The changing faces of Jesus.

Some results of my study of the Jesus research, in 2 parts.

part 1: Who is Jesus? part 2: What would he say to us today?

By Paschal Baute, December 2001

"As long as you confine your choices
to the alternatives that are presented to you in a given framework
and do not think of questioning the framework itself,
considering alternatives to that,
you are not liberated."
Walter Kaufmann

My goal is understand the real Jesus in his human individuality, within his historical culture: who he was, as a man, as a Jew, as a Galilean Jew of his time. I want to understand Jesus incarnate, genuine, measurable, palpable: who was this man of God of the first century A.D. I have now been studying him for many years, actually since 1949, but more recently through the publications of the Jesus Seminar folk and others, and our own Lexington Jesus Seminar. Here is summarized some unpredicted and notable changes in my views.

Jesus is not the meek and mild figure of popular Christianity, nor of Joe Grizoni's Jesus' stories. He could be determined, impatient, demanding, angry. He inherited the hot blood of the Galileans, known as fierce warriors, and the fearlessness of his predecessors, the prophets. Jesus was not afraid to stand up to the powerful. He showed love to children whom he proposed as models for those who sought to enter the kingdom of God. He welcomed women and felt pity for the sick and the miserable. In ways, he surpassed the prophets-they embraced the poor and the weak. Jesus went further and extended the hand of friendship to the social outcasts, the unclean prostitutes, and the despised publicans-there were to be no outsiders, no strangers. He is shown capable of extreme emotion to strike at opponents and critics. Jesus was a prophet-like person, mighty in deeds and words, and regarded as a holy man.

Jesus was also an impulsive Galilean who could use harsh words for non-Jews, such as "Dogs," and "Swine." Slowness in the understanding of his apostles made him indignant and he scolded them often. On at least one occasion he was unreasonable, cursing the fig tree for being without fruit, when it was not the season for figs. (Mark 11:12). His family thought he was crazy and tried to rescue him from himself. He proclaimed not just the virtual nearness but the actual presence of God. He seems to have been a man of both steel and warmth. "The gospel preached by him was fire, power and poetry, one of the high peaks in the religious creativity of the people of Israel." (Vermes, the Changing Face of Jesus). He was executed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and in the wrong season. (Vermes, 280) I believe his death was unexpected and as final as any man's death.

Jesus is not the founder of Christianity, nor of any church. His preaching of the Kingdom present already is incompatible with the founding of any permanent society in his name. Jesus never intended to be the founder of a new church, certainly not one that would compete with, disparage and persecute his own faith tradition. I sincerely doubt that he could recognize any Christian church as being the fulfillment of his own aims. None.

There are many differing faces of Jesus in the New Testament which Vermes (Cf reference below) describes well. Jesus' message has been warped for centuries, by all and sundry, in systematic ways. None of the gospels were written by the authors listed: Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. The Synoptic (Matthew, Mark and Luke) portrait of Jesus was as a charismatic healer, teacher and exorcist, and champion of the Kingdom as already present--without needing ritual.

New Testament authors, Paul, John, and the others, progressively disguised the above portrait to make him into the Messiah, which started a process of theological speculation that culminated in the elevation of the carpenter from Nazareth to the rank of the second person of the triune God, the Trinity. The contrasting view of Jesus in the gospel of John is the largest evident distortion: John's Jesus, for anyone who reads ands notices is very different from the Mark's Jesus, as well as that of Luke and Matthew.

Since I believe Jesus never intended to found another religion, such as Christianity, let's suppose what he might say if he returned today and spoke to three groups: first his own, the Jews, then Christians and finally the unchurched and alienated. (Adapted from Vermes).

"Shalom, my people. Forget the lies: I preached the Kingdom: my followers preached me,--a terrible distortion of my aim in renewing our ancient faith. I am one of yours. Look, my religion is that of Moses and the prophets. I only put extra emphasis on seeking the Lord our God who is one in and through all that we do to our fellow men in every single humble and love-filled deed of all our everydays. I deeply apologize to you for all that has been done to you in my name. Follow the Torah-Christians have distorted how thoroughly Jewish I was in order to make themselves superior to our traditions."

Then he would recognize and speak to the Christians.

"I am amazed to see so many of you calling yourselves my followers, even as you disagree mightily among yourselves. Your differences serve your egos, your security and comfort, not my Father's glory. I never came to be worshiped-that undermines and conceals my message. You have been told to expect everything from me. I exhort you to rely more on yourselves-you may call it the voice of the Holy Spirit-on your own gifts and goodness. You must save yourselves. Remember the Kingdom, better the "Kin-dom," is always at hand, and you are children of your heavenly Father. Carry on with all your rites, customs, and prayers, if you need to, but, please, never prefer the symbol to the reality. Do not assume that any of you can speak in my name. Never prefer what you do in church to actual caring for your brothers and sisters. My Father does not need your Sunday worship but he does want your listening and compassionate hearts."

"Do not blame my Jewish brethren for turning the spirit into the letter. You do worse by judging them by your creeds. You will learn more about the real me from Mark, Matthew and Luke than from all the rest of the New Testament. I wish now I had written some things down; There would be less distortion. I share responsibility for the misrepresentation. Do not make the Bible into a new idol by assuming everything there came straight from God, through angels not humans. Remember to be truly humble and show love and respect to all, especially those with whom you disagree and any who are hurting."

Then he turned to the unchurched standing at the margins and fringes of the group and waved his hand to include all of them as if inviting them closer.

"You also are mine. I know you well and love you. Recognize your weakness and flaws and do the right thing. You are right when you say church is not necessary and that you can find God anywhere. Repent and be confident. Pray in private. A community could help support your faith because we all need one another more than we know. You are already close to the Kingdom. Remember my Father welcomes with greater joy the returning prodigal than the son who was always with him.

To all of you: Jew, Christian and others, I say: the kingdom is here though hidden. The gate is found in simplicity, trust, surrender and the intensity of desire of a child: Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom. (Matt 18:3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17). For this "citizenship," total devotion is required: single-mindedness and unrestrained giving of self. No religious attitude is real or sufficient without an all-pervading sense of urgency which converts ideas into immediate action. Hear ye this, all ye church-goers, pray-ers and talkers."

"I am leaving now, all of you, but you can always find this Yearning in your hearts, and in the Mystery of being connected to others, and fully human, and therefore, loving. Continue to listen to the still small voice within, as did the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19:12). Be joyful."

Reference:

The Changing Faces of Jesus. Gesu Vermes. Viking, Penguin, 2001. Highly recommended. Vermes is a Hungarian Jew whose family converted, but that did not save his parents from the Holocaust. He became a priest, then biblical scholar, one of the first to write on the Dead Sea Scrolls (and correctly date them), and eventually first professor of Jewish Studies at University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and Professor Emeritus now.

Providential Accidents (1999) is Vermes' autobiography, which I just finished reading. Vermes is one scholar every student of Jesus should be familiar with. His books and articles are too many to mention further here. I get all of these kind of books through interlibrary loan at the local branch of my public library, without cost.

"Joy is the echo of God's life in us."

-Abbot Marmion.

From Thomas Merton:

My own peculiar task in my Church and in my world has been that of the solitary explorer who. . . . is bound to search the existential depths of faith in its silences, its ambiguities, and in the certainties which lie deeper than the bottom of anxiety. In these depths there are no easy answers, no pat solutions to anything. It is a kind of submarine life in which faith sometimes mysteriously takes on the aspect of doubt when, in fact, one has to doubt and reject conventional and superstitious surrogates that have taken the place of faith. On this level, the divisions between Believer and Unbeliever cease to be so crystal clear. It is not that some are all right and others are all wrong: all are bound to seek in honest perplexity. Everybody is an Unbeliever more or less! Only when this fact is fully experienced, accepted, and lived with, does one become fit to hear the simple message of the Gospel -- or of any other religious teaching.

- Merton, in Faith and Violence (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968) 211-13.