The Nature of the Kingdom of God: In general, people are very eager to know about the nature of the Kingdom of God by means of the commonly asked questions like "What is it?" and "Where is it found?". The answers to these questions will revolve around the reality of God's presence. For, without God's presence there cannot be a Kingdom of God. The reality of the Kingdom will be manifest once we understand the role of the presence, action and rule of God in the world and in our lives.
The Human Outlook: Once the Pharisees asked Jesus a question that was uppermost in the minds of the Jews and is of great interest to all of us. :The Pharisees asked him, 'When will the Kingdom of God come?" He said, "You cannot tell by observation when the Kingdom of God comes. There will be no saying, 'Look, here it is!' or 'there it is !"; for in fact the Kingdom of God is among you" (Luke, 17: 20-21). How much this question agitated the minds of even the closest disciples of Jesus is evident from what we read at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. After his resurrection from the dead, he appeared to the Apostles and proved to them that he was alive and taught them about the Kingdom of God for a period of forty days. Yet, when he was about to be taken up to heaven, the Apostles asked Jesus a question the answer to which contained a slight rebuke that was to be the prelude to the last words he had spoken while he was still on earth. "So, when they were all together, they asked him, 'Lord, is this the time when you are to establish once again the sovereignty of Israel?" He answered, "It is not for you to know about dates and times, which the Father has set within his own control' " (Acts, 1: 6-7).
We must keep in mind two points from the instances quoted above. First, the Kingdom of God is not amenable to physical observation by means of our eyes or other senses. Rather, it is so close and intimate to us that we cannot see it just as we cannot see our own eyes. It can be experienced from within provided we are attuned to the laws that govern the reality of the Kingdom of God (We shall mention these laws in the last Post under this Section of 'The Content of Gospel Proclamation'). Second, as the Apostles could not get rid of their old notions of sovereignty and Kingdom as a result of which they were unable to grasp the nature of the promised Kingdom, we too are bound by our pet notions that prevent us from entering the Kingdom of God. The solution to this specifically human dilemma is given by Jesus himself when he said: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will bear witness to me in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, and away to the ends of the earth (Acts, 1: 8).
The Holy Spirit: Thus we see that the Holy Spirit is part and parcel of the reality of the Kingdom of God. Without the assistance of the Spirit we cannot even correctly identify the reality of the Kingdom, let alone actualize it in our lives. This very lesson was given by Jesus to Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish Council, bearing the rank of a famous teacher of Israel. Nicodemus was shocked beyond belief when Jesus told him about one of the fundamental principles of spiritual life."Jesus answered, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, unless a person has been born over again he or she cannot see the Kingdom of God' " (John, 3: 3). Although Nicodemus was a famous teacher of Israel, he had never heard anything similar from any one else in his life. So his natural tendency was to understand the rebirth mentioned by Jesus as belonging to the physical order of flesh and blood. According to the style of his usual thinking, Nicodemus expressed his reservations in a most crass manner by referring to the impossibility of entering his mother's womb a second time and be born again. "Jesus answered, 'In truth I tell you no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born again from water and spirit' " (John, 3: 5). Nicodemus was still under a stupor, so to say, that Jesus had to remind him that as flesh can give birth only to flesh, the spirit alone gives birth to spirit. Astonishment overtook Nicodemus to such an extent that Jesus had to introduce the simile of a wind blowing, of which neither the source nor the destination we know. Although we don't see the wind, we know it is there. Similarly, the one who is born of the spirit is not bound by the laws of flesh and blood nor does such a one come under the scope of the limitations imposed by the physical world.
Jesus was in a position to teach more and more things of heaven if only people were able to understand him. From his encounter with Nicodemus, a knowledgeable man of Israel and a teacher, Jesus saw that there was no such scope as Nicodemus himself could not understand even the things on earth (See John, 3: 9-12). If the encounter with Nicodemus took place in Jerusalem, Jesus faced another occasion in his own hometown of Nazareth where he could not work many miracles. The inability of Jesus in working miracles there was due to the lack of faith of the people. Mark reports that Jesus was taken aback by their want of faith, while Matthew explicitly connects their want of faith with his working not many miracles there (Mark, 6: 6; Matthew, 13, 58). From these two instances we may see how much mankind lost in heavenly teachings and supernatural interventions in the affairs of people because of warped thinking along with our stiff-necked attitudes. The antidote to this human malady is to let the Holy Spirit into our lives who will work out our destiny in co-operation with us. (To be Contd).
The Human Outlook: Once the Pharisees asked Jesus a question that was uppermost in the minds of the Jews and is of great interest to all of us. :The Pharisees asked him, 'When will the Kingdom of God come?" He said, "You cannot tell by observation when the Kingdom of God comes. There will be no saying, 'Look, here it is!' or 'there it is !"; for in fact the Kingdom of God is among you" (Luke, 17: 20-21). How much this question agitated the minds of even the closest disciples of Jesus is evident from what we read at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. After his resurrection from the dead, he appeared to the Apostles and proved to them that he was alive and taught them about the Kingdom of God for a period of forty days. Yet, when he was about to be taken up to heaven, the Apostles asked Jesus a question the answer to which contained a slight rebuke that was to be the prelude to the last words he had spoken while he was still on earth. "So, when they were all together, they asked him, 'Lord, is this the time when you are to establish once again the sovereignty of Israel?" He answered, "It is not for you to know about dates and times, which the Father has set within his own control' " (Acts, 1: 6-7).
We must keep in mind two points from the instances quoted above. First, the Kingdom of God is not amenable to physical observation by means of our eyes or other senses. Rather, it is so close and intimate to us that we cannot see it just as we cannot see our own eyes. It can be experienced from within provided we are attuned to the laws that govern the reality of the Kingdom of God (We shall mention these laws in the last Post under this Section of 'The Content of Gospel Proclamation'). Second, as the Apostles could not get rid of their old notions of sovereignty and Kingdom as a result of which they were unable to grasp the nature of the promised Kingdom, we too are bound by our pet notions that prevent us from entering the Kingdom of God. The solution to this specifically human dilemma is given by Jesus himself when he said: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will bear witness to me in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, and away to the ends of the earth (Acts, 1: 8).
The Holy Spirit: Thus we see that the Holy Spirit is part and parcel of the reality of the Kingdom of God. Without the assistance of the Spirit we cannot even correctly identify the reality of the Kingdom, let alone actualize it in our lives. This very lesson was given by Jesus to Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish Council, bearing the rank of a famous teacher of Israel. Nicodemus was shocked beyond belief when Jesus told him about one of the fundamental principles of spiritual life."Jesus answered, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, unless a person has been born over again he or she cannot see the Kingdom of God' " (John, 3: 3). Although Nicodemus was a famous teacher of Israel, he had never heard anything similar from any one else in his life. So his natural tendency was to understand the rebirth mentioned by Jesus as belonging to the physical order of flesh and blood. According to the style of his usual thinking, Nicodemus expressed his reservations in a most crass manner by referring to the impossibility of entering his mother's womb a second time and be born again. "Jesus answered, 'In truth I tell you no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born again from water and spirit' " (John, 3: 5). Nicodemus was still under a stupor, so to say, that Jesus had to remind him that as flesh can give birth only to flesh, the spirit alone gives birth to spirit. Astonishment overtook Nicodemus to such an extent that Jesus had to introduce the simile of a wind blowing, of which neither the source nor the destination we know. Although we don't see the wind, we know it is there. Similarly, the one who is born of the spirit is not bound by the laws of flesh and blood nor does such a one come under the scope of the limitations imposed by the physical world.
Jesus was in a position to teach more and more things of heaven if only people were able to understand him. From his encounter with Nicodemus, a knowledgeable man of Israel and a teacher, Jesus saw that there was no such scope as Nicodemus himself could not understand even the things on earth (See John, 3: 9-12). If the encounter with Nicodemus took place in Jerusalem, Jesus faced another occasion in his own hometown of Nazareth where he could not work many miracles. The inability of Jesus in working miracles there was due to the lack of faith of the people. Mark reports that Jesus was taken aback by their want of faith, while Matthew explicitly connects their want of faith with his working not many miracles there (Mark, 6: 6; Matthew, 13, 58). From these two instances we may see how much mankind lost in heavenly teachings and supernatural interventions in the affairs of people because of warped thinking along with our stiff-necked attitudes. The antidote to this human malady is to let the Holy Spirit into our lives who will work out our destiny in co-operation with us. (To be Contd).
No comments:
Post a Comment