Gathering of People’s Organizations

(The Kingdom of God As a Present Reality)

our host: People’s Organizations

Is the new earth, which the Kingdom of God is, a mere mirage of the future? An Asian gathering of people’s organizations say an emphatic ‘no.’ Our present hosts—organizations of youth, environmentalists, women, workers, peasants, mothers, overseas workers, drug and alcohol rehab teams, indigenous peoples, small vendors, urban poor and other grassroots organizations—assert in word and action that something of the new earth has got to be visible and tangible today. ‘The Kingdom of God is already in the midst of you,’ Jesus announced to the people of his time. He pointed to his actions. He pointed to the blessings he wrought in people’s lives. Jesus-followers can find challenge and inspiration from Jesus’ practice.

The Kingdom of God As Present

Our current signposts point to the Kingdom of God in its present aspect.

Learn Something from the Parables of Growth. The parables of growth, although not designed to illustrate the presence of the Kingdom of God, do in fact imply it.

‘Among You’ or ‘In the Midst of You.’ At one point in his life, Jesus told the pharisees not to look for signs—like apocalyptic signs in the heavens or some kind of certifying credentials.

Among, Not Within. And now, let me make a parenthetical, but important remark, not about the ‘when’ but about the ‘how’ of the Kingdom. It is a warning about a mistranslation. In some of your English or vernacular Bibles, you find the faulty translation: The Kingdom of God is within you. This incorrect translation reduces the Kingdom to an interior reality in the heart. The better translation of the Greek entos is: ‘among you’ or ‘in the midst of you,’ that is, you see and hear it around you. How? The blind see, the lame walk, etc.

The Reign of God in our hearts—‘within you’—is indeed a precious reality, highly esteemed in the Bible. However, in the New Testament, this reign of God in our hearts is not referred to as the Kingdom of God. Of course, after a good grounding in the basic meaning of the Kingdom of God, God’s reign in our hearts can be included among the prime blessings of the Kingdom. It remains a fact, however, that for Jesus the Kingdom of God was ‘in the midst of you,’ or ‘among you’—that is, in health for the sick, life-giving energy to the dead, the jubilee year, etc.

What You Hear and See.

The Kingdom of God Present in Life-Blessings

Life-Blessings. What do they see and hear? Blessings that give life. Blessings that uphold and further life. In short, life-blessings. The Kingdom of God was present in life-blessings that included healings, exorcisms, propounding the jubilee year. Our hosts share some Kingdom-blessings experienced in our time: ancestral lands reclaimed, a drug-addict rehabilitated, demolition of poor homes stopped, dictators toppled, more women’s rights promoted—these are some of the big and small victories shared among our hosts. In his time Jesus points to blessings he brings about in people’s lives. The Kingdom is not just for tomorrow. It is now—in actual fact (Mt 11) or at least, as an intended program of action (Lk 4), perhaps aborted by an early death.

At this juncture, our hosts take me aside for a little side-chat. They say: ‘It just occurred to us that whereas Jesus’ activities want to set people up for life, many of your typical Church activities prepare people for death! A stunning thought. Is our Church more concerned for life after death than for life after birth?

The Three-Dimensional World of Jesus. According to an interpretation I was once taught, our Mt 11 signpost speaks about the ‘spiritually blind’ to truth, ‘spiritual lepers,’ deaf to the word of God, dead in mortal sin, oppressed by sin and the devil, the poor in spirit. How deep the inroads of a non-biblical theology! Our hosts, who are playing more and more the role of a devil’s advocate, now half-jestingly remark: ‘Oh, that a too, too rarefied theology would put on flesh and re-possess the three-dimensional world of the biblical Jesus!’ No, in these passages, Jesus was not talking about the spiritually blind, poor, etc. He was talking about the really and truly and physically blind, poor, dead, oppressed! What is the basis for saying this? The simplest and the most obvious. Here Jesus is simply giving a summary of his ministry. In the length and breadth of the gospel accounts, it was the really and truly blind, the deaf,and lepers that Jesus healed! Watch:

Principal Kingdom-Works of Jesus. What then were the principal Kingdom-works of Jesus—actual or programmatic—during his lifetime, and what can we learn from them? By now we can make this comprehensive summary:

health to the sick

life to the dead

good news (of justice and liberation) to the poor

release to captives

liberty to the oppressed

jubilee year of the Lord (restoration of property, release of slaves, cancellation of debts, rest for the land)

(Mt 11:2-5; Lk 4:16-21)

casting out demons (Lk 11:20)

forgiving sins (Mk 2:5ff)

One Human Being. Jesus’ Kingdom-blessings were directed to the human being, not to the soul. How is it with us today? Our perceptive hosts have made this observation: after Vatican II in the 1960s, we started putting together body and soul. We realized that up to then we had put them asunder. We realized that we had been too preoccupied with the soul and downgraded the body. We began to talk about integral salvation and integral evangelization. We even talked about total human development. We said that we should be concerned not only with the soul but with body and soul together. Thus we arranged a marriage. Body and soul shall tie the knot. The two shall become one flesh. We had a difficult time in the process, and still do.

Jesus and the First Look viewers never had such a problem. The human being was never an assembly of two components.47 There was always the one human being, breathing, throbbing, alive. And Jesus’ Kingdom-blessings for the human being were various forms of life.

Objection. Jesus said to Pilate: ‘My Kingdom is not from this world’ (Jn 18:36). Is not Jesus saying that his Kingdom has to do with grace/life for souls only? This seems to imply a distinction between body and soul.

No. Jesus’ statement does not mean: ‘My Kingdom is about souls and spiritual grace.’ Rather, it means: ‘My kingly power does not derive from the principles of this world, but rather (implied) from God.’

Jesus is not contrasting ‘spiritual’ vs. ‘material.’ Jesus, in an exchange with Pilate, is contrasting this world vs. God; worldly things vs. godly things. The ‘world’ in John’s Gospel is sometimes considered evil. The contrast is between what comes from this world and what comes from God.
 

Where to Locate the Kingdom of God

Exact Location of the Kingdom of God. If you were roaming the streets of Palestine in the time of Jesus, where would you pinpoint the exact location of the Kingdom of God? This is not such an idle question, when you consider that often we look for the Kingdom everywhere except where it is. In heaven? In peoples’ hearts? Is it a religious institution like the Church? Is it Jesus himself? Attention to the biblical evidence would prompt us to say: none of the above. Rather the Kingdom of God in the time of Jesus was to be found in blessings of life for the human being (health to the sick, life to the dead, justice to the poor, forgiveness to the sinner) and mediated through Jesus’ actions; through his works; through his practice. (Our hosts, people’s movements and organizations are happy with this thought.) What none-too-subtle message could we here pick up for our own Kingdom-practice today?

Some Jottings

Two Misconceptions. While we are on the subject of Jesus’ works, we take note of a couple of misconceptions.

(1) The wonderful healings of Jesus, it is alleged, were intended to be proofs of his divinity; Jesus performed miracles in order to show that he was God.

(2) Still another view is that his healings served merely as pre-evangelization or pre-gospel; Jesus performed them only to prepare people for the more sublime message about salvation of souls.

Both views are incorrect. These marvelous works of Jesus were manifestations of the presence of the Kingdom of God in action. They are already the gospel and the evangelization of Jesus! Remember that Jesus went about all of Galilee and Judea proclaiming the gospel, the evangel of the Kingdom. And what was the Kingdom but life-blessings, such as his healings?

To Be Saved. At this juncture, we can also pause to hold up to the light for a still closer look, the simple word ‘save.’ As a Second Looker I used to associate it with (1) eternal salvation (2) moral salvation from sin (3) and, of course, with the soul.

In the Greek language (sozo), as perhaps in all languages, ‘to be saved’ means to be kept safe and sound, to be restored to health, to be rescued from danger or injury, and, of course, to attain eternal salvation. In the Bible ‘to be saved’ refers to moral and eternal salvation (Mt 10:22; Mt 18:11; Mt 19:25; Jn 10:9, etc.). But for a hemorrhaging woman, ‘salvation’ also means, to be made healthy (Mt 9:21); to preserve life and not to kill (Mk 3:5); to be rescued from sinking in water (Mt 14:30); to save one’s life or lose it (Mt 16:25); to be spared the death on the cross (Mt 27:40-42; Mk 15:31; Lk 23:37); to heal a blind man (Lk 18:42); to be saved from shipwreck (Acts 27:43).

A Curious Fact About Forgiving Sins. Let us round out our reflection on Jesus and forgiving sins. Did Jesus forgive sins during his lifetime? Yes, the gospel records say so. Now an interested researcher will notice a curious fact. Contrary to all expectation, the gospels record only two instances where Jesus forgives sins.

One is the story of the paralytic, reported by Matthew, Mark and Luke (Mk 2:1-12; Mt 9:1-8; Lk 5:17-26). The other story is found only in Luke (7:36-50). This is all the more striking in the light of the fact that (1) almost every other episode talks rather about healings, exorcisms, feedings, conflicts with authorities, speaking in parables, eating with tax-collectors and sinners – all sorts of things except forgiving sins; (2) the mission statements do not mention forgiving sins; (3) the summaries of Jesus’ activities do not mention it. For example:

Jesus’ religion was not played out only in individual souls, doing good and avoiding evil, hoping one day to scale the heights to heaven. It is more than the psycho-spiritual drama of the individual soul seeking personal fulfillment and helping others to seek the same salvation.

One more word about a theology that revolves around Jesus-sin-forgiveness-me. One would expect that it would burst into a spirituality of endless thanksgiving and joy. More often than warranted, however, it has produced a disproportionate ‘sin complex,’ and paved a guilt trip to heaven. Could the reason for the resultant long-faced spirituality be this: we preachers and theologians have blown out of proportion the sin-and-me part of it? The Jesus-forgives part would engender a more joyous and healthy spiritual life.

Behind the Kingdom-Blessings. You have perhaps, noticed that in reporting on the Kingdom-blessings of Jesus I have not talked about ‘human dignity,’ ‘the value of relationships,’ ‘restoring persons back to their rightful place in the community,’ ‘asserting a counter-culture.’ Does this mean that these and similar values were absent in Jesus’ Kingdom practice? Far from it. These were behind every act of Jesus. Thus, when with his own hands, he touched the leper and healed him, he was, at the very least, loudly affirming his human dignity and restoring him back to his rightful place in the human community. However, I have advisedly not moved to that level of interpretation. This, for at least two reasons.

The first is that books and articles have spoken about Jesus’ concern for human dignity without sufficiently telling us that such a concern of Jesus often takes the form of bread and fish. Incidentally, if Kingdom-blessing translates into global food, then inversely, the global hunger suffered by 70% of humans today must have to be a great Kingdom-crime. A frightening thought—especially for the global profiteers and their accomplices in and out of government. Of course, Jesus used simpler and more straightforward language: ‘Away from me, you accursed ones, to everlasting fire. For I was hungry and you did not give me to eat.’ (Mt 25:41-42)

The second is that I wanted to hew closely to Jesus’ language and let that speak for itself—a practice which we can hardly overdo in our Christian theology. At any rate, it appears to me that Jesus was not one to discourse lengthily on ‘dignity,’ ‘personhood,’ ‘relationships,’ though they were most important for him and underpinned his every move. He did not talk about them. He did them. And the reader of the gospels could do well to tease out what lies just beneath that woodwork.

An empathetic reading of Jesus will lay bare the values that Jesus held, without need of further commentary. These values were, in many instances, diametrically antithetical to the officialdom of his day. These values were certainly for the human being and his/her primacy—over and above, say, the sabbath and tradition. Jesus certainly offered counter-values, affirming the value of human dignity. He offered a counter-culture. Although enough of this counter-culture should have filtered through our roadsigns so far, we will see more of it in the coming stopovers, especially 12, 14, 15 and 16.

Now, a word about us today. Because we are not Jesus, the following caution may be opportune. Since the value of human dignity and relationships are behind every Kingdom-act of Jesus, it would, of course, be grave irony and gross misunderstanding for Jesus-followers today to work for the Kingdom-blessings of rice, fish and land for reasons less than human dignity and relationships.

The Anima of Jesus

Splagchnizomai: a Footnote on the Kingdom-Spirituality of Jesus. The gospels record little about the emotions of Jesus. In addition, Jesus has been chided for not laughing. Well, of course there is scant written record of that. Yet, it is hard to imagine Jesus, having a merry good time with the simple folk, sporting a long face. Be that as it may, Jesus more than makes up for it with an emotion, very characteristic of him. It is recorded in the Greek word splagchnizomai. I give the Greek word first, because it has connotations which our modern technological age finds hard to match.

Splagchnizomai represents an emotion that is in the inner parts of the person – loins, womb, guts, bowels, heart – and is usually rendered as ‘compassion.’ It is the anima, the feminine side in Jesus.

Because They Were Sheep with a Shepherd. One would think that after days of going about all the cities and villages, teaching in synagogues and proclaiming the Kingdom, healing all sorts of infirmity, he would be emotionally drained. But no: ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ (Mt 9:36). Sheep here refers to the people; shepherd, to their religio-political leaders. The scene has a very contemporary ring, does it not?

And Packed Lunch Too. No less human is a story from Mark. His disciples had just come back, reporting on their hectic sortie into the towns and villages. Jesus invites them to a secluded place for a rest. But there were so many people ‘coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat’ (Mk 6:31). Jesus and the disciples attempted an escape by boat. But people spotted them and ran to the same place on foot and got there ahead of them. As he went ashore he saw a large throng, did he get fed up with them? Well, the story goes on to say that ‘he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a sheperd.’ And he proceeded to teach them and to have them fed, five thousand of them, with twelve baskets left over. And ‘ … if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way’ (Mk 6:30-44; Mk 8:3). Jesus’ compassion is something you can touch and eat.

In Mk 1:41 it is a leper that arouses his splagchna.

Among the Best Stories Told by Jesus. You have such a stock of something that many of the best stories you tell are about that something. Here, according to Matthew and Luke, are stories told by Jesus about splagchna.

A servant owes the king a large amount, is ordered to be sold with his wife and children, falls on his knees, begs for patience. The king forgives him – out of pity. The same servant turns to his fellow servant and puts him in jail for not paying a small sum. The king ruefully addresses the servant: ‘should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ (Mt 18:33)

The other two stories are all-time favorites and the lines have a familiar ring.

And the Disciple’s Role?

My Responsibility. Our journey takes us to a point where we begin to ask: ‘What is my role in all this?’ To put it simply: if the Kingdom is something that should be present, do we have a role in bringing about Kingdom-blessings in our time? Are Kingdom-works in our time only God’s, not ours? Have our present hosts, the people’s organizations, gone astray in working hard to re-invent our planet and our history? Are the movements and organizing efforts by the poor themselves towards awareness building and empowerment off the mark? Fortunately, even while sophisticated theologians agonize over the question, the First Look answer is unconvoluted and clear: Jesus mandated his followers to proclaim the Kingdom in word and action.

Healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, casting out demons were the typical Kingdom-works in the time of Jesus. And the disciples of Jesus were told to perform the same works. From hence come our mandate, inspiration and motivation.

It may be that the future definitive Kingdom of the end-time will be brought about only by God. But no matter. As for the Kingdom today there can be no question: Kingdom-works are a task and a responsibility of today’s disciples of Jesus.

Our signposts are to be considered mission texts—missioning of disciples. Note that this is a missioning given by Jesus during his lifetime, before his death and resurrection. This missioning to proclaim the Kingdom is different from another missioning of disciples, given after his death and resurrection, which has to do with baptizing and teaching. 49

Task and Goal. Is the Kingdom a task or a goal? It is both. Jesus speaks of it sometimes as goal. At other times, as a task.

Jesus speaks of the Kingdom as a goal or reward or inheritance to be attained:

The Kingdom of God is, as we have just seen, also spoken of in terms of Kingdom-works to be performed today: It is something to be busy about.50

Our Kingdom-Works Today. What form or shape should our Kingdom-works take today? Obviously our Kingdom-works today cannot be a photocopy of Jesus’ in his time. Of course, if we too can make the blind see, the lame walk, let this be one form of our Kingdom-practice. But our Kingdom-practice need not and cannot be limited to this. Nor can it be exactly the same as Jesus’ Kingdom-practice. Why not? Because he was God and we are not? No. Because he could perform miracles and we cannot? No. Rather, it is because we live in a different historical context from that of Jesus and we have different historical challenges. But one thing we do have in common with Jesus and the First Look: the concern for total life and well-being (not just divine life for the soul) for the human (not just soul), and for creation.

Serious Analysis of the Social System. Thus, like our present hosts, we need to seriously scrutinize the signs of our own times (Cf. Mt 16:3). For this we need the help of contemporary tools, foremost among which is social analysis. The patient is seriously sick. Flowers and smiles are not enough. A battery of hi-tech medical diagnostic tools is indispensable. Large doses of good will, shiploads of flowers and smiles may turn to bitter regret, when in the end, all they did was to make the patient’s certain death somewhat comfortable!

We need to discover the structures and systems—including culture—that undergird society. All this, together with a good measure of the biblical checed (compassion), are indispensable components for pastoral work, catechesis, theology and spirituality today.

The HIV of the World. What is the illness? At the time of writing, and perhaps for some time to come, the diagnosis points to a world-wide disease that goes by the name ‘globalization.’ Pope John Paul II, in a visit to Mexico, "attacked free-market policies for their neglect of the poor and their ‘purely economic conception of man (sic).’ He blamed globalization for the growing gap between rich and poor,’’ —so runs an editorial of even a widely-circulated First World newspaper. 51

The HIV-like virus of globalization is deceptive and treacherous because it seems to carry a blessing. It globalizes information which has become instantaneous, massive and worldwide. But it is deadly because it also globalizes the exploitation and destruction of human beings and nature. It is a tenacious parasite-like virus because a few millionaires in the world live by it, make profit by it and swear by it.

The heart of this virus, as I understand it, is this: capitalist enterprises—transnational corporations with the inter-active partnership of the IMF,52 World Bank and the WTO 53—extract mega-profits from the peoples of the globe and from the resources of nature.

What Globalization Does to Humankind and Nature. Here are some of the visible effects of globalization:

• The already all too familiar growing gap between the rich and poor people, rich and poor nations is widening.

• The workers are experiencing unemployment, job insecurity, loss of benefits, contractualization, the destruction of unions.

• The farmers lose their lands in favor of industrial sites, golf courses, recreational facilities for the rich. They have to compete with the products of rich countries, not to mention problems that chemical fertilizers and pesticides bring to them.

• The ordinary fisherfolk may no longer get food from the seas which have now been taken over by sophisticated trawling ships.

• Women, especially working women, experience intensification of their manifold exploitation.

• Indigenous peoples’ right to ancestral lands is undermined by the incursion of multinational plantations, mining and logging enterprises.

• Environment, where profit has prime priority, is among the prime victims of globalization. The deadly effects include climate change, ozone depletion, air and water pollution, ocean resource depletion and pollution, deforestation, extinction of species and cold-blooded genetic manipulation.

• Human rights are sidelined. The priority given to the business interests abets violations of people’s rights—economic, social, cultural, political and civil.

• States and governments are subjected to the dictates of transnational business. Legislation, even constitutions, are changed to promote the gains of these businesses.

In Touch with the Source

Twenty Four Hours with Jesus. Let us keep Jesus company for twenty four hours. Was it all work? All action? Did he not burn himself out? Whence the energy? Did he immerse in the Fountainhead and soak up the waters of compassion? Whence the clarity of vision? The sense of purpose? The gospel accounts suggest where to look: Jesus’ intimate communion with his Father, his ‘abba.’

After First Day of Work, Dawn-Solitude. Mark recounts Jesus’ first day of work – a typical day really (Mk 1:14-34). After this hectic day—the call of the first disciples, the teaching and exorcising in the synagogue, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, healing and exorcising at sundown (Mk 1:16-34)—Mark reports that:

After a Frenzied Day. Remember the time when Jesus and his disciples were going to a secluded place for rest, how there were so many people ‘coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat,’ how Jesus and the disciples attempted an escape by boat, how people spotted them and ran on foot ahead of them to the place where they were sailing, how he steps off the boat, and out of compassion, teaches and feeds them? What follows this frenzied day? Mark says:

Let us just guess. Why, he is doing nothing! No words. No thinking. Just centered. Just aware. Just connected.

Our guess is as good as any. There are at least two persuasive pieces of evidence. One, when Jesus taught prayer, his counsel was not to use many words (Mt 6:7). Two, it is difficult to conceive a night-long prayer other than a prayer of silent communion. A third possible reason, a shot in the dark, is that Jesus was not too far from the Asia of silent meditation. In that Asia, you learn to be in touch with the Source in a non-verbal and non-cerebral way.

Was It? Did He? Was it during these nights, in the innermost chamber of his being, that he ‘knew’ that ‘I and the Father are one’? Was he in touch with the Source from which the wise man draws out treasures old and new? Did he plumb the underground Springs that connect with the vast ocean of existence? Did he make contact there with the volcanic fire that burns up the ego and ignites the lips, frozen in terror, to say: ‘let this cup pass from me … yet not what my ego desires …’?

The Jesus Follower. Can the Jesus-follower do less than make his own Kingdom-spirituality a chemistry of deed and contemplation, action and silence? 54

The Flame. At this juncture, one of our activist-hosts shares her experience and understanding of Asian meditation:

The ‘essence’ of Asian meditation, as I understand it, she says, is awareness. One is aware. One who is in meditation has gone beyond thinking. Awareness is not thinking. One has a surface ‘me’ that thinks. One’s deepest self is simply aware. Like a candle that is lit, it is simply aflame. The flame does not pass judgment. It does not engage in reflection. It does not analyze. It does not talk. It just shines. It shines on anything it falls on. Awareness does not think. It is simply aware—of anything, of itself, of the breath, of the sounds, of the feel of things, of one’s thoughts even, of one’s feelings. That flame is really the Christ in me. Its native language is silence. The only ‘utterance’ it knows is ‘Abba.’ And it utters ‘Abba’ without words. In silence, therefore. For it utters it in language too deep for human words. Paul describes this:

In meditation one has gone beyond the noise of the mind. One has moved into the stillness of awareness. Pure consciousness, which is our deepest and most real self, brings gifts that transcend all expectations.

Jesus and Us.

It is evident from the gospels that this unique person, Jesus, felt within himself certain real powers to destroy evil in the lives of people: the sick, suffering and possessed. He felt the power of God’s Spirit (ruah)—God’s breath, life, energy—within him, a power which no doubt sprang from a deep silent communion with his Father. He healed. He cast out demons. He announced a program of far-reaching liberation. He saw in these actions and blessings tangible presences (not just ‘signs’) of the Reign of God. The question for us, Jesus-followers today, is whether the new world, its justice and life, is felt and experienced through our contemplation and deeds. That new world would include the self-determination of the poor and the creating of alternatives to globalization. The Kingdom of God is not just something to wait for. It is something to be busy about today.

Be Still and Know …