Every year conspiracy theorists concoct a new theory about Jesus of
Nazareth. This year, American artist Doug Blanchard is making headlines
after releasing a collection of paintings that depict Jesus as a gay
man. GRAPHIC | NATION
Every year conspiracy theorists and detractors invent new ways
and discover new evidence that attempts to poke holes into the ancient
story of Jesus of Nazareth. It happens right around the Easter season,
when people’s sensibilities are tuned in to this first century enigma.
Predictably, a book or a movie is released that threatens to tear apart traditional views of Jesus of Nazareth.
If
it is not new evidence that Jesus was married with children, it is a
new movement that claims Jesus was black, or a fabrication. This year,
American artist Doug Blanchard is making headlines after releasing a
collection of paintings that depict Jesus as a gay man.
The art collection, titled The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,
is a bold attempt at presenting the traditional story of Jesus as a
person who promoted the love, acceptance and tolerance of the
“different” amongst us.
If someone
fails to convince the world that Jesus was a monogamous dad one year,
someone else will explain away his singlehood by speculating on his
sexual orientation the following year.
Like
the many other controversies that emerge around the Easter season, this
one will definitely rub many Christians the wrong way.
There has already been an uproar from conservative Christians, who view this as blatant blasphemy.
In
10 days’ time, the religious temperatures will cool down and everyone
will go back to his or her worship business... until next year, when the
conspiracy theorists and controversialists will emerge from their
bunkers with more ammunition.
But,
what makes Jesus such a compelling figure? Why does this ancient man
resist all attempts to discredit or disparage him? Why does his image
pervade all of life so relentlessly?
LIFE'S LABOUR LOST
Even
though Christians lay exclusive claim to him as their God and only way
to heaven, other religions also claim a part of him.
Jesus
of Nazareth is an enigma that refuses to be confined to one religion,
and his story is made even more pervasive by the gospels.
According
to the Bible, Jesus was a First Century Jewish prophet who claimed to
be the son of God — or at least his followers did. The gospels of
Matthew, Mark and Luke give a surreal account of the miraculous birth
and works of Jesus, from his mother, Mary, becoming pregnant while still
a virgin, to Jesus walking on water, healing the sick and raising the
dead.
His life and mission came to an
abrupt end in his early 30s when he was killed by Roman soldiers at the
behest of Jewish religious leaders. His crime? Blasphemy.
Jesus
claimed to be — or at least gave the impression that he was — the
Messiah promised by earlier prophets. The people expected him to stand
up to the Roman Empire, which had occupied Israel and firmly placed them
under Caesar’s heel.
But he did not
seem to be interested in leading a revolution. In fact, he seemed to be
fraternising with the enemy and whenever he defied authority, it was
always the authority of Israel’s own religious leaders, the Pharisees.
Jesus,
the carpenter from the one-camel village of Nazareth, criss-crossed the
land of Israel preaching about a new kingdom, but his idea of a good
kingdom seemed subversive to the popular notions at the time.
Instead
of calling people to arms, he called them to alms. He instructed them
to give to the poor and turn the other cheek to the Roman slap. In other
words, to love their enemies.
“If
someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to
everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not
demand it back,” Jesus taught.
So he was captured, tried, found guilty, flogged and sentenced to death by crucifixion on a wooden cross.
Jesus, the carpenter from the
one-camel village of Nazareth, criss-crossed the land of Israel
preaching about a new kingdom, but his idea of a good kingdom seemed
subversive to the popular notions at the time. GRAPHIC | NATION
That
should have been the end of his story and mission. The band of
fishermen and ex-tax collectors who had rallied behind him slowly
disintegrated and retreated to their former insignificant lives.
A
general sense of deflation prevailed among his followers. Some began to
doubt his claims to divinity, but three days after his death, a rumour
began to spread that he was alive. When some women claimed that he had
appeared to them, some disciples doubted the story while others merely
shrugged off the news.
But 40 days
after the supposed resurrection, something snapped in his band of
spiritual students. A fire erupted within them, and the former deniers
and doubters suddenly became firebrand preachers. “Jesus is Lord” was
their proclamation; “repent and be saved” their invitation. And they
have never shut up since.
TRANSCENDING RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY
Jesus remains the most-talked- about and most quoted teacher to date.
His
teachings defy the confines of religious lines and strike at the heart
of what it means to be human. No other religious figure has had this
much impact on people who are not part of his religious movement.
Even those who follow or claim to follow Muhammad insist that one must join Islam to lay claim to him or his teachings.
Gilbert
K Chesterton, a 20th century journalist and lay theologian,
paradoxically illustrates this uncanny ability of Jesus to prevail
throughout different time periods, cultures and religion. For instance,
how could a person who never condemned slavery in his time still be
relevant in a world that considers slavery an abomination?
Chesterton
answers: “Christ lived in a world that took slavery for granted. He did
not particularly denounce slavery. He started a movement that could
exist in a world with slavery. But (paradoxically), he started a
movement that could exist in a world without slavery.”
On
the ability of Jesus to transcend every religion and philosophy,
Chesterton says the Messiah “used a phrase that made his philosophy
depend upon the very existence of the social order in which he lived”,
and concludes that “the truth is that when critics have spoken of the
local limitations of the Galilean, it has always been a case of the
local limitations of the critics”.
Which
is why it is little surprise that a Hindu scholar and theologian,
Shaunaka Rishi Das, could say the following about a leader who taught
monotheism and exclusivity:
“It is
difficult for us to neatly categorise Jesus, this lover of God, as a
Christian or a Jew. He talked only of his Father and he was not
enamoured of politics, religion or wealth as he experienced them. God’s
service was his life, his love and his religion.”
Rish
Das leaves us with questions that are well worth pondering this Easter:
“Can a Hindu follow Jesus?”; “Can a Hindu love God with all his heart
and soul?”; “Do you have to be a Christian to follow Christ?” “Who owns
Christ?”
______
JESUS IS OURS:
Kaleidoscope of the man: What different religions make of the Messiah
many Jews believe that there was a man from
Nazareth called Jesus, whose mother was Mary, but they are reluctant to
attribute any supernatural acts by Jesus to their God. GRAPHIC | NATION
Judaism
Jesus was a Jew by birth.
He was a carpenter from Galilee who was circumcised eight days after his birth and regularly went to worship in the temple.
But
he started defying some of the temple priests and calling them
hypocrites. Even worse, Jesus started making claims that the Jews
considered blasphemous; like when he claimed to forgive sinners and gave
the impression that he was equal to God. So the Jews, at least their
leaders, plotted to have him killed by the Romans.
Today’s
Jews deny any part in the death of Jesus. A large part of the
anti-Semitism that has been rampant in Europe in the past century or two
is attributed to the role of the First Century Jewish leaders in the
killing of Jesus. As for the current Judaistic views of Jesus, many
believe that there was a man from Nazareth called Jesus, whose mother
was Mary, but they are reluctant to attribute any supernatural acts by
Jesus to their God.
Jews do not
believe Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus. However, according
to the teachings in the Talmud and the Toledot Yeshu, they recognise
Jesus as a respectable teacher who had many disciples and performed
miracles, but deny that he was the Messiah and the promised deliverer of
the Jewish people. Judaism also acknowledges that Jesus was crucified
on the cross, but it denies that he rose from the dead and regards this
claim as a fabrication of his disciples.
So,
according to Judaism, while Jesus is acknowledged, recognised and even
respected, this is only to the extent that he is no more significant
than other Jewish prophets who lived before him.
The Qur’an teaches that Jesus
was supernaturally conceived in the womb of a virgin and he performed
various miracles, but Muslims deny that Jesus was killed, let alone that
he was raised from the dead. GRAPHIC | NATION
Islam
Muslims
believe in Jesus — whom they call Isa — a prophet sent by God. The
Qur’an teaches that Jesus was supernaturally conceived in the womb of a
virgin and he performed various miracles, but Muslims deny that Jesus
was killed, let alone that he was raised from the dead. According to the
Qur’an, Jesus ascended to the heavens and never died. Consequently,
Easter means nothing to Muslims as the season is pegged upon the death
and resurrection of Jesus.
The core
element of Christianity, the death and resurrection of Jesus, is
entirely truncated from the Islamic account of the Jewish Jesus. Islam
has a lot to say about the historical Jesus because, unlike Hinduism,
Judaism and Buddhism, Islam is younger than Christianity. While the
other religions and schools of religious thought only display
prophecies and premonitions of Jesus and his teachings, Islam looks at
Jesus retrospectively.
Is Jesus
important to the Islamic faith, and if so, how? The Qur’an teaches that
the virgin birth makes Jesus as important as Adam, the first man: “The
case of Jesus with God is like the case of Adam. He created him from
dust, and then He said to him, ‘Be!’ and he came into being.” (Quran,
3:59)
What of his supernatural
powers? Jesus is quoted in Qur’an 3:49 as saying: “I have come to you
with a sign from your Lord. I make for you the shape of a bird out of
clay, I breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by God’s permission. I
heal the blind from birth and the leper. And I bring the dead to life by
God’s permission. And I tell you what you eat and what you store in
your houses....”
In a recent interview on BBC,
the director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Shaunaka Rishi Das,
spoke about Jesus from a Hindu perspective, describing him as a Hindu
saint. GRAPHIC | NATION
Hinduism
Since
Hinduism pre-dates the historical Jesus, views about Jesus from the
religion can be gleaned from teachings that seem parallel to Jesus.
Hindu teachers who lived after Jesus might also shed light on the place
of this Jewish enigma in the lives of Hindus who come across his
teachings.
The pantheistic nature of
Hinduism makes it a very malleable religion, able to conform to the
shape of any container it encounters, including other religions. The
Christian (or Jewish) Jesus is no exception. In a recent interview on
BBC, the director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Shaunaka Rishi
Das, spoke about Jesus from a Hindu perspective, describing him as a
Hindu saint:
“In my particular
tradition, and among other Hindus, (Jesus) is seen as an Avatar,
specifically a Shaktavesha Avatar or an empowered incarnation. This
means that God has sent Him to us for a specific mission to fulfil God’s
will on earth.
“If we look in the
Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-gita, we hear Lord Krishna asking us to
abandon all our sectarianism and just surrender to Him, in love. He vows
to protect us from evil and from fear. I hear the same “forsake all and
follow me” message, the same call to surrender, and the same
reassurance.
“Jesus shows this
struggle of surrender during his evening in the garden of Gethsemane.
His sincere appeal to the Lord to let the cup pass from him, although He
was willing to go through with His Father’s command.
“When
we look at his experience during his traumatic arrest, trial and
crucifixion, we see a man at peace with Himself and the world. He was
condemned for his zeal and for his perceived threat to society, because
he was misunderstood…
“The fact is, I
can see myself in Jesus. I recognise and empathise with His life, His
temptations and His suffering. But I can see a lot more in Him than my
faltering attempts at spirituality. I can see someone transcending the
materialism of this world.”
Buddhists do not have any view
of Jesus, but there are some key teachings of Buddha that seem to
coincide with those of Jesus presented in the Christian Bible. GRAPHIC |
NATION
Buddhism
Buddhism is the one “religion” that many like to categorise as a religion and then go on to say that is not really a religion.
Gautama
Buddha never claimed to be divine and the most accurate description of
the movement that came after him is a philosophy or school of thought
rather than a religion.
Buddhists do
not have any view of Jesus, but there are some key teachings of Buddha
that seem to coincide with those of Jesus presented in the Christian
Bible.
These similarities have on
several occasions been seen as proof that Christianity is not unique,
and that some of the core teachings of Jesus pre-dated him by
centuries.
Christian scholar Marcus
Borg notes the impeccable similarities even in the lives of Jesus and
Buddha. For instance, they both stayed in the wilderness for 40 days and
40 nights and were tempted by evil — Jesus by Satan and Buddha by the
demon Mara and its daughters. Also, both required their disciples to
renounce worldly possessions. Other similarities lie in pacificist
teachings such as:
Jesus: Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Buddha: Consider others as yourself.
Jesus: If someone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other also. (Or, do not repay evil for evil)
Buddha:
If anyone should give you a blow with his hand, with a stick or with a
knife, you should abandon any desires and utter no evil words.
Some
of these examples have been used to discredit the uniqueness of Jesus
by pointing out that there was nothing unique about his teaching. Yet it
is not Jesus’ claim to uniqueness, but his claim to transcendence, that
makes it difficult to ignore these similarities between Jesus and
Buddha.
Some scholars have argued
that if Jesus existed in the beginning of the world, then it should be
little surprise that his teachings would predate his earthly existence.
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