The Kingdom of Far, Far Away, by Rev Steven R Mitchell, Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 7/15/2014

The Kingdom of Far, Far Away


By Rev Steven R Mitchell

Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 7/15/2012

Based on “Love Wins” by Rob Bell and Matthew 25: 31-40 & 1 Cor.13:11-13



In the beginning scenes from the “SHREK 2” movie, we have Shrek the ogre and his princess bride, Fiona, who also happens to be an ogre, returning home from their honeymoon only to receive an invitation to come to meet Fiona’s dad and mom, the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Far, Far, Away. As they approach the city limits, you realize that this Kingdom looks very much like Hollywood. The castle itself has the Disney motif; the streets are paved with gold and lined in palm trees. Again these are subliminal reflections on our cultural views of “heaven”.

As is often the case, Shrek the new son-in-law isn’t exactly greeted by his new father-in-law with open arms. In fact, the king works at having Shrek removed from the picture in order that his daughter might marry the man of his dreams, Prince Charming. Yet through all these trials and tribulations, there actually is a happy ending, with Shrek proving his worthiness to the king. A twist comes at the end of the story as we find out that the king, who appears to be human, actually was that frog we hear about in the story’s used to console young girls: if you only kiss enough frogs, you will find your prince!

In Shrek 3, we find that the king has become quite ill and Shrek and Fiona have to step up and handle the “affairs of state”. This proves to be very interesting. Fiona, since she was raised as a princess seems to have all the breeding and knowledge that is expected of royalty. Shrek on the other hand is a total “Ogre”. He has to act and think in a way that is totally foreign to him, because he has not had the training that one needs to be a king.

The whole Shrek series challenges societies “childish” points of view on so many topics. Paul tells the church in Corinth, “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.” The church as a whole is in the midst of a major upheaval, as it struggles to re-examine the stories told in scripture, stories that seem to no longer make sense modern society.

This, I believe, is because the church has too long been teaching scripture from the child’s point of view refusing to become the adult that we should be, insisting on continually wanting to live in a child’s world. A part of this problem comes out of fear by the pastor, that if she/he should present views contrary to the congregation, they could be fired; thus not allowing for any real growth, theologically.

Although seminaries have been training pastoral leadership for several hundred years in this country, the church has suffered intellectually because of the rapid expansion as the country moved from the east coast toward the west coast. During the height of expansion of the Mid-west and Plaines states, the need for churches far exceeded the availability of seminary trained pastors. This gap was filled by persons who had very limited biblical education, presenting what we would now call “literal” interpretations of the writings within scripture, literal interpretations being based on those cultural experiences of the times. Couple this with history loosing much of the understanding of the early Hebrew culture; it is easy to see why views of a place such as heaven would be filled with promise of rewards, which would not be consistent with the first century hearers of the words of Jesus and later of the apostles, such as Paul.

Today, we have the benefit of archeological discoveries that have helped scholars re-discover a good deal of the Hebrew mindset, allowing us to look more accurately at words such as “eternal life” or “heaven” and understand them from the point of view of those first listeners of Jesus.

Last week we discussed the understanding that “eternal life” did not mean “living forever” but rather, “in the age to come”. What then was Jesus speaking about when he used the word “Heaven?” Well Jesus uses this word to mean several differing things. One of the understandings of the use of the word “heaven” is as a substitute for the word God. In our culture, we have no problem in saying God’s name, but in Hebrew culture, the creator of all things was so revered that it was inappropriate to use the name of God directly, so there were substitutes used, one of them being the word “heaven.” Jesus often referred to the”kingdom of heaven,” and he tells stories about people “sinning against heaven.” “Heaven” in these cases is simply another way of saying “God.” Love Wins, Rob Bell pg 42

A second understanding that Jesus has of “Heaven” is as a real place, space, and dimension of God’s creation, where God’s will and only God’s will is done. Heaven is that realm where things are as God intends them to be. Love Wins, Rob Bell pg 42 This is found again in the Lord’s prayer as “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” This also relates to the idea of “eternal life”, the age to come, that we discussed in last week’s worship. So, there is this future place called “heaven”, which is God’s kingdom, a place that is reconciled to God’s wishes of which things exist in harmony. While Jesus was hanging on the cross, he was asked by one of the other two men, if Jesus would remember him when Jesus came into his kingdom, this age to come. Jesus’ response was, “this day you shall be with me in Paradise or what we might call “heaven.”

Then there is a third understanding of “heaven” used by Jesus. Jesus often spoke about “the kingdom of God is among you.” This relates to this morning’s Gospel reading when Jesus spoke about the separation of the sheep and the goats. Of how those who gave food, shelter, clothing, looked after the ill, and those in prison, all these things done for those in need, they were doing to Jesus. This is the active state of now, of heaven in the present.

In many respects, the things that we learn and do in our present life is preparing us for life with God, this future understanding of living in God’s presence. Usually we think of heave as a place of comfort, yet heaven also is a place of accountability. What I mean by this, is the way we think and act now in the present will also be the way we think and act in the future. If Gods concept of creation is that of all being reconciled, how do you think I will deal with sitting next to a person that during my life on earth, I thought as a subordinate to me? Say, I was a member of the KKK, and in heaven I found that I was a roommate to a black person? Would this be heaven for me or would this be “Hell?”

Remember the “rich young man” story, who was told by Jesus, to sell all that he had and then he would be able to follow him? It’s very common to hear talk about heaven framed in terms of who “gets in” or how to “get in.” What we find Jesus teaching, over and over and over again, is that he’s interested in our hearts being transformed, so that we can actually handle heaven. To portray heaven as bliss, peace, and endless joy is a beautiful picture, but it raises the question: How many of us could handle it, as we are today? How would we each do in a reality that had no capacity for cynicism or slander or worry or pride? Love Wins, Rob Bell pg50

Like Shrek, who finds himself living in the Kingdom of Far, Far Away, he had not had any training, any opportunity in life to learn how to act as a representative of the King and when asked to help reign, found himself like an Ogre out of the swamp. “When I was a child, I thought and acted as a child. But now as an adult, I put away childish things.” To say it again, eternal life is less about a kind of time that starts when we die, and more about a quality and vitality of life lived now in connection to God. Amen