Jesus of Nazareth

[jhunex]

Jesus has been the most influential man in history. Emerson once said, "To be great is to be misunderstood." Jesus was the greatest man who ever lived, and he is even today the most misunderstood man who ever lived. For the first time we have the true story of Jesus.

Christianity does not have a realistic view of Jesus birth. For thousands of years they have romanticized his birth as a sanitized nativity scene instead of the horrible reality of a filthy stinking barn. The truth was that it was harsh and sad that the Messiah had to come to this world with so little love. The Wise Men who came to him should have taken care of him, but like everyone in Jesus' life they deserted him. The story of Jesus is the saddest story of human history, next to Adam and Eve.

Jesus mother Mary was succesful in her mission of bearing the Second Adam. Unfortunately, she was not successful in understanding and supporting him. When Jesus left his home and started his ministry Mary and his brothers thought he had lost his mind in becoming a religious fanatic upsetting people by being an outrageous heretic who led a crazy, nonconformist lifestyle.
Jesus was kind to prostitutes but he was harsh with his mother because she, unlike the prostitutes, did not believe in him. Once at a wedding feast in Galilee. Mary told Jesus they were out of wine. He called to her saying, "O Woman, what have you to do with me?..."(John 2:4). He did not say "Mother", but instead "Woman".

Mary and his brothers became so ashamed and concerned for him they went to take him home and restrain him there. In today's world this is called conservatorship where family members get custody of their relative because he or she is mentally incompetent. In other cases families have kidnapped their loved one who they believe have become a religious nut case. This is called "deprogramming" by those who resort to force. The true name would be faith breakers. This is how Jesus' family felt. When they arrived at the house Jesus was staying in they told a messenger to go inside and tell Jesus they were there to take him home. When Jesus heard this he told the messenger to go outside and tell her he wouldn't see her. She had a mission to support Jesus as the Messiah and she utterly failed. We read, "...his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man that told him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?....for whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother' "(Matt. 12:46-50). He refused to see them because they had no faith in him and refused to do God's will. His family's disbelief and disunity tragically made Jesus' mission more difficult.

[jhunex]

When Jesus left home to start his public ministry he immediately went to see John the Baptist. John was the greatest evangelist of the day. He traveled the countryside barefoot, wearing a camel skin, living on locust and wild honey and begging for food. He spoke with such authority that many people came from miles around to hear him and be baptized by him. He attracted large crowds and gained many disciples. He preached,"I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness," Make straight the way of the Lord,..."(John 1:23). When John saw Jesus, John had a spiritual experience. A dove descended on Jesus, and God said "This is my Son with whom I am well pleased"(Matt. 3:17). Tragically, after this spiritual experience, John began to doubt that Jesus was the Messiah. So he took his disciples and went down the river, continuing to baptize. Only two of John's disciples followed Jesus. John should have gone with Jesus too. He should have been Jesus' disciples and been the forerunner who introduced Jesus to Israel. Just as Jesus was the mediator between God and mankind, John was to be the mediator between Jesus and the Israelites, the chosen people. It is proper for a speaker to be introduced. John should have been the one to introduced Jesus. On his authority, few would have rejected Jesus and the many who accepted would have begun the Messianic movement that would have ushered in the Kingdom of God.

Because of John's failure Jesus now had to witness for himself. He had to find people who would accept and go out and prepare the people for him. He found 12 disciples to follow him and we read in the Bible that they traveled from town to town. The disciple witnessed for Jesus. They asked people to come hear him preach of the ideal world on earth. Matt. 9:35 says,"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages....preachin g the gospel of the Kingdom." Jesus was intoxicated with God and his mission to proclaim God's will that we must fulfill the great blessings of being fruitful, multiplying and having dominion over creation by restoring the Garden of Eden on Earth.

[jhunex]

A basic belief of the Jewish people at that time was that not only would the Messiah come to them but that Elijah would return before the Messiah and introduce him. The Jewish Bible ended with the book of Malachi and the very last lines prophesy that Elijah will come again. Elijah was a prophet who lived 900 years before Jesus, and the Bible tells the amazing story of how Elijah had ascended up into the sky. Many Israelites felt that Elijah would return from the sky.
The Israelites did not know that God had given Elijah's mission to John the Baptist. While God was working with Jesus quietly and alone, Elijah and spirit world were working with John to guide him to prepare his people for the Messiah-the Anointed One. The angel had told John's father, Zachariah, the great mission John would have: "And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared"(Luke 1:16-17).

When Jesus' disciples went witnessing the people asked, How can Jesus be the Messiah? Elijah is supposed to come out of the sky and introduce the Messiah." The disciples didn't know what the people were talking about. The disciples were not educated and had not led a devout life like John the Baptist and the religious leaders of Israel. Just because the Messiah was born in a humble manner in a humble country that was poor and unknown to the empires of the world, this doesn't mean that God wanted the Messiah to always live like this.
God had worked to prepared Israel to immediately accept Jesus. God especially had worked with the religious leaders and most of all John the Baptist. They were rich in spirit, knowledge and position. It was extremely difficult for Jesus to have to work with his ignorant and crude disciples.

So when the people asked about Elijah they went to Jesus and asked him,"Who is Elijah?" Jesus said,"For all the prophets and law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come"(Matt. 11:13-14)
This was difficult for the Jewish people to believe. so they went to John and asked him "Are you Elijah?" He said,"I am not"(John1:21). The people had to decide. Jeus said John was Elijah; John said he wasn't. Who do you think the people believed?
In the eyes of the Israelites Jesus was lying, so they continued to wait for Elijah and therefore rejected the Messiah.

[jhunex]

John couldn't see Jesus as the Messiah because he was ignorant of God's providence. He interpreted the teachings of the Old Testament as did everyone else. Malachi said Elijah was coming out of the sky. Therefore, how could he be Elijah? What John didn't know was that God had no intention of sending Elijah out of the blue sky.
What Jesus meant was that the mission of Elijah would return. John the Baptist was to continue the mission of Elijah. John didn't know that Elijah was working with him from the spirit world urging him on to prepare the people.
Also,John couldn't accept Jesus because he felt that the Messiah would come in a dramatic wayout of the clouds or as a great military conqueror. It was too difficult to believe that this ordinary carpenter could be the savior of the world. So he didn't support Jesus and continued a seperate course.

The prevailing expectation was for the Messiah to come in an apocalyptic manner. They were expecting the Messiah to act dramatically to save them.
Some thought he would make a supernatural appearance as Daniel had prophesied,"I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all people, nations and language should serve him"(Dan.7:13)
Some thought of the Messiah as a great military conqueror like King David who would drive the Romans into the sea and glorify Israel. There were a few who correctly saw that a man would come and lead the people to build Jerusalem into a light for the whole world to come to and see God working and inspire the world to build the kingdom of God on earth. Very few held this correct view of the Messiah. It was extremely difficult for the Israelites to see a mere carpenter from the village of Nazareth as the Messiah. And when John kept witnessing seperate from Jesus the people became even more confused.

The people once said to John,"Rabbi, he(Jesus) who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is baptizing and all are going to him"(John 3:26). Then John answered,"He must increase, but I must decrease"(John 3:30). John's response has always been interpreted as John being humble. But this is not an expression of humility. John should have joined Jesus and shared his destiny. If Jesus increased so would John and so would anyone who follows the Messiah. If he really believed in Jesus as the Messiah he could never decrease as Jesus increases. John was confused and separated himself from the Messiah. John was imprisoned and later killed because of some insignificant problem of King Herod. He should have lived and died for the Messiah.

While he was in prison John wondered about Jesus and sent a messenger to Jesus to ask him,"Are you he who is come, or shall, we look for another?"(Matt. 11:3). Jesus didn't answer him directly or straightforwardly that he was the Messiah. He answered in a roundabout way saying:"Go and tell John...The poor have good news preached to them"(Matt. 11:4-5). This statement in an expression of the sorrowful heart of Jesus. The "poor" does not mean people who are economically poor. Jesus is saying that the only people who are listening to his message are people who have not led a spiritual life. Rich people, to Jesus, were John the Baptist, priests, scribes and the leaders of the Jewish people who were devout and trying to lead a religious life. Jesus wanted these people to first hear his message of truth--his revelations--but when they rejected him Jesus had to wander about the seacost of Galilee and through the region of Samaria to find ordinary people or those of the lower class who would listen to him such as ignorant fisherman and tax-collectors. God wanted the religious leaders to be Jesus' disciples. It was a secondary course for Jesus to have to go to those who were not so able and well prepared:"The wedding is ready,but those invited are not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet: And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good"(Matt. 22:9-10)

[pc2005it]

May Tagalog version ba ang essay mo? Itanong ko lang, sarili mo bang idea ang sinusulat mo? Ang galing mo naman!

[jhunex]

May Tagalog version ba ang essay mo? Itanong ko lang, sarili mo bang idea ang sinusulat mo? Ang galing mo naman!

Hi! pc2005

I'm very sorry, cause there is no Tagalog version of this at medyo mahihirapan siguro ako kong isasalin ko pa sa Tagalog...anyway I believe most of Filipino can understand English.

Actually this is not my own idea, I've got this base on the book called "Divine Principle" and I studied it. If you are interested you can find it on a thread tittled "A New Teaching" on page 2 of this Religion and Inspiration.

I hope you can have time to study it and if you have any question or clarification please be free to post it & I'll be happy to read it.:)

[pc2005it]

Sori pero wala po akong hilig magbasa ng Ingles. At konting Ingles lang ang alam ko. Salamat na lang po. Kung maipapaliwanag mo sa sarili mong pangungusap ang sinasabi mong "Divine Principle" at base dito e maipapaliwanag mo ng maigi ang mga praktikal na gabay nito na naaayon sa ating kasalukuyang pamumuhay, e baka maging interesado ako. Pero huwag nyo po sanang gaanong habaan ang essay at pakilagyan na lang po ng mas maraming tagalog para mas maintindihan ko. TY.

[D'sailor]

Jesus has been the most influential man in history. Emerson once said, "To be great is to be misunderstood." Jesus was the greatest man who ever lived, and he is even today the most misunderstood man who ever lived. For the first time we have the true story of Jesus.

Christianity does not have a realistic view of Jesus birth. For thousands of years they have romanticized his birth as a sanitized nativity scene instead of the horrible reality of a filthy stinking barn. The truth was that it was harsh and sad that the Messiah had to come to this world with so little love. The Wise Men who came to him should have taken care of him, but like everyone in Jesus' life they deserted him. The story of Jesus is the saddest story of human history, next to Adam and Eve.

Jesus mother Mary was succesful in her mission of bearing the Second Adam. Unfortunately, she was not successful in understanding and supporting him. When Jesus left his home and started his ministry Mary and his brothers thought he had lost his mind in becoming a religious fanatic upsetting people by being an outrageous heretic who led a crazy, nonconformist lifestyle.
Jesus was kind to prostitutes but he was harsh with his mother because she, unlike the prostitutes, did not believe in him. Once at a wedding feast in Galilee. Mary told Jesus they were out of wine. He called to her saying, "O Woman, what have you to do with me?..."(John 2:4). He did not say "Mother", but instead "Woman".

Mary and his brothers became so ashamed and concerned for him they went to take him home and restrain him there. In today's world this is called conservatorship where family members get custody of their relative because he or she is mentally incompetent. In other cases families have kidnapped their loved one who they believe have become a religious nut case. This is called "deprogramming" by those who resort to force. The true name would be faith breakers. This is how Jesus' family felt. When they arrived at the house Jesus was staying in they told a messenger to go inside and tell Jesus they were there to take him home. When Jesus heard this he told the messenger to go outside and tell her he wouldn't see her. She had a mission to support Jesus as the Messiah and she utterly failed. We read, "...his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man that told him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?....for whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother' "(Matt. 12:46-50). He refused to see them because they had no faith in him and refused to do God's will. His family's disbelief and disunity tragically made Jesus' mission more difficult.

With the advent of science, it seems that everything has been clearly explained. I beleive that God is the origin of science and the greatest scientest. Consedering that the bible is expressed in parables and symbols and not all informations were written down, my question is, was jesus birth really a miracle? (between the holy spirit and mother mary) or the natural way (between man and woman)?