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When Leslie Weatherhead, the late English pastor, lived in India as a young man, he had a sturdy garden wall around his house. It was a foot thick, built of stone, and cemented over. A tiny seed, probably dropped by a bird, fell into a crack in the cement. When Dr. Weatherhead noticed a little plant growing out of the top of the wall, he cut it off and forgot about it. Dr. Weather-head went away to serve in the British Army. On his return, he found a healthy little bush had grown on the wall. He removed all he could of it. Later, a monsoon came and, during the storm, the wall collapsed. "Incredible as it may sound," wrote Dr. Weatherhead, "the roots of that plant had gone down and down and displaced stones, broken the cement, and so weakened the whole wall that it fell before the onslaught of rain and wind and tempest."

The incident is an illustration of what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of God. Jesus gave the Kingdom the central place in his preaching. However, the word "kingdom" can mislead us. It suggests a territory like the "United Kingdom," or the "Kingdom of Norway." To correct this misunderstanding, some modern translations speak, instead, about the "Reign of God." This helps to make it clear the Kingdom of God is not a territory, but an activity. It is God exercising his kingship, by his power at work in the world. Like the seed in Dr. Weatherhead's wall, God's power has been at work, raising mankind's attitudes toward children, women, the aged, the weak and ill, the evils of slavery and war. Jesus did not just talk about the Kingdom of God; he is the bearer and the embodiment of it. In his healings, his teachings, and his personality, God's power has broken into history, though we still await its full realization. That's why we pray, "Thy kingdom come." "For Christ must rule until God defeats all enemies and puts them under his feet." (1 Corinthians 15:25)