Some of you have been surprised at the Buddhist story I told you last time. Thank you for telling me. I told you it was my favourite story. The one about all his disciples been enlightened while none of them knew it. You find it strange. How can we say all of them were enlightened if no one knew it? And to make matters worse, I ended the story saying, “Let’s realise it once and for all!” as though it applied to us too. Of course it applies. Of course we all “have arrived”, “are enlightened”, “have been saved”, but we don’t know it or don’t believe it or don’t understand it. And you have asked in your wonder how can this be.

The amusing part of it is that this very idea is in the gospels, strange as you may think. Jesus clearly says that “the Kingdom of God has already come upon you” (Luke 11:20). That is, the kingdom is already here on earth even if we have not heard about it. My favourite exegete, Joachim Jeremias, wrote with humour: “Faith is believing that the Kingdom has come… in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.”

Apparently the Buddha said the same as the Bible. We have arrived, we are enlightened, we have been saved. And to top it all, St Paul also tell us that “we have been risen with Christ and are sitting with him in heaven” (Ephesians 2:6), although we haven’t realised it either. Risen and sitting down. Present perfect in the original Greek. Present. Now. St Paul. I repeat: It’s about time we realise it. A little bit of optimism, at least, in the midst of all those depressing news that we get every day.