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THE ESSENCE OF JESUS
John T. Crestwell, Jr.
February 1, 2004

“Who is Christ when traditional concepts such as incarnation, atonement, and the Trinity no longer communicate any meaning? Who is Christ without the Virgin Birth, miracles or Resurrection?”

These are not my words but the thoughts of retired Episcopal Bishop and author, John Shelby Spong who has become a source of comfort for many religious liberals and cause for pain for other conservatives. His, what some term, radical message calls for a new Christianity that sounds very much like Unitarian Universalism. In fact, he has several best-selling books debating this issue. “Why Christianity Must Change or Die,” “New Christianity For A New World,” “Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism,” and Resurrection: Myth or Reality?” are a few of his more popular titles where he challenges his faith, using an historical method of apologetics to show why Christianity must evolve into a broader diverse faith free from superstition.

Spong’s argument is really a centuries old argument where men and women have lived and died attempting to explain why this story of Jesus the Galilean martyr was the most important supposed happening in the history of humanity. There have been several perspectives that have emerged, over the ages, regarding the authenticity of Jesus’ life and ministry. There has been this persistent historical argument regarding Jesus, the man, or the “historical Jesus”, juxtaposed against Jesus the myth, or better stated, Jesus as the “Christ”. I don’t have time to cover this exhaustively but early on some said Jesus was a man, godly, a being created like all other humans and not God. This was the view of Arius in the 300’s CE and would later be the view of early Unitarians who rejected the Trinity as being unscriptural. Then others, like Tertillian and Athanasius, during this same time, argued that Jesus Christ was indeed God manifest in human form or “in the flesh”. Jesus was “fully human and fully divine. Begotten not made and ‘homoousios’, of the same substance, as God.” Jesus was God in every possible way. Now we all know the latter thought is what prevailed in history.

But then there were others during that time, known to be practitioners of the pagan religions of Rome, who recognized the story of Jesus as a myth that encompassed many of the stories of that time like the Osiris Dionysis myth which grew out of ancient Egypt through Greece to Rome. This myth, which predated the Jesus story by several hundred years, was about a dying and resurrected god-man who was born on the 25th of December, performed miracles, died and came back to life… The pagans saw the Jesus story as just another myth in that day and time not to be taken more serious than any other. A good book on this topic is “The Jesus Mysteries…Was the Original Jesus A Pagan God?” It is written by a gentlemen named Timothy Freke…

And so, then and now, we still wrestle with the question who was Jesus and is this story of any significance to us today?

I remember when I was in seminary struggling with the question. And during class, while my professors would be justifying primitive concepts, I would daydream thinking about the millions of Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists, and the earth-centered religions, trying to figure out how they make it into heaven. There was no answer and I was perplexed. But this would be a major turning point in my mental evolution.

Recently I took this same thought to my students I taught Comparative Religion to this past fall. I told them the story of a little man who renounced wealth to live with his people. He could’ve been a “big time” lawyer living it up, instead he chose to make his own clothes and take the task of freeing his people upon his shoulders. He was the conscience of his nation, eventually freeing them from British colonialism. In the end he was assassinated and became a martyr for his people. In his possession at that time of his death were a pair of shoes, clothes he made, his spectacles and a few books and that’s it… I said to them, “He was Hindu. Does he go to Heaven or Hell?” The class was quiet until one student, a Baptist preacher, spoke up. He said, “Well, I know he was a good man but good don’t get you into Heaven. You have to believe in Jesus as the way. So from my standpoint professor, he goes to hell.”

I said to him, and I say to you this morning…If Gandhi is going to hell. I wouldn’t mine going to hell! If Gandhi, who sacrificed his life for the greater good of humanity, goes to hell, I want to go to hell too, because I want to be with a man who really understood what living and giving is all about. He exemplified the principles of the Sages better than anyone I know in modern history. Gandhi lived and made a difference, which is really what we all want to do in our little corners and sidewalks and streets—make a difference, do something special with our lives.

And so, when you look at the story of Jesus beyond the miracles, the supernatural occurrences, the magic what do you see? Is there anything worth looking at? I think we end up seeing what Jefferson saw. I think we end up seeing what Emerson saw. I think we end up seeing what Martin Luther King, Jr. saw. I think we end up seeing what John Shelby Spong saw… What did they see?

They saw a man that reached adulthood and said to himself, ”Am I going to be a carpenter for the rest of my life or do I have a larger destiny?” He decides to go off on his own for some contemplation. He needed space to think, away from the neighborhood. During this private time he realizes his gifts and his mind tells him that he could use these gifts for vast pleasure and luxury or the higher road of suffering for humanity. He says to himself, “Satan get thee behind me” referring to the temptation to use his gifts to take advantage of people’s weak spirits. Like the Buddha, Jesus chooses the higher road and soon after, the thought comes to him to be a reformer of his religion and culture. He sees people going to bed hungry; people who need clothes on their backs. He sees a wicked governmental system. He sees unjust laws that discriminate against women and the sick. He gets angry at the plight of the human condition and decides to standup for justice and to change these societal ills. The words of the prophets spoke to him: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Jesus now feels a deep call to make a difference!

So, as the story goes, he goes from town to town ministering to people through word and deed. He gains many followers and soon becomes a threat to the establishment. He’s telling the people to not follow the law if it gets in the way of common sense and helping people. He’s allowing the quote, unquote “unclean” to be around him. He’s forgiving sins when normally folk have to go to the Priest for that. He’s preaching that the Kingdom or “realm” of God is within you and that change occurs when you decide to change. This is in sharp contrast to Jewish teaching that you must go through several rituals to be forgiven of your sins. He is hanging with Tax Collectors and prostitutes. . He turned the tables over in disgust in the temple, now he’s affecting the economic structure. Jesus is upsetting the system. And the Pharisees fear that he is up to something. Perhaps he wants to be in charge? The Jewish powers are so corrupt in their own minds they cannot see the love and generosity that exudes from his midst. The leaders project from their weakness ideas about Jesus and seek to prove to the people he is a hypocrite. On several occasions they attempt stir up the crowds Jesus ministers to, hoping they will turn against him. It doesn’t work. They use fear tactics to no avail. Finally, desperate they go to the Roman government who’s in control of the region, to show them that this man is now a threat to Roman power. It worked. The Romans called him in and Pilate asked him a series of questions. Jesus was so concise with his answers that the Roman Governor could only conclude “I find no fault in him”. But this was not good enough for the Jewish authorities. They wanted Jesus dead. He was a troublemaker. In essence, Jesus was changing the system; he was asking too many questions that weren’t supposed to be asked. He was a revolutionary! Ultimately, the powers that be would use him as an example of what will happen to folk who don’t know their place. Questioning the system of power is a “no-no”. This was the message being sent by the Jewish and Roman authorities.

I know you see what I see here, this story has been lived over and over and over again in our modern day prophets who attempted to speak truth to power. The same sort of things happened to Gandhi, Buddha, King, post-Mecca Malcolm X, Joseph Priestly, there are so many…

And so for me, I don’t spend a lot of time today asking whether Jesus existed or wondering what color he was. None of that matters now. I don’t spend time wondering if he was “begotten” of a virgin. I don’t spend time wondering if he walked on water. I reflect, not on the person, but the essence, the core of the story. The essence of the message tells us of one who represented what humans call goodness, sacrifice, and love. We are all capable of emulating this. This is the essence found in the Sages. I reflect on all of the heroic stories, in relation to my own life, and ask myself “What can I do better?” Or “Can I do more with my life?” “Am I doing what I am called to do?” “Can I make a difference?” “Am I afraid to step out of my comfort zone?” The story of Jesus challenges me with many questions. What about you? Does it move you to think outside the box, to be a revolutionary thinker? Does it say to you give your all with whatever you do? Does the story convey to you a powerful message that shouts from the rooftop, “Children of humanity you are free—LIVE! Be not encumbered by the dogma of religion but be free and responsibly experience life in all of its fullness? Think about that…

John Spong gives us something to ponder as I close: (Pg 131)

LIVE THE ESSENCE OF JESUS.

Thank you for your time this morning…

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