The Puzzle of Christianity

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The Message of Jesus (#ulink_ddaf3f45-2890-5ade-bc71-a21b6434ca3d)

There is something artificial about separating the message of Jesus from the life of Jesus: the two are so closely related. For the people amongst whom Jesus lived, His life and actions were as important an expression of His message as His teachings. Given that Christians consider that Jesus is God’s Word made flesh, it follows that Jesus’ life and teaching are equally important. This was particularly the case as He often taught in parables. Parables are stories that are intended to be revelatory. They reveal insights and convey truths but they also reveal something about the people who interpret the parables. Parables seldom have a single meaning.

Jesus stands firmly in the Jewish tradition and many Jews today would be happy to see Jesus as a great rabbi or teacher who affirmed what was central in Judaism. However, there are also key differences. Two of the most important are:

1) Jesus did not see Himself as just another rabbi or teacher. He was clear that He was in a unique relationship with God, which Jews found very hard to accept. He referred to Himself as ‘the Son of Man’, but the Gospels indicate that this is a way of emphasising the human side of his nature without in any way undermining His unique status as the incarnate Word of God.

2) Jesus was unequivocal in believing in a life after death, and many of His Jewish contemporaries were far less clear about this. In fact, whether there was a life after death was a major point of dispute between two of the most influential groups of Jews – the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The idea of a life after death had come to prominence in Judaism reasonably late, probably around three centuries before Jesus. Some contemporary scholars see Jewish thinking as having been influenced by the deaths of tens of thousands of young men during what became known as the Maccabean rebellion, which was one of many attempts to achieve independence for Israel after the Babylonian captivity. Given the fidelity of God to God’s chosen people, it was felt that the suffering of so many young men could best be explained by a life after death. However, many Jews did not take this position; Judaism has always been a religion anchored firmly in this world rather than the next and concentration on post-mortem survival has always been somewhat peripheral. Jesus, however, proclaimed a life after death and, more than this, emphasised the fatherhood of God and God’s love for all human beings. The word ‘all’ here is significant, as it became clear to Jesus during His ministry that life after death and fellowship with God were open to all human beings and not just the Jews. This was a crucial new insight. It is not clear that Jesus always realised this; stories such as Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman (John 4:4–26), or His healing of the servant of a Roman centurion (Luke 7:1–10), seem to indicate that He came to a gradual realisation of the universality of God’s love. This was, however, an insight that was already present in some strands of Judaism. For instance, the prophet Jonah was forced to recognise that God was the God of the whole of creation, not just of the chosen people of Israel. Again, Christians will differ here; some will hold that Jesus had perfect knowledge throughout His ministry, so the idea that He ‘came to recognise’ something would be rejected.

On one occasion Jesus was approached with a very simple question, but one with profound consequences. Matthew and Luke’s Gospels record different occasions for the question. In the Gospel of Luke, it is asked by a lawyer (Luke 10:25) and in Matthew by a rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16). The question was universal: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ The questioners were probably expecting a simple answer. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus turns the question round and asks the questioner what is written in the Jewish law. The lawyer’s reply is succinct:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

(Luke 10:27)

Jesus agrees and tells the lawyer to go away and do this. The first part of the quotation is the Jewish Shema which every devout Jew would have recognised, and the second is the Great Commandment or Golden Rule. It seems so simple! The lawyer, being a lawyer, then asks, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ and Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan:

‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”

‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’

The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’

Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

(Luke 10:30–37)

It is worth noting that the expert on the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ He could not bring himself to utter the name of the Samaritans, so despised were they by devout Jews, and yet the Samaritan is the hero of Jesus’ story. The significance of this is profound. Firstly, Jesus is speaking to a devout Jew who would have regarded Samaritans as pariahs, so making a Samaritan the central figure in the story would be profoundly disturbing. Secondly, the characters who ignored the needs of the injured man were a priest and a Levite. The tribe of Levi was the tribe from whom the priestly class were normally drawn, so, effectively, Jesus is saying that two of the types of people who, in Jewish society, were regarded as most holy and righteous were, in fact, not so. It was the outsider, the Samaritan, who recognised the need of the injured Jewish person. Jesus’ message is clear: one’s neighbour is anyone who is in need, irrespective of race, skin colour or religious belief. This message was to be central as Christianity became the largest religion in the world. Christianity was not just another Jewish sect; it was a universal religion. Its roots lay in Judaism, but its message of the love of God and its demand to love other human beings was universal.

Jesus emphasised this continually. He frequently taught in stories or parables which are appealing but have multiple meanings and great depth – and can often be uncomfortable. In one of these stories Jesus spoke of the criteria that God would use to decide who would go to heaven and who would go to hell after death. The story challenged his audience but it maintained the same theme that runs through all his teaching:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was ill and in prison and you did not look after me.’

They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or ill or in prison, and did not help you?’

He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

(Matthew 25:31–46)

This message was (and is) challenging because Jesus is saying that the people who will be welcomed into God’s kingdom are the people who visit those in prison or those who are sick, the people who feed the hungry or give water to the thirsty; and the people who are destined for hell are those who fail to do this. What is more, when someone does these positive things to any other human being it is as though they are being done to Jesus Himself, and when someone in need is ignored, it is Jesus who is ignored. This again emphasises the Christian claim that God is intimately involved in the world and that love of any other human being is directly related to love of God.

The message of the universal love of God was not easy for the early Christians to accept and, after Jesus’ death, there were many of his original followers who still wanted to see Christianity as merely the development of orthodox Judaism. They considered, therefore, that following Jesus meant becoming a Jew and taking on all the rigorous food laws and religious laws that the people of Israel considered normal. It also meant that males had to be circumcised. This position would have restricted the growth of early Christianity as it would, effectively, have become a Jewish sect. It took divine intervention and the activity of one of the most significant of the apostles – St Paul – to demonstrate that these laws were not necessary.

Figure 1: Statue of the Archangel Michael defeating the devil (Coventry Cathedral). Christians hold that it is the power of love that can defeat the forces of evil and that this love was shown most clearly in Jesus’ life, teaching and death.

So the first and most important command which Jesus affirmed was the absolute centrality of the love of God. Secondly came unconditional love of neighbour. The first command every Jew would recognise and accept, but Jesus taught that the second should be taken literally: that is, it did not apply to Jews alone. It also questioned whether those who were thought to be holy were really so.

For Jesus, the love of God for every human being was essential. God was the Father of all human beings and should be addressed in the intimate way that a child addresses a father. God was a God of love, wanting above all what was best for individual human beings. God would always welcome back those who failed, those who did wrong. Jesus told many parables to illustrate this, including the parables of the Prodigal Son, the Lost Coin and the Lost Sheep. For Jesus, God almost cared more for those who were lost than those who were faithful. The person who was a failure and marginalised had more need of God than the person who was always faithful.

It is an issue of trust. Christian teaching is that the Christian should trust their whole life to God and should be willing to accept and believe in God’s love and forgiveness. God’s love is unconditional; it does not come as a result of a person being virtuous or good. God’s love is there, whatever happens, like a parent who will always love a child, no matter what the child does, and simply wants the child to return. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus tells the story of a rich man who had two sons, one of whom was obedient, stayed at home and worked hard. The other, however, demanded from the father that the eventual inheritance he could expect should be given to him. He then left home and spent all his father’s money on a dissolute life. He ended up destitute and sleeping among the animals. In despair, he decided to go back to his father, recognising that it would be better to be one of his father’s lowest servants than to go on living as he had been doing. When he returned, the father ran to greet him, put on him the choicest clothes and laid on a great feast for him. This was not because he had done anything good – he had not; but simply because he had returned home. The other son resented this because he had spent all his life being loyal and working hard, yet his father had never laid on a similar feast for him. Jesus explained that God loves those who have failed, those who have ignored God and yet come back, almost more than those who never need forgiveness. It is not, however, easy to accept being loved unconditionally and many reject God because they simply cannot accept that God loves them as they are. Trust in this love is, therefore, a central element of Christian belief.

Figure 2: Rembrandt’s painting of the Prodigal Son (c. 1669) shows the father welcoming back his penitent son. One of the hands of the father is male, the other female. The poverty of the returning son is shown in his clothes and also in him only having one shoe. Jesus referred to God as Abba (Mark 14:36) – a very intimate term similar to ‘Daddy’ today. God is seen as the Father of all who wants nothing more than to welcome people back, however far they may have strayed in terms of selfishness and lovelessness.

What is more, Jesus taught that Christians should refuse to judge others. Only God could truly see into the heart of another human being. Only God could judge justly. If any Christian judged others, then he or she would be judged harshly by God. If Christians forgave others, they would be forgiven by God. One man asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother – seven times? Jesus said, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times’ (Matthew 18:22).In other words, Christians should act towards each other as God acted towards them and should be willing to forgive again and again – and yet again.

Jesus was absolutely clear that the way Christians behaved towards other human beings would determine the way God behaved towards them. God would judge a person by the innermost nature of their heart and not by appearances. Jesus therefore condemned those who would make a display of their religious observances. If people were fasting, He said that they should disguise the fact; if people gave to charity, they should do so anonymously. If the real motive for doing good was in order to be recognised by other people, then the good actions were actually just self-centred (Matthew 6:1–4). Jesus said that people should do acts of kindness without others knowing; God sees into the hearts of everyone and will reward those who do good and punish those who do evil. Jesus was clear that God knows everything: not even a sparrow dies without God knowing about it. Humans are worth more than many sparrows and all human actions are seen by God and judged accordingly (Matthew 10:29–30).

Jesus was, however, clear that God’s love was a demanding love. God had to be placed at the centre of a person’s life and the love of God had to be shown in action. There was no room for complacency, and the idea of trusting in the love of God and ignoring the need for practical action runs contrary to Jesus’ message. Jesus specifically warned of a rich man who decided to take life easy and enjoy his wealth: that very night his soul ‘was demanded from him’ (Luke 12:16–21). In other words he died and had to face God and account for his life. Anyone who ignores those in need, or the demand for practical action to relieve suffering, effectively ignores God. Words without action are empty.

The one category of people that Jesus did condemn was those who deliberately ignored God or pretended to be devoting their lives to God when they were not. He utterly condemned the priests and religious leaders who were so proud of their own reputation as holy and good people but, inside, were self-centred and corrupt. His language about these people was anything but temperate (Matthew 12:34–37). The one incident that the Gospels record when Jesus seemed to have lost His temper was when He went into the Temple in Jerusalem and found it filled with merchants selling things and people who changed money. He was angry that they had turned what should have been a house of prayer to God into, as He termed it, a den of robbers. He took out a whip and physically attacked the merchants. His anger was greater because He is recorded as calling the Temple ‘my Father’s house’ (John 2:13–17) referring, of course, to the Christian claim that Jesus was the Son of God and not the son of any human father. Instead of a place of holiness and devotion to God, the Temple had become something very different. The extent, therefore, to which Jesus would have been seen as a scandalous and uncomfortable figure by those with money and power is hard to over-emphasise.

For Jesus, prayer should be at the centre of a person’s life. Prayer was like talking to a close friend and Christians should bring all their concerns to God. His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, and the Gospels record what has become the most famous prayer for Christians, called ‘The Lord’s Prayer’:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

(Matthew 6:9–13)

The word ‘Amen’ is generally added at the end of Christian prayers and means ‘so be it’. It is used at the end of all prayers, even prayers said by the priest or leader of worship, and links those participating with the prayer. It is important to note that Christians ask to be forgiven by God in the same way they forgive others; in other words, if they do not forgive others, God will not forgive them.

If God is truly at the centre of a person’s life, then all the things that normally preoccupy people will assume lesser importance. When Jesus’ called His first disciples He called them to leave everything behind: friends, family and possessions. Disciples are required to put God centre stage in their lives and, if this is done, then money, reputation, sex, appearance and all those things that most people value so highly will be seen in their proper perspective. This does not mean that they are irrelevant, just that once a person seeks to devote their life to God, these other things can only ever be of peripheral importance. It is not possible to serve both God and worldly desires and interests.

Jesus preached the coming of the kingdom of heaven, but this was not what the people amongst whom He was living expected. He did not preach a new Davidic kingdom which would throw out the Romans and establish Jerusalem as the seat of a new Jewish government. The kingdom that Jesus proclaimed was a kingdom in people’s hearts. This was in some ways a radical and new idea, although the basis for it lay in the Hebrew Scriptures and the teaching of the prophets. Bringing people to see this new understanding of God’s kingdom was not easy; it was not the message that people wanted to hear.

Jesus realised that His message would not be readily received. He likened it to a farmer who was scattering seed: some of it fell on stony ground and withered almost as soon as it germinated; other seed fell on poor ground and sprang up but had no roots and died; whilst still other seed fell on good ground (Matthew 13:3–9). Similarly, the message of Christianity would not be well received by many; some would either ignore it or else take it on board with enthusiasm, but abandon it as soon as doubts or difficulties came along. Jesus never expected that His message would be accepted by everyone, nor that it would be popular. He said that following Him would involve pain and suffering, misunderstanding and rejection, and it would be hard (Matthew 10:17–18, 38–39). On one occasion He said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (this is a reference to a very narrow gate into the walled city of Jerusalem which a loaded camel would have been unable to enter) (Mark 10:23–25). Someone with wealth and possessions will find that his or her heart is anchored in these and it will be almost impossible to centre life on God. Jesus said if money or power or reputation is really important to a person, then this is where their heart will be.

Jesus found the greatest faith in people who were on the outside of conventional society: a poor widow who had almost no money but gave a few coins which, for her, represented a great deal; a Roman centurion who trusted Jesus’ power to heal and accepted that, when Jesus spoke, his servant would be healed even though the servant was a long distance away; a woman caught in adultery who trusted Jesus even though everyone else condemned her; another woman who wept for her sins; blind beggars, lepers who were despised and outcasts – these were Jesus’ followers initially.

The rabbis and teachers of Jesus’ time had built up a set of rules that regulated every aspect of the life of a devout Jew, and for many of these people keeping the rules had become an end in itself. The Pharisees in particular considered that devotion to God could be measured by the extent to which one kept the rules. Jesus cut through this and taught that what mattered was the change within the heart of a person, not whether they kept the rules. For instance, He and His disciples were criticised because, when crossing a cornfield on the Jewish holy day (the Sabbath) they ate a few ears of corn. This broke the rules, as picking corn was considered to be work and work was not allowed on the Sabbath. Jesus’ critics said that Jesus’ failure to condemn His disciples meant that He was not a devout Jew (Luke 6:1–5). On another occasion, He failed to wash before a meal and He was criticised because this was one of the strict rules that a Jew had to follow. He talked to people who were regarded as sinners and outcasts, something that no pious Jew would do. He touched a leper, which was condemned by the Jewish law. He healed a person on the Jewish holy day and this was also condemned (Luke 6:6–11). The teachers of His time were continually trying to trap Him and to show that He was not really a faithful Jew at all, still less a prophet. On one occasion they brought to Him a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. The punishment according to the Jewish law was clear: she had to be stoned to death. His critics thought that they had him in a trap – either He had to forgive her and show that He rejected the Jewish law and was not a genuine prophet at all, or He had to condemn her and all His talk of forgiveness would be undermined. Jesus’ response was simple. He said that whoever had never committed a sin should throw the first stone. Clearly no one was in this position, so they all went away and left Him with the woman. Jesus did not condemn her; He merely said gently, ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’ (John 8:3–11).Gentleness and yet a firm devotion to God was at the heart of all Jesus did, and this message shone through in a way that the teaching of the priests and law-givers of the time did not.

Whereas most Jews of the time were angry with the Romans, Jesus treated those Romans He met with compassion and understanding. On one occasion an attempt was made to trick Him by asking whether Jews should pay taxes to Rome (Luke 20:20–26). Again, whichever answer He gave would seem to land Him in trouble. If He said that taxes should be paid, then He would not be seen as a devout Jew, as Jews bitterly resented the Roman taxes, so He would become unpopular. If He said that taxes should not be paid, then He would have been arrested by the Roman authorities. It seemed He could not win. His answer was simple. He asked for a coin to be shown to Him and then asked whose head was on it. ‘Caesar’s,’ was the answer; He simply said, ‘Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s,and to God what is God’s.’ In other words, what mattered was not the issue of taxes but where the hearts of people really were. Many were so preoccupied with money and material things that God had been altogether forgotten.

Jesus was in no doubt that the way a person lived would determine what happened after death, and He was also in no doubt that there was a separation between heaven and hell. The punishments in hell were severe. In one case Jesus told the story of a rich man who went to hell and a poor man, Lazarus, who used to sit at the gate of the rich man and beg, and who after death went to heaven (Luke 16:19–31). The rich man pleaded for mercy or, at least, that Lazarus could be sent to his living relatives to warn them. Jesus said that no move was possible from hell to heaven and that sending someone who had died to the living relatives would not achieve anything. If they did not believe the Jewish prophets, they would not even believe if someone rose from the dead (a poignant look forward to His own resurrection).

We have already seen that at the baptism of Jesus the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove. The role of the Holy Spirit is vital in Christianity; it is seen as the Spirit of God in God’s self which strengthens, comforts and, in some cases, guides Christians. Jesus said to His disciples that when He died He would not leave them alone, as the Holy Spirit would remain with them. The Holy Spirit, Jesus and God in God’s self are one in Christianity; this gives rise to one of the most important of all Christian doctrines. This is that God is Trinitarian. God is one, but God is also Three. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the three persons of the undivided Trinity with no separation between them. It cannot be emphasised strongly enough that this does not mean that there are three gods, as some critics were to later maintain. Christianity is firmly committed to both the unity of God and to God’s essentially Trinitarian nature. This is, Christians accept, a mystery, but it is a mystery that is at the heart of Christian faith. The Trinitarian doctrine means that when the Holy Spirit comes to a Christian this is the same as God in God’s self. Fifty days after Jesus’ death, at what has become called Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came directly to Jesus’ followers when they were gathered together. The presence of the Holy Spirit provides, therefore, the guarantee that God is with them always in a very personal way.

Figure 3: Andrei Rublev’s extraordinary icon of the Old Testament Trinity, depicting the three visitors who came to Abraham (Genesis 18:1–15), shows God as three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – sitting at a table with a fourth place set for the viewer. The chalice (the cup used for wine in Catholic and many other Christian services) symbolises the Eucharist or Mass in which Christians participate. The figures are not looking at each other but form a circle to include the viewer.

Towards the end of His ministry, Jesus sent His followers out with a command to spread the good news (the Gospel) which He had come to deliver. He is recorded as saying:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with youalways, to the very end of the age.

(Matthew 28:19–20)

As we saw in the last chapter, just before He died Jesus shared a meal with His twelve closest friends. This has become known as the Last Supper. At this meal Jesus took bread and broke it and shared the pieces amongst His disciples; however, He also said words that were to have a decisive impact on future Christian practice: ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me’ (Luke 22:19).Then He took wine and when He had given thanks He again shared this with His disciples, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenantin my blood, which is poured out for you’ (Luke 22:20).These words form the basis for what Christians variously call the Eucharist, the Mass, or the Lord’s Supper. Different Christians have varying understanding of how these words of Jesus are to be interpreted. Catholic Christians take the words literally and have long argued that, at the Mass, when the priest consecrates the bread and wine, there is a ‘change of substance’ and it becomes the body and blood of Christ, although the believer continues to experience it as bread and wine. This gives rise to the Catholic practice of the consecrated bread or wafer being adored by the believer, and of the priest consecrating the bread and wine (which only a priest can do) and then this being distributed to the faithful by a lay person. Catholics call bread that has been consecrated and kept in this way ‘the reserved sacrament’ and it is kept close to the altar in a tabernacle with a candle burning beside it. Other Christians, such as Anglicans, maintain that Jesus is ‘really present’ at the Eucharist but they do not specify in what way (see here (#litres_trial_promo)). Many Protestant Christians see the bread and wine as symbolically representing Jesus’ presence (some Protestants use fruit juice instead of wine because of the alcoholic nature of wine). There are, therefore, differences in understanding. Nevertheless, almost all Christians are united in the importance of taking seriously Jesus’ words at the Last Supper.

Jesus had twelve close friends or disciples who accompanied Him throughout His ministry. Three of these were particularly close to Him – Peter, James and John. James and John were brothers whilst Peter was a former fisherman, an impetuous man who would often speak first and think later. Jesus prophesied that the kingdom of heaven was coming and that He, His disciples and all who followed Him would share in this kingdom. Gradually the disciples came to realise that this was not an earthly kingdom but a heavenly one and, naturally enough, the question arose as to who would be the leaders and closest to Jesus in His new kingdom. The mother of James and John came to Jesus and asked if her sons could sit one on His left and one on His right when He came into His new kingdom (Matthew 20:20–23). In asking this, she showed a lack of understanding as to the nature of the coming kingdom. Unlike earthly kingdoms, the new heavenly kingdom would be one of love and service where those who sought to be first would be least important and those who were humble and thought nothing of themselves would be first. It was an inversion of all the values underlying worldly power and achievement. Jesus pointed out that the path to the new kingdom lay through service to others, suffering and death – hardly an attractive prospect. He also made clear that Christians would necessarily suffer in this world, just as He would have to suffer. Jesus, therefore, inverted all the normal ideas of power often associated with God. For Jesus, God’s power was shown most clearly in compassion, suffering and love. It was the power of weakness, not of might. This was emphasised in the picture of Jesus dying on the cross: dying like a common criminal, alone, despised and rejected by human beings. Yet, Christians hold, this is God in God’s self dying on the cross. God becomes human and suffers as a human and does so out of love.

Peter was impulsive but had a genuinely good heart. He felt himself totally committed to Jesus and would have done anything for Him. However, the Gospels are realistic. When Jesus was about to face arrest and His coming death, and Peter vehemently declared his love and undying loyalty, Jesus gently told him that, before the cock crowed to indicate that the night was over, Peter would deny Him three times. After Jesus’ arrest Peter followed Jesus to the High Priest’s house where He was taken, but Peter was recognised and was accused of being one of Jesus’ disciples. Peter denied it in the strongest terms (John 18:15–27). This happened twice more and, after the third denial, the cock crew. Peter felt bitterly ashamed and angry with himself. This close friend of Jesus was weak and fully capable of failure, yet this was the man whom Jesus chose to lead the Church that would carry on His work after His death. This is part of a theme running through both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures: that God chooses those who are outsiders and who are despised in worldly terms, not the powerful and successful.

One of the controversial passages in the Gospels specifically concerns Peter. Peter was formerly called Simon and is renamed Peter by Jesus. The Greek word petros means ‘stone’ or ‘rock’ and Jesus uses a play on words to say, ‘you are Peter, and on this rock [petros] I will build my church’ (Matthew 16:18). Peter is given the keys of the kingdom of heaven and is told that the forces of evil will not prevail against the Church. Catholics hold that all authority is given by Jesus to the Church thus founded and that Peter and his successors are placed at its head: ‘whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’ (Matthew 16:19). This is central to the Catholic understanding that Peter was the first leader of the Christian Church – the first Pope – and that successors to Peter would have authority over the Church on earth and in heaven. Still today the papal seal has the symbol of crossed keys, indicating that the keys of the kingdom belong to the Pope and Catholic priests can release or forgive people for sins committed on earth. Protestants tend to play this passage down or even consider that it may have been inserted before the Gospels were produced in their final form and are, therefore, less willing to give authority to the Church. This is an issue to which we will need to return.

Figure 4: The papal crest of Pope Francis, showing the crossed keys of St Peter which appear on every papal crest. The letters ‘IHS’ are the first three letters of the Greek word for ‘Christ’. The motto below the crest reads ‘miserando atque eligendo’ (‘by showing mercy and by choosing’).

Jesus’ death was not, however, simply the death of another innocent human life. It is also seen as a sacrifice. The idea of a sacrifice is not one that is widely accepted in the modern world. A sacrifice occurs when a person gives up something of value which they treasure for a higher cause. Sometimes a person is held to have sacrificed their life in a battle by allowing themselves to be killed to save the lives of comrades. In all religions, sacrifice has been an important idea, ranging from the willingness of an individual to sacrifice their own self-interest to help others, to the sacrifice of something they value in order to achieve self-discipline. Jesus, Christians hold, sacrificed His own life out of love to bring people back to God: to eliminate the cumulative centuries of sin and disobedience and to allow a new start.

The real power of God, Christians hold, is shown on the cross in Jesus dying, alone and abandoned, out of love for all human beings. So Jesus lays down His life, willingly and by His own choice, for His friends. What is more, He specifically says that His friends are all those who listen to what He taught and take His words seriously: who try to love God and love their neighbours with all their heart and mind and soul (John 15:10–15). Christians, therefore, see Jesus laying down His own life and suffering an agonising and terrible death in order to bring people to God, to redeem them from the cumulative effects of sin. It is for this reason that Christians refer to Jesus as their Saviour, the one who saves them from the effects of sin and disobedience and brings them home to God their Father. Jesus is not just the Saviour of all Christians. Jesus died for His friends and, in so doing, atoned for their sins. The punishment that is justly due to all human beings who have failed and who have sinned is cancelled because of Jesus’ acts of suffering. Jesus, when He dies, pays the price of sin for all believers. The fairness of the universe is maintained.

FIVE (#ulink_b67dc941-4a8e-54f6-9879-2726d9579f3e)

The Resurrection and the Initial Spread of Christianity (#ulink_b67dc941-4a8e-54f6-9879-2726d9579f3e)

The New Testament consists of the four Gospels, a number of letters written by St Paul and others, a final book called Revelation and the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts of the Apostles (often referred to simply as ‘Acts’) is generally agreed to have been written or compiled by the author of Luke’s Gospel and is a second part of this work. It contains some of the earliest records of what happened immediately after Jesus’ death.

In Chapter 3 (#udd7804c7-9bc1-575b-bab0-10d39995cb4c) we saw that Jesus was crucified by the Romans. After His death, His body was placed in a cave hewn out of rock, with a large stone rolled across its entrance. His death is commemorated on the day that Christians call ‘Good Friday’ (see here (#litres_trial_promo)) at about three o’clock in the afternoon and His body would have been placed in the tomb the same day. In the heat of Palestine, it was essential that bodies were buried quickly. Jesus’ friends and disciples were in despair and also full of fear that the Jewish authorities might hunt them down next. They were dispirited and demoralised. Their friend and leader, for whom they had given up everything, was dead and all His promises seemed to have come to nothing.

On the Sunday morning, either one or two women (the accounts differ) went down to the tomb. These were Jesus’ closest friends and they went there to mourn. They found that the huge stone had been rolled away and that the tomb was empty – the body had gone. The grave clothes, in which Jesus’ body would have been wrapped, were neatly placed in a corner. One Gospel account records that two angels were in the tomb (John 20:11–13). The fear and consternation felt by the women are not hard to imagine. One of them saw someone she took to be a gardener and, thinking that he had taken Jesus’ body somewhere else, she asked him where the body had gone. The supposed gardener simply uttered her name, ‘Mary,’ and she instantly recognised that it was Jesus (John 20:14–18). She ran to throw her arms round Him in amazement and joy, but He said no: He had not yet ascended to His Father and her Father, to His God and her God. Mary was instructed to go and tell the disciples what had happened. In another Gospel account it is Peter who comes down after Mary and therefore sees what has happened (Luke 24:9–12).

Mary Magdalene is a pivotal figure in the Gospel accounts who, with others, supported Jesus financially and was with Him constantly throughout His ministry:

After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene)from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’shousehold; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

(Luke 8:1–3)

Figure 1: This painting by Titian shows Jesus still with a few grave clothes after his resurrection. Mary Magdalene is trying to touch Him and Jesus is pulling away. Mary is shown here with ginger hair, and this has significance (see here (#litres_trial_promo)).

In some disputed texts, written soon after Jesus’ death, Mary is recorded as one of the apostles. However, Christians from the fourth century AD onwards began to associate Mary Magdalene with another Mary, a prostitute who washed Jesus’ feet and was forgiven by him (see here (#ulink_48b158b3-c5ff-583b-9aec-f3777fc7e985)). What cannot be questioned is that Mary Magdalene played a central role immediately after Jesus’ resurrection. In Eastern Christianity she is described as ‘equal to the apostles’ and the Orthodox Church maintains that she was a virtuous woman all her life. In Western Christianity she is sometimes described as ‘the apostle to the apostles’, as it was she who brought news of Jesus’ resurrection to His disciples.

The news that Jesus had risen from the dead and had been seen by Mary and Peter was greeted with amazement and some incredulity by the disciples, and one of them, Thomas, simply could not believe it. He said, understandably, that he would not accept it as true unless he could see Jesus for himself and place his finger in the hole in Jesus’ side where the soldier’s spear had pierced it, and also in the holes in His hands. When Jesus did appear to Thomas and he finally believed, Jesus said that those who believed without seeing the physical evidence had greater faith and were more blessed (John 20:24–29). Jesus appeared to the disciples in a locked room (they were hiding and in fear of arrest) on other occasions. On one occasion, as two of the disciples were walking to a nearby town called Emmaus, Jesus walked with them without them recognising Him. It was only in the evening, when He shared their meal and broke bread with them, that they recognised Him (Luke 24:13–35). One of the most famous appearances of Jesus was to St Paul (Acts 9:1–19), although in this case Paul heard a voice rather than seeing Jesus.

Christians record several stages after Jesus’ death. In the first stage Jesus appears to various disciples and followers with the same body that He had when He died; the marks of the nails were in His hands and feet and the spear mark could be seen in His side. The next stage began when He ascended to God (this is referred to as the Ascension). After this, Jesus does not appear in bodily form, but the Holy Spirit comes to the new Christian followers.

If one event is more crucial than any other to Christian belief, it is the resurrection. The apostle Paul wrote:

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

(1 Corinthians 15:17–19)

Jesus was a remarkable and extraordinary human being (as well, Christians claim, as being God incarnate) but the event that singles Him out from every other remarkable teacher is the resurrection. It is reasonable, therefore, to ask what evidence there is for the resurrection. Clearly, we have the recorded testimony of those to whom He appeared after His death, but what other evidence is there?

One of the most remarkable and extraordinary phenomena in history is the extent to which Jesus’ followers – a small, frightened group who were in hiding for fear of the Jewish Temple authorities who had just, with the co-operation of the Romans, slain the disciples’ leader – changed to a group who went out with total confidence and joy, preaching ‘Christ crucified’. They no longer had any fear at all and, indeed, some were put to death, meeting their death calmly in the total conviction that death was not the end. This was a crucial mark of the early Christians: they faced death without any fear. This transformation is very hard indeed to explain in terms of a psychological delusion or mass paranoia. The best and simplest explanation, Christians hold, is that the stories of the resurrection are true. No other explanation can so persuasively account for the total alteration that took place in the frightened disciples, particularly as this was not an expectation shared by most Jews and it would have been greeted with incredulity by non-Jews.

Jesus made clear that, in rising from the dead, he had defeated the power of death: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;and whoever lives by believing in me will never die’ (John 11:25–26). Death was no longer the end and the power of death to bring fear and a sense of meaninglessness to the lives of individuals was destroyed. Death was now to be seen as merely a door to a richer and more perfect life with God in heaven. Christians, therefore, did not fear death, as it marked the entry into eternal life. Christians also came to believe that Jesus had defeated the powers of hell. Hell was a place of permanent exile from God, and a tradition grew in Christianity that Jesus descended to hell before rising from the dead. By so doing, Jesus released those who had died from the power of hell, so both death and hell were no more to be feared. This did not mean that Christians did not believe in hell – they did. However, hell was a place of freely chosen exile from God and, given the permanent possibility of forgiveness by God, the door was always open in this life to return to God, just as a penitent son returns to his father.

The resurrection is at the heart of Christianity, as is the identity of Jesus. He asked His close friends at one point in His ministry: ‘Who do people say I am?’ They replied that popular opinion differed: some said He was Elijah who had come back again; some said one of the great prophets. Jesus then asked, ‘Who do you say I am?’ and the impulsive Peter replied, ‘You are the Messiah’ (Mark 8:27–29). In many ways this is the key issue. Who is Jesus? If He was just a great teacher and a great Jewish rabbi, then Christianity is false. If He was an extraordinary prophet – one of a long list of prophets – then Christianity is false. Christians affirm that Jesus is the Christ, the chosen one of God, God’s Word, God incarnate come to redeem the world by His sacrifice. If this is true, then the resurrection is not improbable at all.

Before Jesus ascended to God the Father, He promised His disciples that He would not leave them alone and comfortless but would send the Holy Spirit or Paraclete (Counsellor) to them. Christians are firm in their belief that God is one, yet God is three persons in one. Thus the three persons of the Trinity are God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. Since the Three are nevertheless One, when Christians talk of the Holy Spirit being with them, this is equivalent to saying God or Jesus is with them. After Jesus ascended, the disciples were praying together when a tremendous wind tore through the house and a tongue of fire rested on the head of each of the disciples. They were then able to speak in many different languages and they could be understood by people who had come to Jerusalem from many different nations. This event is celebrated in the third most important of the Christian festivals, which is called Pentecost. This occurs fifty days after Easter day (the day when the resurrection of Jesus is celebrated). An important part of the worldwide Christian community today are the Pentecostal churches, which proclaim the coming of God’s Spirit and, in particular, the Spirit of prophecy given to various church leaders (see here (#litres_trial_promo)).

Christianity spread initially among Jews and it must be remembered that there were Jewish communities and often synagogues in all the major centres of the ancient world. However, after Christianity was opened to non-Jews (see here (#litres_trial_promo)) there was explosive growth among people of all races. Often the early Christians were women or slaves who responded to Jesus’ central message of God’s love and forgiveness.

Initially the Christian message was spread by word of mouth and small groups of believers started to meet in each other’s houses. However, there was little in the way of central organisation and each community was autonomous. The New Testament was not in existence at this stage and verbal reports of Jesus’ message, death and resurrection were all that was available. It was inevitable that diversity of beliefs and practices should emerge.

No other single character was more influential in the early years of Christianity than St Paul. He was originally a devout Jew and, before his conversion, was a bitter opponent of Christianity who was authorised by the Jewish leaders to use all means to stamp out what was seen as a new and heretical sect. After his conversion, he became fearless in preaching. Although he had not known Jesus personally, he considered that he was an apostle just as much as the apostles commissioned by Jesus during His life, as he felt that he had had a personal commission from Jesus. Most of Paul’s preaching was to non-Jews and when the leaders of the Christian community in Jerusalem heard of this, they opposed what he was doing. The issue was one that was bound to arise; Jesus was a Jew, all his initial followers were Jews, and so now the question was whether all Christians had to be subject to the Jewish law (including strict dietary laws as well as the circumcision of males). The apostles in Jerusalem, under Peter, initially felt that this was necessary but Paul did not. When, therefore, the Jerusalem leaders challenged Paul about this, he travelled to Jerusalem to resolve the issue. We have a record of the meeting in the Acts of the Apostles (15:1–