdoms of this world.  Can you think of a more vivid, or accurate, way to describe our job as kingdom people?  I guarantee you the kingdoms of this world are never going to give us permission to bring in more love, joy, peace, compassion, hope, mercy, goodness, and justice!  The kingdoms of this world are not interested in that kind of transformation.

But we are!  And God is!  In fact, God is personally committed to this kind of transformation.  About two thousand years ago, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would bring God’s son into the world.  She was the first in a long line of Christian smugglers.  She carried within her womb the baby Jesus—God in the flesh.  Voici!  Here it is, the kingdom of God!  Within a regular person, Mary, a person who was a lot like us.  This is why, at Christmas every year, we talk about the need to have Jesus born in us.  Like Mary, we can become smugglers, too.  Everywhere we go, we can, if we choose, take the Kingdom of God.  Voila!  There it is.  Voici!  Here it is.  Within us.  Amongst us.  In here.  Over there.  Everywhere.

I never thought of myself as a smuggler until about ten years ago, when I went to Mexico on a mission trip.  We were going to be helping a local church build a hurricane proof community center.  But there was something else the mission agency wanted us to do:  smuggle medical equipment into Mexico.  They asked us each to pray on it and decide if we wanted to stuff bandages, over the counter medicines, splints, tourniquets, and blood pressure cuffs into our suitcases along with our work clothes and boots.  It wasn’t that these things are illegal.  The problem was that, by sending medical supplies through conventional means, they were often confiscated and were never received by the people most in need.  Smuggling was the best way to get these goods to the poorest places.

Smugglers.  It’s not often our faith will ask us to be smugglers in the literal sense.  But we are all given the chance to smuggle God into unlikely and hostile places.  And we have Jesus as our teacher and example.  Just think for a minute about holy week.  At the last supper, Judas was included in the holy meal.  Jesus could have told Judas to hit the road before communion.  But instead, Jesus smuggled God’s love and grace into the bread and the cup, and offered it even to his enemy.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, as the officials came to arrest Jesus, one of Jesus’ followers got upset and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.  But Jesus was not impressed.  He ordered, “No more of this!”, and touched the man’s ear and made it well.  That night, that garden, could have been a God-forsaken place.  But even there, the kingdom of God reigned.

And then, on the cross.  In the midst of even that horribly barbaric scene, the kingdom of God reigned.  Among Jesus’ last words were, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they doing.”  And, to the thief on the cross next to him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  Forgiving the men who put him to death.  Offering forgiveness to the others crucified with him that day.  Bringing peace and hope where there would otherwise only be violence and despair.  Truly, the kingdom of God is contained within its king, and that king is Jesus.

But that’s not all there is to the story.  The kingdom is also growing in surprising ways, far beyond its humble beginnings.  Look around!  We have lots of reasons to say, “Voila!  There is the kingdom of God!”  We know, though, that it doesn’t just appear by magic.   Our Celebrate Wonder Sunday school curriculum says the Kingdom is God’s dream for the world where all people are loved and included.  Let’s hold on to that definition as we move closer to Holy Week and Easter.  Let’s also remember that the Kingdom of God is everywhere God’s will is done.  The kingdom doesn’t have to just be a dream.  If we’re willing to be smugglers, the kingdom of God can be a reality, here, there and everywhere we go.  Amen.