The Mysteries of the Kingdom

At the end of the parable of the sower, the disciples asked Jesus this question: Why do You speak to them in parables (Matthew 13:10b)? His answer was a bit strange, to say the least: To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted (Matthew 13: 11). What an incredible gift Jesus bestowed upon the disciples—to know (really know) the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven—but from what I can see, the rest were left in rather dire straights—completely excluded. (Please keep in mind, however, that I am probably more concerned about their “dire straights” than they were because they really had no interest in knowing these mysteries; in fact, they probably saw them as being foolishness.)
     Anyway, as the result of my having read Brian McLaren’s trilogy: A New Kind of Christian; The Story We Find Ourselves In; and The Last Word and the Word After That, this notion of the Kingdom of God (Kingdom of Heaven) has been freshly stirred within me, and this “stirring” has caused me to wonder if there is not much more to the Kingdom of God, than I have ever imagined. I have the strong sense that the revelation of these mysteries has been shrouded in the influence of this outer fence, the one to which you have recently heard me refer—the one we call Christianity.
     Listen to some of the ways Jesus refers to the Kingdom: But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you (Luke 11:20); The Kingdom of God has come near  to you (Luke 10:9b); Blessed is everyone who eats bread in the Kingdom of God (Luke 14:15b); Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the Kingdom (Luke 12:32); For behold, the Kingdom of God is in your midst (Luke 17:21b); The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened (Matthew 13:33); How hard it is for those who are rich to enter the Kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God (Luke 18:24-25); My Kingdom is not of this world. If My Kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is My Kingdom is not of this realm (John 18:36).
     As you can see, the Kingdom of God might be more like a diamond with many facets, than like, well, like whatever we have idealized it to be based on our own limited abilities to visualize spiritual truths. I am convinced that we will never really know the mysteries of the Kingdom until we are willing to look over the fence, the fence that has for so long determined our belief systems, into the promised land—the One True Promised Land!