In his preaching Our Lord often speaks of the Kingdom of God as ‘hidden’, whether in the sense of a seed growing, or measure of yeast in flour.  He also says that the Kingdom is in our midst and does not admit of observation.  But as well as a sense of the ‘already’ there is a sense of the ‘not yet’.  A time will come for the Kingdom to be made manifest.  Jesus does not choose to manifest his power on the cross by coming down and saving himself.  Instead his power his shown through self-sacrifice whereby the power of evil is ultimately defeated by goodness and love.  Yet through it all he has always been a King.  St Paul describes him as the face of the Father – the image of the God we cannot see.  The whole of creation came into being through him.  Even the powers of heaven are subject to him – how much more the material world including human beings?  Here and now he seeks our loving acceptance of his Kingship so that by faith the world can be transformed but at the end of time even those who do not choose to respond to his love must acknowledge his Kingship.