Beyond parochialism and nationalism

The sermon at church on Sunday was on Acts 1. Looking at the passage something I noticed afresh was the following contrast. After the resurrected Jesus had spent forty days with the apostles and "speaking to them about the Kingdom of God" he was about to ascend to heaven. The apostles asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Our natural human tendency is to be parochial and to be prone to nationalism. But God's Kingdom is bigger. That he is why Jesus responds that he will send the apostles to "Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."