9. The Historical must Match the Symbolical

Ananda: I have found that Jesus has become a divine name among the followers of Jesus. What do you think of this?

John: Well, I would say that such a development was inevitable. Jesus taught us about God clearly and authoritatively as no one else in our history has done. Not only did he teach about the God who loves unconditionally, but also he exhibited such behavior in his own life. Thus we saw God in him. He was someone with the perspective of God. He could think with God and feel with God. He felt oneness with God. Once he said, "My father and I are one."  

Ananda: I think I have the answer to my question. As no one has ever seen God, the only way to think of God is by using an image. The image of God in our mind will be that of the noblest person we can think of. There is no wonder that Jesus became the image of God for his followers. They couldn’t think of anything greater or nobler than Jesus to place in the seat of God.  

John:  I agree with you. The belief that Jesus is God has its advantages. It gives authority to his teachings, and it helps people to be more committed to his cause. On the other hand, it has its disadvantages, too. Some people argue that because Jesus is God, he is not a man. If it is so, his life cannot be a model for us, and his teachings have no relevance in our life. Hence, two ideas that seem to be contradictory need to be put together-- that Jesus is God, and that Jesus is a human being.

Ananda:  I think I understand it. Something that influences the life and thought of a people, when passed on to the next generation, becomes a symbol for them. It might be a historical incident, a work of art, a great idea, or a great person. In this case, it is Jesus, a great person whose life and ideas influenced the life of a people considerably. Today Jesus is the symbol of hope and salvation for the large community called church. To avoid confusion, I shall use the name "Jesus" to speak about the historic figure, and the name "Christ" to speak about the symbolic figure. Unlike Jesus, who was a human being like any of us, Christ is the savior of the human race, even the God of the world. It is Christ who brings about salvation to the world. Jesus would be irrelevant to us in the absence of Christ. At the same time, it is Jesus that determines the meaning of Christ. Or, to put it in other words, Christ must have the same character of Jesus. As you said, there is always the danger of Jesus being pushed back as insignificant in the all-embracing presence of Christ. The danger is in the possibility of understanding the meaning of Christ in a multitude of ways unrelated to Jesus. I can see such dangerous trends even today. Jesus is someone who taught and practiced unconditional love, but Christ is, for some people, a king who will throw into hellfire all those who do not accept him. Isn't it a tragic situation that Christ became for some people a figure whom Jesus denied?

John: It is exciting to me that you understand the situation so clearly.  

Ananda: well, we have had similar situations in India. For example, Ram was a great king who upheld the principles of truth and justice. He was willing to denounce his kingship and exile himself for the sake of truth. As he exerted such a great moral influence on the people, he was worshiped as God by the later generations. As long as the symbolic Ram remains the same as the historic Ram, he will continue to be a powerful creative influence. If the two become unrelated, the symbolic Ram will become a destructive force.  

As I said earlier, this is true about works of art and literature, too. Temples in India are famous for their sculptures. As they were influential at the time they were carved, they became symbolic for the later generations, and some of them are even worshiped. Literary works made centuries ago are considered holy books of divine origin. For example, an epic poem narrating the life of Ram is a holy book in India.  

John: Traditionally, sculptures are not worshiped in our culture. But the temple itself is a symbol. It is considered the house of God. The cross is becoming a symbol in the church. As Jesus died on the cross, it represents Jesus himself or his self sacrifice. The last supper we ate with Jesus has become a symbol for the church. When we come together once in a week, we eat bread and drink wine as we did with Jesus. Bread and wine have become symbols of his body and blood-- of his self sacrifice.

The collection of literary works we have received from our ancestors has become an important symbol. It is considered to be of divine origin, carrying the eternal message of God to the human race forever. Its symbolic value exerts a very powerful influence in our life. However, as you have mentioned, there is always the danger of its symbolic value crushing down its historicity. When people forget the particular situation in which a literary work was made, they tend to explain its meaning according to the situation in which they live. Thus, two people reading the same literary work derive diverse, even contradictory, meanings from it. Jesus differed from the other religious teachers of his time in interpreting the literary works. He always considered the historical context of the literary works before considering their symbolic value. One of the ten commandments given by Moses is to observe Sabbath, a weekly holiday. The Jewish religious teachers interpreted its meaning by making a multitude of silly rules putting limits on the distance someone can walk, and the weight someone can lift on the Sabbath. However, Jesus’ interpretation was radically different. He balanced the original context in which that rule evolved with the contemporary context, and claimed that Sabbath is made for man, and not man for Sabbath.  

Ananda: I understand that Jesus was well aware of the dangers involved in neglecting the historical value for the symbolic value. What he said about Sabbath can be said about all religious practices and beliefs. If people know that religion is for man, it will be a creative force powerful enough to unite the humankind. On the other hand, if religion becomes a goal in itself, and life becomes a means to achieve that goal, it becomes a very destructive force. It divides the humankind into hundreds of groups, and makes them fight with one another.  Anyway,     I like to know what happened after Jesus was crucified.

John: The day Jesus was crucified, the Jewish leaders were happy. They thought that their headache was finally over. It was a victory for their Jewish God, but it didn't last long. What they saw just after two months made them mad like anything. In the place of the single man they crucified, they saw a group of people teaching the same kind of things, and doing the same kind of activities, with the same kind of power. Jesus used to say that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Though it is the smallest among seeds, from it grows a large plant. In order for the plant to grow, the seed must die. From Jesus, the small mustard seed, grew the plant called church. The friends of Jesus, who abandoned him when he was caught, began to spread the message of Jesus without any fear.

Ananda: That is incredible. How did it happen?

John: It happened mainly because Jesus rose from the dead.

Ananda: Do you mean that Jesus had not really died?

John: He really died, and was buried. It was on Friday. On Sunday morning, the tomb was found empty, and Jesus appeared to us several times. Though we were bewildered at first, we were overjoyed to see him alive.  

Ananda: Did you really see him?

John: I can understand what you mean. Normally, once someone dies, he/she doesn't rise again. But in the case of Jesus, it happened. I am a witness to that. I really saw him with my own eyes. My friends also saw him. If you ask how such a thing could happen, all I can say is that God raised him from the dead.

That Jesus rose again from the dead was of great significance to us. It was the victory of all that Jesus stood for. It was the victory of the father-like God that Jesus preached. It was a proof that God was with Jesus, and it transformed us. Once we were convinced that what Jesus preached was true, we were ready to die for it. We have been tortured and killed since then, but from the blood of each of the dead arise a dozen people ready to die for the truth.

Moreover, we happened to experience the transformation from the stage of self-righteousness to that of God’s righteousness as a group. We were all filled with the spirit of God, which appeared to us in the form of the flames of fire while we were praying together.

Jesus wanted to make a transformation in the Jewish community, and even after we took over his work, our activities had been confined within the Jewish community. But as our number increased, the Jewish leaders began to keep us out of the community by giving us a new name-- Christians. Thus, though our community began from the Jewish community, today it is independent.  Our community is open to anyone who accepts the unconditional love of God. There is not any sort of discrimination in our community.  

If you ask a Jew how we are different from them, they will give a slightly different answer. They will say that they are still waiting for a Christ, but we believe that the Christ had already come as Jesus. 

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