Jesus preached the coming of the kingdom of heaven, but this was not what the people amongst whom He was living expected. He did not preach a new Davidic kingdom which would throw out the Romans and establish Jerusalem as the seat of a new Jewish government. The kingdom that Jesus proclaimed was a kingdom in people’s hearts. This was in some ways a radical and new idea, although the basis for it lay in the Hebrew Scriptures and the teaching of the prophets. Bringing people to see this new understanding of God’s kingdom was not easy; it was not the message that people wanted to hear.
Jesus realised that His message would not be readily received. He likened it to a farmer who was scattering seed: some of it fell on stony ground and withered almost as soon as it germinated; other seed fell on poor ground and sprang up but had no roots and died; whilst still other seed fell on good ground (Matthew 13:3–9). Similarly, the message of Christianity would not be well received by many; some would either ignore it or else take it on board with enthusiasm, but abandon it as soon as doubts or difficulties came along. Jesus never expected that His message would be accepted by everyone, nor that it would be popular. He said that following Him would involve pain and suffering, misunderstanding and rejection, and it would be hard (Matthew 10:17–18, 38–39). On one occasion He said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (this is a reference to a very narrow gate into the walled city of Jerusalem which a loaded camel would have been unable to enter) (Mark 10:23–25). Someone with wealth and possessions will find that his or her heart is anchored in these and it will be almost impossible to centre life on God. Jesus said if money or power or reputation is really important to a person, then this is where their heart will be.
Jesus found the greatest faith in people who were on the outside of conventional society: a poor widow who had almost no money but gave a few coins which, for her, represented a great deal; a Roman centurion who trusted Jesus’ power to heal and accepted that, when Jesus spoke, his servant would be healed even though the servant was a long distance away; a woman caught in adultery who trusted Jesus even though everyone else condemned her; another woman who wept for her sins; blind beggars, lepers who were despised and outcasts – these were Jesus’ followers initially.
The rabbis and teachers of Jesus’ time had built up a set of rules that regulated every aspect of the life of a devout Jew, and for many of these people keeping the rules had become an end in itself. The Pharisees in particular considered that devotion to God could be measured by the extent to which one kept the rules. Jesus cut through this and taught that what mattered was the change within the heart of a person, not whether they kept the rules. For instance, He and His disciples were criticised because, when crossing a cornfield on the Jewish holy day (the Sabbath) they ate a few ears of corn. This broke the rules, as picking corn was considered to be work and work was not allowed on the Sabbath. Jesus’ critics said that Jesus’ failure to condemn His disciples meant that He was not a devout Jew (Luke 6:1–5). On another occasion, He failed to wash before a meal and He was criticised because this was one of the strict rules that a Jew had to follow. He talked to people who were regarded as sinners and outcasts, something that no pious Jew would do. He touched a leper, which was condemned by the Jewish law. He healed a person on the Jewish holy day and this was also condemned (Luke 6:6–11). The teachers of His time were continually trying to trap Him and to show that He was not really a faithful Jew at all, still less a prophet. On one occasion they brought to Him a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. The punishment according to the Jewish law was clear: she had to be stoned to death. His critics thought that they had him in a trap – either He had to forgive her and show that He rejected the Jewish law and was not a genuine prophet at all, or He had to condemn her and all His talk of forgiveness would be undermined. Jesus’ response was simple. He said that whoever had never committed a sin should throw the first stone. Clearly no one was in this position, so they all went away and left Him with the woman. Jesus did not condemn her; He merely said gently, ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’ (John 8:3–11). Gentleness and yet a firm devotion to God was at the heart of all Jesus did, and this message shone through in a way that the teaching of the priests and law-givers of the time did not.
Whereas most Jews of the time were angry with the Romans, Jesus treated those Romans He met with compassion and understanding. On one occasion an attempt was made to trick Him by asking whether Jews should pay taxes to Rome (Luke 20:20–26). Again, whichever answer He gave would seem to land Him in trouble. If He said that taxes should be paid, then He would not be seen as a devout Jew, as Jews bitterly resented the Roman taxes, so He would become unpopular. If He said that taxes should not be paid, then He would have been arrested by the Roman authorities. It seemed He could not win. His answer was simple. He asked for a coin to be shown to Him and then asked whose head was on it. ‘Caesar’s,’ was the answer; He simply said, ‘Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ In other words, what mattered was not the issue of taxes but where the hearts of people really were. Many were so preoccupied with money and material things that God had been altogether forgotten.
Jesus was in no doubt that the way a person lived would determine what happened after death, and He was also in no doubt that there was a separation between heaven and hell. The punishments in hell were severe. In one case Jesus told the story of a rich man who went to hell and a poor man, Lazarus, who used to sit at the gate of the rich man and beg, and who after death went to heaven (Luke 16:19–31). The rich man pleaded for mercy or, at least, that Lazarus could be sent to his living relatives to warn them. Jesus said that no move was possible from hell to heaven and that sending someone who had died to the living relatives would not achieve anything. If they did not believe the Jewish prophets, they would not even believe if someone rose from the dead (a poignant look forward to His own resurrection).
We have already seen that at the baptism of Jesus the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove. The role of the Holy Spirit is vital in Christianity; it is seen as the Spirit of God in God’s self which strengthens, comforts and, in some cases, guides Christians. Jesus said to His disciples that when He died He would not leave them alone, as the Holy Spirit would remain with them. The Holy Spirit, Jesus and God in God’s self are one in Christianity; this gives rise to one of the most important of all Christian doctrines. This is that God is Trinitarian. God is one, but God is also Three. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the three persons of the undivided Trinity with no separation between them. It cannot be emphasised strongly enough that this does not mean that there are three gods, as some critics were to later maintain. Christianity is firmly committed to both the unity of God and to God’s essentially Trinitarian nature. This is, Christians accept, a mystery, but it is a mystery that is at the heart of Christian faith. The Trinitarian doctrine means that when the Holy Spirit comes to a Christian this is the same as God in God’s self. Fifty days after Jesus’ death, at what has become called Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came directly to Jesus’ followers when they were gathered together. The presence of the Holy Spirit provides, therefore, the guarantee that God is with them always in a very personal way.
Figure 3: Andrei Rublev’s extraordinary icon of the Old Testament Trinity, depicting the three visitors who came to Abraham (Genesis 18:1–15), shows God as three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – sitting at a table with a fourth place set for the viewer. The chalice (the cup used for wine in Catholic and many other Christian services) symbolises the Eucharist or Mass in which Christians participate. The figures are not looking at each other but form a circle to include the viewer.
Towards the end of His ministry, Jesus sent His followers out with a command to spread the good news (the Gospel) which He had come to deliver. He is recorded as saying:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.