Stopover 13

    Under a Tree, Beneath Clear Skies

    (A Catechetical Pause)

    Looking Back

    A Pause. Our roadsigns thus far have been pointing to some answers to only two principal questions: ‘What was the mission of Jesus?’ and ‘What is the Reign-Kingdom of God?’ But since we have gathered a good bit of lore, we pause for some possibly useful summary and inventory. Let us then, just by ourselves, have a catechetical pause.

    What was the mission of Jesus? What was the life-purpose of this person?

    In the earlier phase of his life, initially, originally, Jesus’ mission was the proclamation of the Reign-Kingdom of God.

    What is the Reign-Kingdom of God?

    It is a new world, new history, new humankind.

      Isaiah and Jesus have the following indicators for it:

      good news of God’s Reign-Kingdom

      blind see

      lame walk

      deaf hear

      lepers are cleansed

      dead are raised

      good tidings of liberation and justice to the poor and oppressed

      poor rejoice

      liberty to captives

      freedom to the oppressed

      the year of the Lord’s favor or the final jubilee year

      someone anointed by God’s Spirit who will:

      announce good news to the poor

      establish justice on the earth

      The beatitudes picture it in terms of:

        justice and liberation for the poor and oppressed

        food, rice for the hungry poor

        laughter and joy for the sorrowing poor

        earth, land for the meek

        experiencing mercy

        seeing God

        being sons and daughters of God

      It is sitting at table, eating, drinking, meal, feast, banquet, bread, rice.

      It is resurrection of the dead.

      It is the destruction of Satan and satanic forces.

      It is a new heaven and a new earth: new universe, new world, new creation in which justice dwells.

      It is a new history for humankind, an ‘age-to-come.’

      As a future reality, it will be realized at the end-time.

      As a present reality in Jesus’ time, it took the form of life-giving blessings through Jesus’ actions.

      A preeminent blessing in it is justice and liberation (good news to the poor).

    What are some inadequate or mistaken understandings of Reign-Kingdom of God?
      It is heaven above where souls see God face to face after death.

      It is the Reign of God in human hearts as a purely interior reality.

      It begins on the cross, that is, the Reign-Kingdom of God is realized when Christ atones on the cross for the sins of humankind.

      It is Jesus himself.

    If the Reign-Kingdom of God and the cross are not identical, are they related? How?
      Yes. Briefly, Jesus’ death is a consequence of the Reign-Kingdom proclamation.
    In a Nutshell. Final-and-definitive salvation for the first century Jews and for Jesus was not the heaven of average Christian theology today with its connotations of beatific vision for souls. Rather, salvation for them was a new world, where, under God’s Reign, a new humankind, individually and collectively, will experience a new history.

    The features of this final-and-definitive salvation include: total well-being for people, a transformed earth, a new capital city, victory over death through resurrection, banquet, justice, comfort and joy for the ´anawim (=poor and oppressed), the vision of God, divine filiation, the destruction of all evils, God dwelling among the people.

    As a future reality, it will be realized on the last day of history. It was already present in Jesus’ time in his actions which promoted life-blessings for people and justice to the poor.

    It is present in our time through the actions of people who produce life-blessings for our troubled world.

    Historical, Social, Individual. Jesus had a historical and societal purview, for the Reign-Kingdom of God really was a new world and a new history. Jesus was in the line of the Hebrew-Jewish tradition for whom salvation had a historical, social and individual character. Historical, because this tradition saw salvation as a new history. Social, because the blessings—peace, justice, joy, health—are not just for individuals but for society, humankind and the world. And individual, because salvation was for the individual too.
     

    Be Still and Know …