5. Jesus Proclaims a Good News

John: I told you this story in such detail because it explains in very clear language the heart of the good news Jesus preached.  We often think that the world is a bad place to live, and wish to escape to a wonder world of joy and peace. We find fault with everything around us, and judge everybody around us with our petty standards of right and wrong. We even blame God for keeping the world in such a bad condition.  

Ananda: That is why the people of Jesus’ world were seeking the rule of God. They assumed that God was no more in power.

John: True. The good news of Jesus about the world is this:  The world is really the good creation of the good God, and there is nothing wrong with it. We find fault with it because we don’t know how it works. The younger son left his home because he couldn't live there peacefully. He thought that there was something basically wrong with his home, and being its manager, his father was to blame for it. He might have tried his best to change his father and his home. When he found that he couldn’t do it, his solution was to escape from there.  Later, he realized that there was nothing wrong with his home, and that it was the best place he could think of. The same home, which was a hell for him, became a heaven for him. His home didn’t change, nor did his father, but he changed. Isn’t it good news? We can transform this hell-like world into a heaven-like one by a very simple method. We need not try to change the world, nor do we need to change God. It is our understanding that needs a change.  

This is what Jesus meant by Kingdom of God. Anyone can attain the kingdom of God here and now just by realizing the truth.

I have recorded an interesting incident in my book. Once a Jewish religious leader called Nicodemus visited Jesus and asked him what he should do to enter the kingdom of God. He expected Jesus to say that one should follow all the religious rules and do good deeds. So the reply of Jesus was surprising to him. Jesus said:  No one can see the kingdom of God unless s/he is born again. The same hell-like world becomes the kingdom of God, full of joy and peace, when our understanding changes. It will be a radical change, a new birth.  

In our religious tradition, the word heaven often substituted the word God. Hence the terms "Kingdom of God," and "Kingdom of Heaven," were used interchangeably by Jesus in the same sense. The kingdom of God was an ever-present reality for Jesus. It was not a different political system which was going to be established in the future, nor was it a world up in the sky.

We all enter the world as children, utterly ignorant of everything. As we grow older, we slowly become aware of the nature and mechanism of the world. Until we are able to see the world from God’s perspective, it will appear a hell to any of us. Therefore, I would say that there is nothing unusual about people thinking that the world is a bad place. But the world is a good place in the eyes of God in spite of all the mistakes we do due to our ignorance.  

We all love children, don’t we?  We watch them run around and do whatever their little brains can conceive. They live in a tiny little world of their own, with their little problems, worries and fears. They have a sense of morality, much different from that of the adults. We watch with amusement how they apply their little morality in their day-to-day life. Have you observed children fighting with one another on some silly matters? The very next minute they forget everything and become friends again. We, adults, do not interfere or pass judgments on their actions unless it is essential, because we live in a different world with a different sense of morality. We, human beings, are like little children in the sight of God. We live in our little world with our own little problems, worries and hopes. God watches us with amusement to see how we manage to live in our little world with our little sense of morality. In spite of whatever we are and whatever we do, God loves us unconditionally. We are all lovable little kids for God, and the world is a lovable place. We are placed here to learn from our experiences and grow.

Our life is a journey that begins in total ignorance. We stumble whenever we take a new step. We learn through our mistakes. Sins are mistakes. All humans are sinners in the sense that all humans do mistakes. Only God is sinless, for God, who is all-knowing, doesn’t do any mistakes. Sin in this sense is natural for all humans. It is human to err.

Suppose I have a one-year old child who learns to walk. She makes her first attempt to walk, and stumbles. What will be my reaction?  I will be exuberant to see that she made an attempt to walk. I do not expect her to walk perfectly at the first attempt. If she does, I would consider it abnormal. After falling down, she would look at my face to see how I react. She herself is upset about her failure, and my job is to console her and to encourage her to make another attempt. If she finds me upset about her failure, she would not want to make another attempt.  

We are all little children before God making an effort to live meaningfully and successfully. God and all the angels in heaven would be excited to see us making each new step. When we fall, or do a sin, God would never become upset about it. This is the kind of God Jesus taught about. It is a God who wants all people to grow and be successful in life. He does not count our mistakes, or punish us for them.  

If we equate God to a foolish parent who gets upset about our sins, we would never attempt to grow. Fear of falling keeps us from making any new attempt. This is the way the Jewish teachers believed about God. They kept themselves "righteous" by making no effort to grow. Jesus called them blind, for they did not know the truth about God.  

I remember, once when someone addressed Jesus as good Lord, he replied, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God." It implies that all humans do sins. He also used to say, "Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect," by which he meant that we need to grow until we attain the goodness of God.  

An interesting incident comes to my mind now, and I have given a summary of that in my book. One day some religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus. They claimed that she was caught in adultery, and so, she should be stoned to death according to the traditional rules. They probably wanted Jesus to cast the first stone. But Jesus asserted that only a sinless person has the right to punish a sinner. "Let the one among you who hasn't committed any sin cast the first stone," Jesus said. There was no one to do that. Jesus made it clear that only God has the right to judge because only God is good, and only God knows everything. Though God has the right to judge, he doesn't judge; he only loves without any condition.

Thus, in Jesus’ view, all are naturally sinners, and only God is good.  God expects us to gain wisdom, and grow day after day. Each of our attempts to take a new step makes God happy. Like a loving, wise parent, God does not get upset about our mistakes, but consoles us and encourages us to make further attempts. God is really upset about the people who misunderstand God to be a foolish parent, and refuse to make any effort to grow for fear of making mistakes. However, God loves them, too, and wants them to know the truth about God and about themselves.

In the story of the father and the two sons, which I said earlier, the elder son kept himself righteous by making no effort to grow, and his father was upset about him. The younger one made an attempt to grow. Though he did mistakes, he grew to be a mature person, which made his father very happy. Once Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and it will make you free."  We need to realize the truth that we are all basically good people living in the good world of the good God, and God’s love for us is unconditional. It will radically alter our perspective, and we will experience heaven on earth.

Through the story of the father and the two sons, Jesus cleared certain issues people were raising about the kingdom of God. It was widely believed in those days that the world is under the rule of Satan, and so we are helpless, and all that we can do is to plead God to replace Satan with someone who obeys God. In the story, the cruel master represents Satan. The younger son is treated cruelly by him. But Jesus made it clear that he had the freedom to leave his cruel master, for the master had not kept him in captivity. Similarly although Satan might be ruling the world, we are not in captivity, and so we have the freedom to leave Satan and return to the home of our heavenly father. God is already ruling the world, and it is up to us to leave the rule of Satan and accept the rule of God.  So we are not supposed to be helplessly crying to deliver us from the rule of Satan, we are supposed to take the bold step of leaving the rule of Satan. It is our responsibility to make the kingdom of God a reality in our lives.   

Ananda: This is really a wonderful idea. Now, let me briefly explain how I understand it. The good news of Jesus consists of three parts: The good news about God, world, and humankind. The good news about God is this: God is a being who understands us perfectly well, and who loves us without any condition at all. The good news about the world is this: It is the good creation of the good God, and there is nothing wrong or bad about it. The good news about the humankind is this: As a part of the world, we are good, and there is nothing wrong or bad with us either. Although we all do mistakes out of our ignorance, we have the potential to grow and and learn. We are the children of God, growing to maturity.

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