12.1
God's Reign through the Christ of Harmony
The history of God's salvation work of restoring harmony in Christ begins at
the very moment when disharmony was introduced into the world of God's creation
(Gen 3:14-15). The flood which was the sign of disharmony with its devastating
consequences was itself a purifying process. Through it God wanted to restore
the primeval harmony of his creation: "As long as the earth lasts, sowing
and reaping, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall cease no
more" (Gen 8:22). Furthermore, God established his covenant with Noah and
his descendants, and "also with every living creature... birds, cattle and
every wild beast" (Gen 9:9-10). The covenant with Noah, with the rainbow
as its emblem, indicates God's intention to restore harmony to the whole of
creation.
Restoration of harmony in Christ was to be prepared and fulfilled through the history of a people of God. God's covenant with Abraham -- the sign of which was circumcision -- though embracing only his descendants (Gen 17:1-14), was in view of blessing all the families of the earth (Gen 12:3). The Exodus event and God's covenant with Moses, with the accompanying obligation of fidelity to the Lord (Ex 19:5; 24:7-8), though confined to Israel, was a preparation and paradigm for the liberation of the whole of humankind from sin and its restoration to harmony. Though God's covenant with David, with the promise to establish his kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:8-16), had immediate reference to one nation, it was a promise of the kingdom of peace and harmony for all the nations.
The prophets denounced the violation of the stipulations of the covenant and constantly called the people to fidelity to the covenant relationship. The prophetic movement in Israel reached its climax in the announcement of the New Covenant, as expressed in Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer 31:31-34; Ez 36:26-28), which was to be established through the Messiah, the Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace (Is 9:6-7; 11: 1-9).
God's work of restoring harmony finds its fulfillment in Christ. The New Testament presents itself in its different aspects.
At the beginning of his ministry Jesus announced: "The reign of God is at hand" (Mk 1: 15; see Mt 4:17; 20:7; Lk 4:43; 10:9); and in a controversy with the scribes and Pharisees he declared: "The reign of God has come upon you" (Mt 12:28; Lk 8:20). This reign is not only God's rule as the Creator (Ps 93; 104; Mt 5:54; 1:25; Lk 10:21), getting creatures to interact harmoniously even in a world spoiled by sin, and orchestrating the cultures and religions of the human race so that they would move towards harmony in spite of divisive and corruptive elements. It is even more than God's governance as Savior of Israel (Ex 15:18; Ps 47; Is 51:52). It is the salvation that God brought to the whole human race and the cosmos by sending his Son into the world. For "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die, but may have eternal life" (In 3:16), with which perfect harmony is concomitant.
The historical coming of Jesus Christ born of a woman (Gal 4:4; Jn 1: 114) is, for the New Testament, the salvific event that fulfilled the Old Testament expectation of God's reign, ushering in a better harmony among people and in the cosmos. Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament expectation of the coming reign of God by being the person of harmony through whose ministry God saves the whole human race and the entire cosmos.
The reign of God has come upon us through the Christ of harmony. Through his ministry of preaching the Good News, as well as by his calling for repentance, through his exorcisms of Satan and his healing of the sick and his pardoning of sins, through his parables that conveyed his wisdom to those whose hearts had already been touched by it, but took away understanding from those who had never learned to listen and obey (see Mt 13:1213; Mk 4:11; Lk 8:10), through his prophetic denunciations as well as his personal witness of compassion and love, he exemplified the harmony brought by the reign of God.
The mystery of Jesus, of the reign of God, of harmony, became operative in the life of the whole human race and in the order and workings of the cosmos, especially through the paschal events of his passion, death, resurrection and glorification. By these events Jesus brought judgment upon the world, cast out Satan and drew all human beings to himself Jn 12:31-32), so that they would walk in harmony towards the eschatological coming and transcendent destination of God's reign.
The reign of God was already present and operating in the person of Jesus during his earthly ministry and is now even more present, because through his glorification he now exercises the power to encompass all time and space and every nation on earth and share his Holy Spirit with his disciples (see Jn 20:22-23; Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15-20), in order to strengthen us to make this mystery of God's reign a reality of human history.
The full and perfect realization of God's reign had to take place at the end of human history, precisely because until that time the salvation and harmony it brings must reach all human beings in one way or another; and the completion of Christ's work will not be realized until he comes again to raise the dead to everlasting life, judge the whole of humankind from beginning to end, and bring his people to their eternal, transcendent home, where they will live as complete human persons with glorified bodies and souls.
From incarnation to resurrection the life of Christ was characterized by suffering and the cross. It is through his self-emptying, becoming obedient unto death on the cross, that he identified himself in love with the whole of humankind, especially with those most rejected, the weakest and the poorest (Phil 2:6-8). Thus, the cross is the glory of the Suffering Servant and the power for establishing harmony among humankind.
Jesus, whose birth ushers in "peace to men of good will" (L k 2:24), is also proclaimed as one "destined to be a sign that is rejected" (Lk 2:34), a sign of contradiction. Jesus was confronted by the evil power of disharmony and division in his very mission to bring about peace and harmony in the world. In Jesus God's love, mercy and forgiveness are manifest for the world so that peoples of all nations, Jews and gentiles alike, can be reconciled to God the heavenly Father and to one another, to become communion of harmony and love. Jesus' teachings and works of mercy and forgiveness, in which he has shown special concern for the poor and oppressed, for the sinners and for the gentiles, became on the one hand a sign of controversy and rejection for those who questioned his authority (Lk 20:1-2), and on the other hand brought crowds of people close to him and to the heavenly Father.
Even Jesus' claim as Christ typified by the suffering servant of the cross (Lk 9:18-20; 44-45; 18:31-34) appears at first instance as a sign of contradiction for those who were very close to him, his disciples; yet through the glory of the cross as manifested in the resurrection the disciples were strengthened by Jesus to become a community of fellowship and love.
The Pauline writings present harmony in terms of reconciliation and recapitulation in Christ. Human beings stand in a state of broken relationship and must be reconciled to God. This has been done by God through the death and resurrection of Christ. To express this idea, Paul uses the term katallaseein, which means a change from the estrangement to friendship with God.
Reconciliation is God's work of grace. Before the coming of grace human beings were under the sway of sin (Rom 1-3). But God through Christ brought about change. Human beings now have peace with God (Rom 5: 1-11), and are freed from sin, death and the law of Moses (Rom 5:12-7:25). In the new state human beings have been empowered by the Spirit of God and have become the children of God (Rom 8). Since they were unable to reconcile themselves with God, God himself brought about the reconciliation of human beings with himself and also among the peoples themselves. This is the great work that God does in favor of the world. When human beings were in sin and estranged from God, God was reconciling the world. This is the Good News, that God has sent Christ into the world to reconcile the world and has entrusted his ministry of reconciliation (katallage) to the Church. Through this, people become a new creation (2 Cor 5:16-23).
In the Johannine perspective Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29) and to give humankind life in abundance (Jn 10:10). Sin is death, while life is love, harmony and communion (I Jn 3:4). The reality of sin and death is manifested in disharmony, resulting in division of humanity into rival groups, always tempted by hatred, contempt, injustice, scorn, exploitation, racism, murder, war, etc. (I Jn 3:15). Jesus Christ through his glorification (death and resurrection) destroyed the power of sin (In 12:31-33); 1 Jn 3:5-8) and gathered into one the children of God who were scattered by sin (Jn 11:51-52).
Pentecost was the culmination of Christ's redemptive work of restoring the harmony of humankind. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, with the bond of unity and harmony, and they began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Every nation under heaven was present among those who heard the apostle speak in each one's native language (Acts 2:4-6). This was a historic sign that the disharmony of humankind, manifested in the confusion of language at Babel, is now remedied and that the way to harmony of the whole humanity has been decisively opened.
While cherishing the theological traditions which we have inherited from the past, genuine efforts are being made to reread the Christian Revelation, especially the Gospels, in our Asian religio-cultural and socio-political contexts. Asian theology, which is also at the service of revelation and guided by the Spirit, must be encouraged to rediscover and articulate anew the Church's faith in Jesus Christ as the One sent by the Father to reconcile, restore and recapitulate the whole universe. That is to say, we must evolve a Cosmic Christology of harmony. Only by basing itself on such a Christology will the theology of the Church go beyond its institutional concerns to understand the Church essentially as a centrifugal Church, open to the whole universe and present in and for the universe (Cosmic Ecclesiology). Only with such an ecclesiological vision will our concern for religio-cultural and socio-political realities broaden from an ecclesio-central focus to a truly theocentric focus.
If we can speak at all about the Church's mission of harmony and about a missiology, its target of commitment and action has to be, not an ecclesial target, but that eschatological fulfillment that is coterminous us with final harmony and peace in the world.[76]
Restoration of harmony in Christ was to be prepared and fulfilled through the history of a people of God. God's covenant with Abraham -- the sign of which was circumcision -- though embracing only his descendants (Gen 17:1-14), was in view of blessing all the families of the earth (Gen 12:3). The Exodus event and God's covenant with Moses, with the accompanying obligation of fidelity to the Lord (Ex 19:5; 24:7-8), though confined to Israel, was a preparation and paradigm for the liberation of the whole of humankind from sin and its restoration to harmony. Though God's covenant with David, with the promise to establish his kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:8-16), had immediate reference to one nation, it was a promise of the kingdom of peace and harmony for all the nations.
The prophets denounced the violation of the stipulations of the covenant and constantly called the people to fidelity to the covenant relationship. The prophetic movement in Israel reached its climax in the announcement of the New Covenant, as expressed in Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer 31:31-34; Ez 36:26-28), which was to be established through the Messiah, the Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace (Is 9:6-7; 11: 1-9).
God's work of restoring harmony finds its fulfillment in Christ. The New Testament presents itself in its different aspects.
At the beginning of his ministry Jesus announced: "The reign of God is at hand" (Mk 1: 15; see Mt 4:17; 20:7; Lk 4:43; 10:9); and in a controversy with the scribes and Pharisees he declared: "The reign of God has come upon you" (Mt 12:28; Lk 8:20). This reign is not only God's rule as the Creator (Ps 93; 104; Mt 5:54; 1:25; Lk 10:21), getting creatures to interact harmoniously even in a world spoiled by sin, and orchestrating the cultures and religions of the human race so that they would move towards harmony in spite of divisive and corruptive elements. It is even more than God's governance as Savior of Israel (Ex 15:18; Ps 47; Is 51:52). It is the salvation that God brought to the whole human race and the cosmos by sending his Son into the world. For "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die, but may have eternal life" (In 3:16), with which perfect harmony is concomitant.
The historical coming of Jesus Christ born of a woman (Gal 4:4; Jn 1: 114) is, for the New Testament, the salvific event that fulfilled the Old Testament expectation of God's reign, ushering in a better harmony among people and in the cosmos. Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament expectation of the coming reign of God by being the person of harmony through whose ministry God saves the whole human race and the entire cosmos.
The reign of God has come upon us through the Christ of harmony. Through his ministry of preaching the Good News, as well as by his calling for repentance, through his exorcisms of Satan and his healing of the sick and his pardoning of sins, through his parables that conveyed his wisdom to those whose hearts had already been touched by it, but took away understanding from those who had never learned to listen and obey (see Mt 13:1213; Mk 4:11; Lk 8:10), through his prophetic denunciations as well as his personal witness of compassion and love, he exemplified the harmony brought by the reign of God.
The mystery of Jesus, of the reign of God, of harmony, became operative in the life of the whole human race and in the order and workings of the cosmos, especially through the paschal events of his passion, death, resurrection and glorification. By these events Jesus brought judgment upon the world, cast out Satan and drew all human beings to himself Jn 12:31-32), so that they would walk in harmony towards the eschatological coming and transcendent destination of God's reign.
The reign of God was already present and operating in the person of Jesus during his earthly ministry and is now even more present, because through his glorification he now exercises the power to encompass all time and space and every nation on earth and share his Holy Spirit with his disciples (see Jn 20:22-23; Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15-20), in order to strengthen us to make this mystery of God's reign a reality of human history.
The full and perfect realization of God's reign had to take place at the end of human history, precisely because until that time the salvation and harmony it brings must reach all human beings in one way or another; and the completion of Christ's work will not be realized until he comes again to raise the dead to everlasting life, judge the whole of humankind from beginning to end, and bring his people to their eternal, transcendent home, where they will live as complete human persons with glorified bodies and souls.
From incarnation to resurrection the life of Christ was characterized by suffering and the cross. It is through his self-emptying, becoming obedient unto death on the cross, that he identified himself in love with the whole of humankind, especially with those most rejected, the weakest and the poorest (Phil 2:6-8). Thus, the cross is the glory of the Suffering Servant and the power for establishing harmony among humankind.
Jesus, whose birth ushers in "peace to men of good will" (L k 2:24), is also proclaimed as one "destined to be a sign that is rejected" (Lk 2:34), a sign of contradiction. Jesus was confronted by the evil power of disharmony and division in his very mission to bring about peace and harmony in the world. In Jesus God's love, mercy and forgiveness are manifest for the world so that peoples of all nations, Jews and gentiles alike, can be reconciled to God the heavenly Father and to one another, to become communion of harmony and love. Jesus' teachings and works of mercy and forgiveness, in which he has shown special concern for the poor and oppressed, for the sinners and for the gentiles, became on the one hand a sign of controversy and rejection for those who questioned his authority (Lk 20:1-2), and on the other hand brought crowds of people close to him and to the heavenly Father.
Even Jesus' claim as Christ typified by the suffering servant of the cross (Lk 9:18-20; 44-45; 18:31-34) appears at first instance as a sign of contradiction for those who were very close to him, his disciples; yet through the glory of the cross as manifested in the resurrection the disciples were strengthened by Jesus to become a community of fellowship and love.
The Pauline writings present harmony in terms of reconciliation and recapitulation in Christ. Human beings stand in a state of broken relationship and must be reconciled to God. This has been done by God through the death and resurrection of Christ. To express this idea, Paul uses the term katallaseein, which means a change from the estrangement to friendship with God.
Reconciliation is God's work of grace. Before the coming of grace human beings were under the sway of sin (Rom 1-3). But God through Christ brought about change. Human beings now have peace with God (Rom 5: 1-11), and are freed from sin, death and the law of Moses (Rom 5:12-7:25). In the new state human beings have been empowered by the Spirit of God and have become the children of God (Rom 8). Since they were unable to reconcile themselves with God, God himself brought about the reconciliation of human beings with himself and also among the peoples themselves. This is the great work that God does in favor of the world. When human beings were in sin and estranged from God, God was reconciling the world. This is the Good News, that God has sent Christ into the world to reconcile the world and has entrusted his ministry of reconciliation (katallage) to the Church. Through this, people become a new creation (2 Cor 5:16-23).
In the Johannine perspective Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29) and to give humankind life in abundance (Jn 10:10). Sin is death, while life is love, harmony and communion (I Jn 3:4). The reality of sin and death is manifested in disharmony, resulting in division of humanity into rival groups, always tempted by hatred, contempt, injustice, scorn, exploitation, racism, murder, war, etc. (I Jn 3:15). Jesus Christ through his glorification (death and resurrection) destroyed the power of sin (In 12:31-33); 1 Jn 3:5-8) and gathered into one the children of God who were scattered by sin (Jn 11:51-52).
Pentecost was the culmination of Christ's redemptive work of restoring the harmony of humankind. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, with the bond of unity and harmony, and they began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Every nation under heaven was present among those who heard the apostle speak in each one's native language (Acts 2:4-6). This was a historic sign that the disharmony of humankind, manifested in the confusion of language at Babel, is now remedied and that the way to harmony of the whole humanity has been decisively opened.
While cherishing the theological traditions which we have inherited from the past, genuine efforts are being made to reread the Christian Revelation, especially the Gospels, in our Asian religio-cultural and socio-political contexts. Asian theology, which is also at the service of revelation and guided by the Spirit, must be encouraged to rediscover and articulate anew the Church's faith in Jesus Christ as the One sent by the Father to reconcile, restore and recapitulate the whole universe. That is to say, we must evolve a Cosmic Christology of harmony. Only by basing itself on such a Christology will the theology of the Church go beyond its institutional concerns to understand the Church essentially as a centrifugal Church, open to the whole universe and present in and for the universe (Cosmic Ecclesiology). Only with such an ecclesiological vision will our concern for religio-cultural and socio-political realities broaden from an ecclesio-central focus to a truly theocentric focus.
If we can speak at all about the Church's mission of harmony and about a missiology, its target of commitment and action has to be, not an ecclesial target, but that eschatological fulfillment that is coterminous us with final harmony and peace in the world.[76]
12.2 Jesus Christ, the Source of Harmony
The notion of harmony, though not the term itself, is a major theme of
Christianity. Like "peace," the term can express the sum total of
salvation offered by God through Jesus Christ. Christianity teaches a threefold
harmony: harmony with God, among humans, and with the whole universe. Union
with a personal God is viewed as the source of all genuine harmony. Lao Tzu's
Tao is impersonal. Confucian teaching does not insist on a personal
relationship with Tien. Christianity presents a God who is clearly personal even
though the concept of God finds a transpersonal understanding in the mystical
tradition. A harmonious relationship with this personal God is the basis of all
proper relations among humans and with the world.
To prove this immense love for mankind, God gave Jesus Christ to the world so that men and women might become God's children by participating in Jesus' filial relationship with God. This filial relationship is the essence of Christian existence. The Christian's filial relationship with God necessarily implies relationship with others as brothers and sisters. For this reason, the one Christian commandment of love bears a twofold aspect: love of God and love of neighbor. Negation of love is the capital sin in Christian life. In complete surrender to the Father and total dedication to his fellow humans, Christ is the supreme example of this twofold love and the source of harmony between God and humans.
In addition to the Biblical teaching of harmony of God and humans, St. Paul teaches harmony with the whole creation, especially through the ideal of "recapitulation" -- putting all things under Christ as head. Unfortunately, due to their anthropocentric emphasis, Christians have for too long neglected the cosmic dimension of the Christian vocation. In our time, contemporary theologians have restored the idea of a cosmic Christ and stressed human harmony with the universe.[77]
To prove this immense love for mankind, God gave Jesus Christ to the world so that men and women might become God's children by participating in Jesus' filial relationship with God. This filial relationship is the essence of Christian existence. The Christian's filial relationship with God necessarily implies relationship with others as brothers and sisters. For this reason, the one Christian commandment of love bears a twofold aspect: love of God and love of neighbor. Negation of love is the capital sin in Christian life. In complete surrender to the Father and total dedication to his fellow humans, Christ is the supreme example of this twofold love and the source of harmony between God and humans.
In addition to the Biblical teaching of harmony of God and humans, St. Paul teaches harmony with the whole creation, especially through the ideal of "recapitulation" -- putting all things under Christ as head. Unfortunately, due to their anthropocentric emphasis, Christians have for too long neglected the cosmic dimension of the Christian vocation. In our time, contemporary theologians have restored the idea of a cosmic Christ and stressed human harmony with the universe.[77]
12.3
Universal Harmony Is in Jesus Christ
As Christians, we derive our strength and motivation for the pursuit of harmony
from our faith in God, the Creator of heaven and earth and all the peoples
inhabiting it, from our faith in Christ who reconciles, and the Spirit who
unifies us by dwelling in us and among us. The marvelous mystery of unity and
communion of the Trinity is a model, as well as a powerful challenge, in our
efforts to create harmony in all areas of life.
It is this grand design of God for universal harmony which we Christians experience in the person, life and teaching of Jesus Christ. His proclamation of the Reign of God embodies God's plan in creation, for it points to the gathering of all peoples and nations into one family as brothers and sisters under the Fatherhood of God. For the attainment of this goal, we need to pass through the process of struggle and conflict against the powers of sin, evil and darkness with which our individual lives and collective existence in all its structured expressions are characterized. By undergoing this paschal experience in the footsteps of Christ, we will be able to taste and savor justice, peace and joy (2 Cor 14:17), the fruits of God's reign, and be truly, in our turn, reconcilers like Christ who "broke down the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end" (Eph 2:1517; cf. Col 1:20)
It is our unshakeable hope in the unity of the entire mankind, originating from our faith that impels us Christians, to commit ourselves unreservedly to the creation of a harmonious world and society, and indeed to pursue this goal jointly with brothers and sisters of other faiths in Asia. We feel ever more pressingly urged by the Spirit who creates us into a Church -- a fellowship or communion in Christ in service of the unity of the entire humankind. While we are being spurred on by faith and hope, we are at the same time painfully aware of the divisions in our Christian communities in Asia on the basis of caste, class, race or language. Carrying these wounds in our body, we wish to heal, in all humility and in a spirit of service, the wounds of a divided world.[78]
It is this grand design of God for universal harmony which we Christians experience in the person, life and teaching of Jesus Christ. His proclamation of the Reign of God embodies God's plan in creation, for it points to the gathering of all peoples and nations into one family as brothers and sisters under the Fatherhood of God. For the attainment of this goal, we need to pass through the process of struggle and conflict against the powers of sin, evil and darkness with which our individual lives and collective existence in all its structured expressions are characterized. By undergoing this paschal experience in the footsteps of Christ, we will be able to taste and savor justice, peace and joy (2 Cor 14:17), the fruits of God's reign, and be truly, in our turn, reconcilers like Christ who "broke down the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end" (Eph 2:1517; cf. Col 1:20)
It is our unshakeable hope in the unity of the entire mankind, originating from our faith that impels us Christians, to commit ourselves unreservedly to the creation of a harmonious world and society, and indeed to pursue this goal jointly with brothers and sisters of other faiths in Asia. We feel ever more pressingly urged by the Spirit who creates us into a Church -- a fellowship or communion in Christ in service of the unity of the entire humankind. While we are being spurred on by faith and hope, we are at the same time painfully aware of the divisions in our Christian communities in Asia on the basis of caste, class, race or language. Carrying these wounds in our body, we wish to heal, in all humility and in a spirit of service, the wounds of a divided world.[78]
Rev. Dr. Aye Min
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