Not Far from the Kingdom of God

                                       "When Jesus saw how sensibly he answered, he said to him, 'You are not far from the Kingdom of God'" (Mark,12:34).
                                          The context of this solemn announcement of Jesus was provided by a lawyer who asked Jesus: "Which commandment is first of all?' (Mark 12:28). The lawyer acknowledged wholeheartedly the answer given by Jesus: "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is the only Lord; love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength'. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself' (Mark, 12: 29-31). After endorsing what Jesus said, the lawyer added something that elicited the remark of Jesus why he was not far from the Kingdom of God. Loving God and our neighbor - said the lawyer, " ...that is far more than any burnt offerings or sacrifices" (Mark, 12:33). Jesus was certainly pleased that the lawyer really understood the word of God as it was meant to be understood!
                                          Who are the people who are far away from the Kingdom of God? Here we are concerned with only those people who are within the ambit of the Word of God. The others should be satisfied with parables without explanation as it is their lot not to understand higher things. The parable of the sower of seeds (Matthew, 13:4-8) illustrates how the hearers of the word of God stand with regard to the Kingdom of God. There are three types of people who hear the word of God and yet are far from the Kingdom of God.
1. Those who hear the word of the Kingdom without understanding it. Here, understanding is not the result of human scholarship or ingenuity, but an insight coming from internal illumination from God Himself. Education and scholarship may pave the way for preparing our hearts and yet may hinder us from the right understanding, if our hearts are not purified. Even illiterate and uneducated people are eligible for this internal illumination, if they purify their hearts for the same. These are the seeds that fall on the foot path and evil forces carry them away like birds eating up the stray seeds.
2. Those who accept the word of the Kingdom with joy, but has no staying power to sustain it. These are the seeds that fall on the rocky ground where there is little soil and the seeds sprout quickly because it had no depth of earth. However, when the sun rose the sprouting seed was scorched and it withered away as it had no roots. Similar is the case with the person who accepts the word with joy and without the root of perseverance in the face of trouble or persecution because of the word and he falls away at once.
3. Those whose worldly cares and false glamour of wealth choking the word of the Kingdom of God. These are the seeds that fall among thistles and the thistles shoot up and choke the seeds. The word of the Kingdom proves barren in these people because their worldly cares and attachment to wealth, fame, honor, power, position etc. tend to choke the word.
                                       All of these three types of people are far from the Kingdom of God. Who are the lucky ones who are near the Kingdom of God? These are the seeds that fall into good soil producing fruits hundred fold or sixty fold or thirty fold. We see from the Gospels that the disciples of Jesus were close to the Kingdom of God. There are different degrees of discipleship and accordingly various levels of closeness to the Kingdom of God  Most of the people are far from the Kingdom of God because of their undue attachments in the world arising out of love for money, power, position, honor, fame etc. They thereby forfeit their birthright to perfect happiness that is the hall-mark of the Kingdom of God.
                                       The solution to this problem need not lie in running away from the world, but in realigning ourselves internally through detachment from our false attachments. How can we be detached from the poisonous elements of undue attachments in our worldly involvements? We have the example of two secret disciples of Jesus in the Gospels: Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea. Both of them were rich, influential, members of the Jewish religious governing council and waiting for the Kingdom of God to arrive. This latter qualification enabled them to seek out ways and means to enter into the Kingdom of God even while they were fully involved in the world. They did not unnecessarily antagonize the Jewish authorities by publicly siding with Jesus and yet sought him out in private and defended him in public when and where it mattered most. At the same time, they were not averse to losing their power and position by defending Jesus on occasions.and disagreeing with the authorities in condemning him. Above all, they were the only two people to bury the body of Jesus in the tomb, disregarding any human authority in doing what was right,even as his own official disciples ran away!        

Fresh Skins for New Wine!

                                            "No one puts new wine into old wine-skins: if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and then wine and skins are both lost. Fresh skins for new wine!" (Mark, 2:22).
                                              It is a question of compatibility even in religious attitudes. Those who want to follow the letter of the law ignoring its spirit does not do any service to the law itself! They completely misunderstand the law and sometimes reach conclusions even contrary to the intent of the lawgiver. Similarly, when a new reality like the Kingdom of God is introduced by Jesus, strict law-keepers like the Pharisees among the Jews tend to misunderstand it. It is not that that they had never heard of the Kingdom of God or God's Sovereignty over everything. They were stuck with the old wine-skins of human traditions for the new wine of insight into the working of God's Kingdom offered by Jesus.
                                              Jesus stressed on the importance of interior attitude over and above the external observances of religion. It is not that these observances are completely superfluous and meaningless, but that they should be conducive to fostering and developing the all-important interior attitudes of love, joy, peace, humility, service etc. In cases where the combination of the two is not possible, the interior has the right of way over the exterior, especially because the former is going to produce new and vigorous exterior attitudes.
                                              There are many examples of this new attitude throughout the Bible. However, Jesus was not against the application of laws with social consequences as is seen in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, verses 40-45. Jesus insisted that the leper who was cleansed by him go to the priest and make the offering laid down by Moses for his cleansing. It was for the sake of certifying his cure so that he may be freely accepted in the community implying that the law was for his own benefit. However, when it comes to the real internal life of a person, the externals are of secondary importance as is seen from instances where Jesus severely criticized the Pharisees of his day. They failed to capture the import of laws as well as practices for spiritual growth of a person. They preferred to store new wine in old skins and needed urgent correction from someone who was above even the laws and religious practices!
                                               Jesus took upon himself the task of correcting the errant ways of blind guides knowing very well the consequences of his actions. The most glaring irritants were connected with the breaking of the law of Sabbath instituted by God Himself. How could Jesus justify his actions in this matter that persuaded the Pharisees to declare that he could not have come from God?  The justification of those actions of breaking the law of Sabbath could be summed up thus: The enforcers of the law deviated from the spirit of the law and imposed on people restrictions never meant to be part of the law. God instituted the law of Sabbath for the good of the people so that they may be helped to enter into the rest of God Himself. For, the Sabbath was meant to be a day of rest for inculcating in oneself spiritual bliss, peace and love. This was never attained by their practices at the time of Jesus.
                                                 Jesus boldly criticized the human tendency to pay lip service keeping our hearts far from God. "You neglect the commandment of God, in order to maintain the tradition of men" (Mark,7:8). Fresh skins (attitudes) are required to keep the new wine of observing the Sabbath meaningfully, praying always but fasting on appointed time, forgiving sinners, dining with them and the marginalized, keeping the hearts clean over and above the ritual cleansing etc. These are the signs of the arrival of God's Kingdom on earth to be completed and fulfilled in eternity. The observations of Jesus regarding the religious practices of his times  are equally applicable to all of our practices in the name of religion. In this context, it is worthwhile to ponder over the recent judgment of the Supreme Court of India distinguishing between the religious faith and religious practices. While the Court upheld the constitutional right of everyone to profess, practice and propagate one's own faith as a requirement of the nature of secularism, it severely criticized the tendency of some to advocate any practice in the name of religion as legitimate. Whatever goes against the spirit of religion, morality, social order etc. cannot be tolerated as genuine even if it is in the name of one's own faith or religion, the Court admonished.