In Jesus’ time, the world was commonly understood as divided and defiled. Religious life was shaped by sharp distinctions between the sacred and the profane, the righteous and sinners, insiders and outsiders. Many people experienced the world as dominated by oppressive powers and believed that it was beyond repair, awaiting God’s dramatic intervention to destroy the present age and replace it with a new one. Social and moral hierarchies reinforced this outlook, placing the religiously pure and socially powerful above the poor, the sick, and those considered unclean.
Jesus offered a radically different vision of the world. He affirmed the world as God’s beloved creation, sustained by God’s care and presence. Rather than locating God only in sacred spaces or future events, Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was already drawing near within ordinary life. Fields, meals, homes, and human relationships became places where God’s reign could be experienced.
While Jesus clearly recognized the brokenness, injustice, and suffering within the world, he did not see it as irredeemable. Through healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation, he revealed a world capable of renewal rather than destruction. By breaking down boundaries of purity and status, Jesus transformed holiness into compassion and reversed moral hierarchies, placing the last, the least, and the excluded at the center of God’s concern.
Thus, Jesus understood the world not as something to be feared or escaped, but as the very place where God’s transforming love is at work. Where popular religion emphasized separation and waiting for rescue, Jesus called for engagement, responsibility, and participation in God’s ongoing renewal of the world.
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