TH E PROVOKING PROPOSAL OF JESUS C C C CONVIVIUMPRESS C C C C C C C C CO V IV IU M PRESS. CO M JesusofNaza re th isa pa trimon y of huma ni ty ,a mo tiv e fo rc e be hi nd a newwayof li vin g the exp eri ence ofGod,ofhumanrelatio nshi ps andof reb uildingtheworld. In first centu ry Je wish soc ietyand,morespecific ally , in the Galilee of the ’s the re was no pr oper separation be- twe en the dif fer ent aspe cts of lif e —re ligi ous, pol iti cal and econo mic — whi ch we tod ay mak e with out giv ing it much thought. Even the conce pt of «religion» does not exist. Everything is int ertwined and implicit. What w e tod ay cal l «th e rel igi ous dimens ion » is pre sent in ev erything .It legi timize s, gui des and infl uen ce s a part icu lar way of understanding life and organizing r elationships. From this point of view it is anachronistic to co nsider Jesus as the foun de r of a ne wre li gio n.It ismor e accu rat etosee inhim a ma n who ha vin g hada ne w ex pe rie nc e ofGod , launches an und ers tan ding anda movement to revitali ze life. Jesus is not a Je wis h scribe,norishea pri es t of the T emple . Itis not hi s in te nt ion to teach a re li gio us doctrine,ex- pou nd the la w of God ,orev olv e the ories abo ut the di vin ity . Pr ope rly spe aki ng Jesus doe s no t tea ch a do ctri ne for hisdisc iples to learncorre ctl y and spr ead. Je susanno unc es an ev en t tha t re qu iresit be hea rd andresponde d to be- causeit canchan ge ev eryth ing . He is alr ead y ex per ienci ng it and in vit es ev ery on e to sha re tha t ex per ience: Godis en te ring hu man his to ry . It’s the best thi ng tha t co uld hap pen to us.«The Kin gd omofGo d is at ha nd . Change yourwayofthinkingandbelievetheGoodNews»(Mark :). Re sea rc her sno w thin k thatwhat Je suscalls «th e kin gdo m of God »is theheart of hismessag e,the pas sion thatin- spi redall his lif e,the reasonfor whichhewasexecuted.And,natura lly , thi s «ki ngd om of God » is nota religi on.It goesmu ch be yo nd the be li ef s,pre ce ptsand ri tualsof an y re li gi on .It is a ne w ex pe rience of God whic h re de fin es everythi ng ina di ff er ent wa y . If a ne w re li gi on isborn of Je sus,as in fact hap pened,it wil l ha ve to be a re ligion at theserv ic e of thepro je ctof Jesus fo r thewor ld,thatis,at theserv ice of theKin gd omof Go d. The surpris ing thi ng is tha t Jesus ne ve r ex pl ai ne d in wha t theKin gd om of God cons is ts.Whathe does is su gg es t inpoeticlang ua gehowGod wo rks and what thewor ld wo ul d be li keif there we repeop le who acted li kehim.W e ca n sa y th e «K in gd om of Go d» is li fe asGo d wa nts to fo rm it . What wo ul d li fe in the empi re be li ke,if Go d not Ti beri us we re to reigninRome?Whatwouldlife be lik e in Galile e,if Godnot He rodAnti pasreign ed in Tiberias? Wh at wou ld lif e be lik e forthe Je wishpeopl e,if theT emp le inJe rusa lemwereruled by Godnot Cai pha s? For Jesus, the Kingdom of God is the fundamental absolute value which relativizes and relegates to its proper place eve rything else: laws, traditi ons, religions and cultures. W e can say that Jesus sought one thing only: that the re should be onea rth men and women who wo ul d be ginto act as God act s.It wa s hi s ob se ss ion: what wo ul d life be like, if people re se mb le d God more? Ho w would ev eryt hi ng be tra ns fo rmed if the sc rib es who ex pound theLaw, thelando wners of Gal ile e,the leg ates of Ro me were toact as Godwants ? PA G E01LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 6 REGISTER TODAY A T WWW.CONVIVIUMPRESS.COM AND RECEIVE OUR LATEST PRESS RELEASES, VIDEOS AND LETTERS FROM THE EDITOR FollowingintheFootstepsofJesusMeditationsontheGospelsforYearA JAP----Jesus. An HistoricalA pproximation JAP----A
