Adapted from “Blue Sky God: The Evolution of Science and Christianity”
by Don MacGregor
The dominant theme in Jesus’ teaching as we have it in the gospels is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. There is no indication in the gospels that he intended to start a new religion, but rather to bring a message that would help people on their spiritual path within the Jewish tradition into the awareness of the God of love. Jesus said the kingdom was near, among them and within them (Mark 1:15, Matthew 3:2, Luke 17:21). Jesus used many parables to describe the kingdom to his followers, to convey the radical notion of the way God wanted the world to be. These parables were to be chewed over, to extract the nourishment like a cow chewing the cud. (See Matthew chapter 13 for many of them.)
His teaching invites two elementary questions. Is the kingdom for now, have we somehow got it already, or is it a state of heaven to come? Secondly, is it something within us, or is it something between and amongst us? Luke’s gospel implies it is both among and within us (Luke 17:21). The understanding of God as the compassionate consciousness undergirding everything can help us with these questions. God is both within and among us, sustaining us. The idea that God is “among us” is the concept of a corporately shared experience of God, a unity that we can enter into. Being “in the kingdom” is akin to the state of unitive consciousness, an experience in which we have the potential to share. The kingdom then lies both within and among us, it is “both-and” rather than “either-or”. It is also both now and not-yet, as we have the potential to live the kingdom way, but not yet the level of enlightenment needed. We have been given, in Jesus, the example of the kingdom way of living now, and we are given a hope for its fullness in the future.
Jesus demonstrated this kingdom in action, to make people think about what it really means to live God’s way. Sadly, in the Church, we have lost some of the impact of that message. It is, more than anything, a way of being which leads to a way of doing. The way of being has to be firmly established, the way of compassion. In this understanding, being “in the kingdom” means being aware of being held in the consciousness of God, connected to the ground of being.
This kingdom is not just within, it is worked out in the world as well. It has both individual and social dimensions. Jesus lived in a culture dominated by “kingship” or “emperor-ship”. All the trappings of power and glory went with the role. Royal power was exclusive, oppressive and class-distinctive. Jesus turned his back on this world of power and privilege, and often sought to undermine its meaning. He offered a counter-cultural view: a new world order marked by relationships of justice, love, peace and liberation. This is what the kingdom of God is about, and it stems from seeing everything as an interconnected whole, imbued with divine presence.
Jesus openly challenged the religious authorities over their nit-picking laws, ignored prevailing taboos, disregarded solemn religious regulations, and included everyone in his offer of life. This new way, the kingdom of God, was for all. The same attitude seems to have prevailed in the early Christian communities, with mutual service and support, sharing of property, diversity of gifts, inclusion of the marginalized and oppressed (Acts 4:32-34), with room for many different shades of opinion and ways of being Christian.
As Christianity grew and expanded, priorities became blurred. The rise of the Church as an institution, after its acceptance by the Roman Empire as the state religion, meant rules and regulations, power struggles, male dominance, creeds and councils to decide who was in and who was out. Oppression and suppression was for those who were not “in”, bringing accusations of heresy, trials, burnings, corruption, division, denominations and everything that is wrong with the Church. This was a long way from the Galilean prophet, mystic and wisdom teacher who washed the road-worn feet of others, who shared bread with tax-collectors and sinners, who cherished the company and giftedness of women and who denounced the religious leaders of the day as white washed tombs, clean on the outside, rotten on the inside.
Many Christians today yearn afresh for Jesus’ radical view of the kingdom of God. Christendom established a sacred tradition, but one which has become out of step with our culture and, as many believe, has become parted from the original teachings of Jesus and is in decline and disintegration in the West. This confronts the Christian community with some vital and fundamental questions of meaning. The teachings of Jesus, the heart message of the bible, the core values of love, mercy, and justice are all highly relevant, but they get lost in the middle of all the “churchiness” of church.
Perhaps existing congregations would be revitalized if the simple message of Jesus was taught more comprehensively. The kingdom of God was Jesus’ shorthand for the whole message. There are many different ways of expressing it. You are beginning to enter the kingdom when:
- you transform your mind;
- you come close to God;
- you love your neighbour;
- you feel compassion for the world;
- you can forgive those who hurt you.
Then you are entering God’s kingdom, which means:
- you are being changed, transformed, refined, purified;
- you are moving up onto God’s resonant frequency;
- you are beginning to fulfil the God-given potential that you have as a human being;
- you are recognising the Christ within you.
We can get lost in doctrinal arguments, as many do, over baptism, or ordination of women, divorce or homosexuality, but the main message of Jesus was not to talk about the Way, but to live it out – to live out a life motivated by compassionate consciousness. His message was not about being moral upstanding people living a good life, but to be compassionate people, full of life and light, giving energy and life to others. Morality should emerge from compassion or it can become judgementalism.
Christianity has grown to become a bit of a beast, the rolling stone that has accumulated so much moss that it has become unrecognisable at times. At one level, it is so very simple, to love fully and deeply. The Church has, in working out its theology over two millennia, made it very complicated. Jesus’ message was about a way of life that leads us into a kingdom way of living, which helps us to progress spiritually. When Jesus talked of the kingdom of God, he was talking, in the Jewish terms of the day, of a higher or deeper plane of consciousness from which we need to operate if we are to bring about a world of love, peace and harmony. This unitive consciousness is an awareness of the interconnectedness of all, sustained in the ground of being, the consciousness of God. The transition to this is the global shift which the world is currently going through, where old ways are dying, and a new way is being is becoming anchored in the consciousness of humanity. It is the way of compassion, cooperation and coexistence with all living creatures. It is a way of living in harmony with the planet. It is an evolutionary way of moving to a new level of consciousness for the human race. It is the kingdom or wisdom way, the way of Christ.