Mark relates in his Gospel that Jesus began his ministry by preaching, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Gospel.” (1.14–15). The New Covenant of the Heavenly Father is this Kingdom, and we, the disciples of Jesus, received the power of the Holy Spirit to be its witnesses “to the remotest ends of the earth.” (Acts 1.8).
During his ministry, Jesus used concrete images to describe the spiritual concept of the Father’s Kingdom. One such image is the vine and its branches, another one is that of the white fields, ready for harvest (John 4.35), the ears heavy with precious wheat that Jesus will promptly gather to his threshing floor and with the winnowing-fan in his hand will separate from the chaff (Matthew 3.12).
The vineyard, where the Father himself is the vinedresser (John 15.1), is the paradise that the Father prepared with care on a fertile hillside, clearing it of stones, protecting it with a fence, supporting it with posts, and planting there the vines of red grapes bearing the knowledge of good and giving eternal life (Isaiah 5.1–2 and Genesis 2.8). He called us to care for his beloved vineyard by proclaiming the good news. The Father called us through the spirit of Jesus (John 6.64 and Acts 1.8) to work in the vineyard not half-heartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit (Romans 12.11). This “call” of God gives body and substance to the reality described by Paul the Apostle as the Body of Christ, those called (1 Corinthians 12.12, 27), literally the Church.
True to the nature of the Church, the “Apostle” receives his constitutive character not so much by virtue of being sent, nor because he is a prophet bearing the word of God, nor even because he is a priest bearing God’s commandments, but because he possesses the sovereign presence of the Holy Spirit. As such, he proclaims the eternal and Only-Begotten Word of the Heavenly Father: the free gift shared through the sanctifying grace of the sacrament of Baptism.
In this nature of the Church, the prayer “Thy kingdom come” that the Lord taught us is not a wish. Jesus constituted us as apostles to speak Him, to proclaim the advent of the Father’s kingdom in communion with the power of His Spirit, exactly the way he himself preached. That is, we must manifest that kingdom by being his witnesses. But how?
At his last supper, when defining the nature of the New Covenant passover, Jesus established the following points, by remembering which we manifest the kingdom of the Father. First, after washing the feet of his disciples, the Lord said to them—not asked, as many understand this—“Understand what I have done to you!” (John 13.12). Jesus made his example of humility the creation of the New Covenant: “I have washed your feet; you must wash each other’s feet.” Second, believe in me, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.
Third, love me and love each other as I have loved you, so that the Spirit of truth may live in you eternally. Fourth, remain in me, as the branch remains part of the vine, because you cannot do anything without me. The heavenly vinedresser, the Father, will keep you holy and my words will remain in you, and you will bring forth abundant fruit, glorifying the Father. You will bring forth fruits not as servants, but as my friends, to whom I revealed everything the Father revealed to me.
