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Jesus of Nazareth is a patrimony of humanity, a motive force behind a new way of living the experience of God, of
human relationships and of rebuilding the world.

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 In first century Jewish society and, more specifically, in the Galilee of the ’s there was no proper separation be-
tween the different aspects of life —religious, political and economic— which we today make without giving it
much thought. Even the concept of «religion» does not exist. Everything is intertwined and implicit. What we
today call «the religious dimension» is present in everything. It legitimizes, guides and influences a particular
way of understanding life and organizing relationships. From this point of view it is anachronistic to consider
Jesus as the founder of a new religion.It is more accurate to see in him a man who having had a new experience of


God,launches an understanding and a movement to revitalize life.

 Jesus is not a Jewish scribe, nor is he a priest of the Temple. It is not his intention to teach a religious doctrine, ex-
pound the law of God, or evolve theories about the divinity. Properly speaking Jesus does not teach a doctrine for
his disciples to learn correctly and spread.Jesus announces an event that requires it be heard and responded to be-
cause it can change everything. He is already experiencing it and invites everyone to share that experience: God is
entering human history. It’s the best thing that could happen to us. «The Kingdom of God is at hand. Change your
way of thinking and believe the Good News» (Mark :).

Researchers now think that what Jesus calls «the kingdom of God» is the heart of his message,the passion that in-
spired all his life, the reason for which he was executed.And, naturally, this «kingdom of God» is not a religion. It
goes much beyond the beliefs, precepts and rituals of any religion. It is a new experience of God which redefines
everything in a different way. If a new religion is born of Jesus, as in fact happened, it will have to be a religion at
the service of the project of Jesus for the world,that is,at the service of the Kingdom of God.

 The surprising thing is that Jesus never explained in what the Kingdom of God consists.What he does is suggest
in poetic language how God works and what the world would be like if there were people who acted like him.We
can say the «Kingdom of God» is life as God wants to form it. What would life in the empire be like, if God not
Tiberius were to reign in Rome? What would life be like in Galilee,if God not Herod Antipas reigned in Tiberias?
What would life be like for the Jewish people,if the Temple in Jerusalem were ruled by God not Caiphas?

For Jesus, the Kingdom of God is the fundamental absolute value which relativizes and relegates to its proper
place everything else: laws, traditions, religions and cultures. We can say that Jesus sought one thing only: that
there should be on earth men and women who would begin to act as God acts. It was his obsession: what would
life be like, if people resembled God more? How would everything be transformed if the scribes who expound
the Law,the landowners of Galilee,the legates of Rome were to act as God wants?
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 To speak about all this, Jesus chose as a central symbol of the whole of his message and work a political term
which could not but raise expectations and strong misgivings: what was Jesus implying in speaking of the King-
dom of God? The term «basileia» which the Christian sources invariably use to translate the expression «the
Kingdom of God», was used in the ’s to refer only to «the empire of Rome». It was Caesar of Rome who, with

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his legions, established the «pax romana» and imposed his justice on the whole world, subjecting peoples to his
imperial rule. He provided wellbeing and security, exacting in exchange for his protection as a «benefactor»,
ruthless taxation from subjugated peoples. What was Jesus now trying to suggest by inviting all «to enter the
“Empire of God”»,which in contrast to Tiberius did not seek power,wealth or honor but justice and compassion
specially for the lowest, the most excluded and humiliated? Evidently it was clear that to «enter» the Empire of
God,it was necessary to «get out» of the Empire of Rome.



Two thousand years separate us from Jesus, but his person and his message continue to attract men and women.
The passage of time has not succeeded in erasing his seductive power or to muffle the echo of his words. Today
when philosophies, religions, ideologies, politics, cults and the churches go through a deep crisis, the figure of
Christ is not in crisis.His person and his message are still there calling for a better,happier and hopeful life for all.

In recent years a new discourse about Jesus begins to be heard.Here is what is being said in non-Christian circles:
JesusdoesnotbelongonlytoChristians.Heisthepatrimonyof humanity,thebesthistoryhasgiven;itwouldbeatragedy
if he fell into oblivion. Jesus has not only begun a new religion,but a new time.History has never produced as power-
ful a symbol to transform the world as «the kingdom of God»; the course of the world would change if «the king-
dom of God» would become the backbone of cultures,politics and religions.Some would even venture to say we
are perhaps seeing the end of a Christian religion shaped by Greek culture and Roman law, but we are on the
thresholdof anewdevelopmentof themovementof Jesusinthecomingcenturies.Jesuscouldbethesoulof amore
human and more hopeful globalized world.

To explain this, we will present, in different Letters from the Editor, four basic dimensions and aspects of Jesus’ way of
living, from which different consequences are derived, as understood by José Antonio Pagola in his Books:

 Compassion as a principle of action

 The dignity of the lowest as a goal
 Healing as a program
 Forgiveness as a horizon

Read more in: Jesus.An Historical Approximation and Following in the Footsteps of Jesus by JoséAntonio Pagola.
Published by Convivium Press.