"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!
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!
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