Jesus the Man and
the Christus;
I can think of no other debate that is so confused in any of
the Religions.
That Jesus the Man existed is without question. We have
Jewish, non-Jewish, Roman and secular writings to that effect. We know he was
born about 5 or 6 BC because Herod died in 4 BC and we all know the story of
Herod ordering the firstborn sons of the Jews to be murdered.
Jesus the “Christus” is a different matter entirely and the
battle wages on with extreme rancor and violence and a nastiness without
precedent.
Even the writers of the Christian Gospels were confused.
Mark, The Jewish Disciple of the Apostle Peter, writing
about 60 AD begins his Gospel with Jesus submitting to John The Baptist’s
baptism for remission of sin. Very human.
Matthew, the Jewish Tax collector and follower of Jesus
writing about 70 AD and the most “Jewish” of the authors begins his gospel with
the human lineage of Jesus back to Abraham, to give credence to Jesus’ Jewish
credentials to fulfill Jewish prophecy
Luke the Greek disciple of Paul, most probably a physician,
writing around 80-90 AD, begins with the appearances of an angel foretelling
the birth of both John the Baptist and Jesus, as messengers of God. Decidedly
more “Christus” than the earlier two.
But in John, an actual disciple of Christ’s most probably,
and writing about 100AD The die becomes cast.
John 1:1-15 RSV
In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with
God; 3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made
that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John. 7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light,
that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear
witness to the light.
9 The true light that enlightens
every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was
made through him, yet the world knew him not. 11 He came to his own home, and
his own people received him not. 12 But to all who received him, who believed
in his name, he gave power to become children of God; 13 who were born, not of
blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of
the only Son from the Father.
As a young student I hated this gospel and this beginning
because it was so esoteric and confrontational.
Now that I understand it I love it.
Several theologians have sought to make a difference between
the pre-Easter and post-Easter Jesus, the one perhaps human and the other
divine. The distinction escapes me.
Whether Jesus is a human prophet of God or the divine son of God we
could never know or prove. But I don’t think it matters to his ministry or
prophet-hood or status. They would not change regardless of his emanation.
It seems to me now that John was correct in pegging Jesus as
eternal ‘Logos” of God. (Logos is the Greek word for “Word” but means more than
just word.) When Jesus gives his two greatest commandments, “Love God with your
whole soul and whole mind and being and love your neighbor as yourself” he then
claims;
……Matt 22:34-40 RSV
34 But when the Pharisees heard
that he had silenced the Sad'ducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, a
lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. 36 "Teacher, which is the great
commandment in the law?" 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it,
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all
the law and the prophets."
As an older man I began to understand this perspective and
saw how apropos it was, that we as humans require God to interact with us in
human terms….that justice can only be satisfied with an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth; that Law must be stated, written down, canonized, and published;
that infinite love, mercy, the attributes of God must be humanized to be
understood.
I remember Job again, at the end when God finally shows up
and says to Job, “who the hell do you think you are you little piss ant. You require me to adhere to your sense of
equity and fair play? Go screw yourself!”
From this perspective it was easy for me to divorce Jesus
from claims of being “The Son of God” in the sense that Christians usually
think about salvation. I began to realize the blood sacrifice of death on the
cross to appease God and reconcile God with Man was a great narrowing of God.
It was, however, in the Jewish tradition of that time which saw ritual
sacrifice as one means, perhaps THE means of atonement.
Once again, humans imposed on God the requirement that He
adhere to our version of atonement/reconciliation, and our version of justice.
The Jews bring us the concept of Monotheism. Perhaps their greatest contribution; one God
and only one God for all, everywhere at everytime. What colossal arrogance to
then claim that God speaks only to me through Jesus, or Abraham, or Buddha or
Krishna, or Mohammed or the Bab. The “logos” of God as John defines Jesus, is a
universal concept by definition.
My task then became to find the universal “Logos’ presented
by any Avatar of God. And there it was…..with Rabbi Hillel challenged to stand
on one leg to give a summary of Torah, and saying “do unto others as you would
have them do unto you. The rest is just
commentary.”
I found it in many ways from many people;
Simply put, their philosophies each reflect the words of Christ when he said
-“Love God with your whole heart, and Love your neighbor as yourself, and upon
these commandments hangs all the law and the prophets”, unlimited compassion
in, perhaps, its finest expression yet echoed or preceded by many others, such
as;
RABBI
Hillel- ---What is hateful to yourself do not do to your fellow man
Mohammed----One
cannot be a believer until he wishes for others what he wishes for himself.
Confucious and Mozi his
disciple---Others must be regarded like the self and this love must be all
embracing and exclude nobody.
How are the religions of the world doing with that?
Which religion today reflects that goal? Certainly not
Christianity, with its inherent denominationalism, and intolerance of
homosexuals and others. It is astonishing when one realizes that most religions
in the 21st century still favor the subjugation of women. It is even more astonishing when one realizes
Genesis 1-26 offered and earlier version of creation with no Adam nor Eve, no
temptation, no subjugation of women as defined in Genesis chapter 2, with humankind being created “male
and female alike”, and the earth given as a reward to husband rather than the
realm of Satan to be abandoned.
In fact none of the current religions measure up because
they are the product of Men, beholding to all that that implies.
So today, and every Sunday, and when I preach, I seek the
Logos and find it rooted only in Love. Not in belief structures, not in Dogma,
not in labeling, or branding or requirements. It matters not to me who brings
the Logos or the manner of bringing. All that matters is the universality of
God and the knowledge that I cannot discern His Mercy, His Love, His purposes ,or
Him. One can only define God through the Logos of Love. There is no other
measuring stick available to the human mind.
Sorry for the length of this. I hope you do not find it specious or
pedantic.
Blessings, my friend.
John (aka Rabbi ben Middleton)
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