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Jesus is dead. That brave revolutionary teacher – dead.
Delivered to his end by temple elders and the high priest Caiaphas. Ridiculed by the mob in their blind hatred. Beaten and strung up by the Romans. And quickly abandoned by his so-called followers.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Luke 23:34
How should we remember him, the beacon who brought light to a very dark world, like a new day shattering night? By telling our children the reports of his immaculate birth? By reminding our neighbors of the many claims of his miracles and saying, “Worship him! He was more than a man”?
“Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?”
Luke 6:39
It’s probably the stories of his miracles that draws new followers to him every day. But strip his biography of all magic – like Jefferson did in The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth – and we find that he was really no different than Socrates, Athens’ own great philosopher: Both spread their truth by walking with commoners. Both were put on trial for teaching blasphemy and corrupting their disciples. Both faced death with sage acceptance. And through their teachings, both will influence the whole of Western civilization – if not the world – for ages to come.
“These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you.”
Luke 24:44
It’s dangerous to judge a man by what people say about him, especially people who’ve never met him. Since I’m one of those people, I rely on what are presented as Jesus’ own words as an aid in illuminating his true teaching. In this way, the Scriptures should be studied like any ancient philosophical text, which requires sifting truth from untruth. Because while it’s unlikely that Plato recorded what his teacher actually thought, we can be sure that Plato accurately described how his teacher thought. And it’s how his teacher thought which matters most to us.
The “Sermon on the Mount” is Jesus’ single most important speech on morality. In it he asks us to be humble, just and peaceful, to not judge our neighbors, to love our enemies as much as our friends and to be kind to the people who harm us.
“For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Matthew 5:45
Whereas more primitive religious traditions orbit around a deity who grants blessings on worshipers, Jesus tells us to bless ourselves by organizing a fair and equal society, where a man is judged not by what he is, but by what he values. Jesus argues that the kingdom of God belongs to the poor, explaining that a person cannot chase righteousness and money at the same time.
“How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”
Mark 10:23
So instead of remembering the miracle in Jesus’ acts, let’s first remember the miracle in his teaching.
About Hector Luis Alamo, Jr.
It amazes me that like the African-American community, Latinos embrace such mythology. Are you aware that our great-great-great grand parents were killed, persecuted, raped, and tortured by the so-called Christians and followers of Jesus. You can make the argument that one can separate Jesus from the barbarians but then you should ask yourself – why believe the authors of the Bible? And how do you know that it is legit? Humans wrote it. Humans picked the parts they wanted in it. Humans translated it. Humans sold it by force for hundreds of years all over the world . The largest and most successful marketing campaign ever. And fell for it. We pray rather than get educated. Wake up folks. We fell for the con job and our forefathers would be ashamed of us for taking in the enemies religion.
I’m human.
I choose to remember The Resurrected Jesus. The God that rose up and defeated Satan. Eulogies are for dead men… Jesus is alive!!!!! Glory!!!!!
Anyway you look at Him, Jesus the Christ, the Universal Christ, the Cosmic Christ, the Philosopher of antiquity, he is still an amazing figure all can love and learn from to become better human begins. Gee, where is Cyrena when you need her to spice things up?
You miss her, Mario? LOL!
I miss her style of wackiness. But then Nelson, you can say I am wacky too in a way. But you are always a million times nicer than she is even when we don’t agree. That’s what i like about you.
C.S. Lewis said that you can’t look at Christ and not do something about his claims. He said he was God, that is why they killed him. If he was not God, then he has lead the greatest scam in human history and was not a good man, moral teacher, etc. But if he is God, then he made the greatest change in human history. Something to think about.
Thanks Mario.
Even if He is not God, he still made something great and the positive message outweighs any negativity.
Hey fellas? Jesus never ever said he was God. He said he was the son of God. And, when he was resurrected and appeared to Magdalena, he said, Suéltame, porque no he ido a mi padre y a mi Dios.
“Asciendo a mi Padre y Padre de ustedes y a mi Dios y Dios de ustedes”. Juan 20:17
No está muerto. Está con su padre en los cielos. Y su padre es Dios. El es hijo de Dios.
Hector, the book of Matthew was written about 45; Jesus died in 33, so your math has 100 yrs too many.
You’re not a politician, are you? They do that in the budget. (Just kidding, bro!)
Matthew was also the only gospel written in Hebrew. Stuff you find by really studying the whole bible, not just cuentas from the pastors and monjas and the like.
Cuidados
Jose, we can’t know for sure what Jesus actually said before. The accounts in the Bible — the earliest, written 150 years after his death — are at best hearsay. As I point out, Socrates never wrote anything, but at least we have stories about him from one of his actual students, Plato. So even if Socrates’ words in Plato aren’t verbatim, we can be sure that they come very close to capturing the essence Socratic thought. Jesus for the most part is a fictional character in fable; at best, he’s a figure whose legendary status obscures the actual man.
Happy Easter everyone!
My apologies, Luis. The earliest gospels — Matthew and Mark, with Mark generally considered the earlier of the two — are usually dated between 50 CE and 150 CE (not a narrow range). It’s likely that Mark was written before 70 CE, but there’s no hard evidence for that. Even so, Mark was a disciple of Peter. Mark never met Jesus and only heard stories from Peter. And the Book of Matthew is based on the Book of Mark, making the two books basically the same account.
My point is that the gospels were written by successive generations. It’s like if I were to write to a biography about Lyndon Johnson solely based on accounts told to me by only one of his friends. It wouldn’t make for a very credible biography.