Jesus

Jesus, or Jesus Christ, was a Manifestation of God who lived in Palestine during the period of Roman occupation, and whose teachings form the basis of Christianity. He declared himself to be the Messiah expected to deliver the Jewish people from oppression, and reaffirmed the basic tenets of Judaism, teaching about the oneness of God, belief in atonement and salvation, and God's love for His creatures. The Bible's New Testament, which records the life and teachings of Jesus, ascribes to Him a number of titles, including that of the Son of God and Son of Man; Islamic traditions also give him the title Spirit of God (Arabic: روح‌الله).

In His discourse, Jesus explained that He did not come to abolish the laws of Moses, but to fulfill them. Nevertheless, His new interpretations of religious truth led to a change in practical terms. After a period of teaching which spanned perhaps three years, Jesus took his disciples to Jerusalem, where He was tried by the Sanhedrin (the leading Jewish priests) for blasphemy, and handed over to the Roman authorities, who had Him crucified. Most of His disciples were not, apparently, present for His death, which took place on a Friday. By the Sunday morning it was realised that His spirit was still alive in the world, and that His teaching, and belief in Him, were not dead.

Bahá'ís generally accept New Testament accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus, affirming his life, crucifixion and death as real and historical, although His resurrection is interpreted as a spiritual occurrence, rather than a physical one.

Life

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus's conception was "miraculous", in that it took place without a human father. Neither the Qur'án nor 'Abdu'l-Bahá seem to deny this claim. However, Jesus would have been regarded as the son of Joseph, the man who became Mary's husband. Jesus would have been known, therefore, as Isa ben Yusuf or something similar.

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke go into some detail over Jesus's ancestry and birth, while neither subject is touched upon in either John's or Mark's Gospel. Mark's narrative begins when Jesus starts teaching, at the age of around thirty. Jesus apparently chose twelve individuals (all males) to be His chief disciples, and the names of these are given, although there are slight discrepancies between the lists. Before the end of His ministry, He sent out "seventy" disciples at one point. However, there seems no doubt that the twelve were regarded as being of primary importance, because when Judas Iscariot broke ranks, betrayed Jesus and then killed himself, the remaining eleven elected a twelfth to take his place.

Jesus explained that He was not abolishing the laws of Moses, He was fulfilling them. Nevertheless, His new interpretations led to a change in practical terms. So, He changed the emphasis in the law on divorce, and also on the interpretation of the Sabbath law. This latter change was so marked that the early Christians moved the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday, in honour of Jesus's rising on a Sunday.

After a period of teaching which spanned perhaps three years, Jesus took his disciples to Jerusalem, where He was tried by the Sanhedrin (the leading Jewish priests) for blasphemy, and handed over to the Roman authorities, who had Him crucified. Most of His disciples were not, apparently, present for His death, which took place on a Friday. By the Sunday morning it was realised that His spirit was still alive in the world, and that His teaching, and belief in Him, were not dead.

His arrest, trial and crucifixion

At Passover, He led His disciples to Jerusalem (Yerushaliyim), where He seems to have understood that He would be killed. Some of His teaching seems to have upset some of the religious hierarchy. As the guards and soldiers would not know where He could be found, nor identify Him for certain in the crowded city, His enemies used Judas Iscariot as an informer. Judas's motives are not clear, but 'Abdu'l-Baha tells us that Judas saw himself as one of the foremost disciples, if not the most outstanding one. It was Judas who used to go ahead into each village, and whip up enthusiasm for Jesus before He even arrived. However, Jesus bestowed some special role on Simon (Peter, Kaifas), and Judas became jealous. On the night of Jesus's arrest, He was approached by Judas, who kissed his cheek. This was the signal to indicate which person was Jesus.

Jesus was taken before the Sanhedrin, which was the council of priests. They questioned Him as to His teachings and His station, and found Him guilty of blasphemy. The political situation at the time left the power of life and death in the hands of the Romans, and therefore it was necessary that the Romans should carry out Jesus's execution. A place of execution, known as Golgotha, existed outside the city, and Jesus had to carry His cross to the place. Most of the disciples did not appear, with Peter (Simon) famously denying, at that point, that he even knew Jesus. However, the disciple named John was apparently present. A sequence of bodily failures actually cause the death of someone nailed on a cross like that, and the process usually takes quite a while. However, in Jesus's case it was unusually quick. His body was brought down, and was hastily buried before sunset, as the sabbath would have prevented any action after dusk. "Burial" was in this case being placed in the tomb of a follower or sympathiser, one Joseph of Arimathea.

Jesus' teaching

Jesus used several methods of teaching. On certain occasions He spoke directly to someone, "as someone in authority". On other occasions He spoke using allusion or allegory. On yet others, He used parables - stories with underlying meanings and implications. Many of Jesus' parables seem to transcend normal human values and expectations of fairness or of negative responses.

Later titles

Even during Jesus's Ministry, there was some discussion as to His spiritual station. Simon, one of the disciples, told Jesus that he believed Jesus to be the Messiah, "The Chosen One" (or "The Anointed One", which amounts to the same thing). This led to the creation of a title for Jesus, which was "Jesus the Messiah". This has come down to us using the Greek translation, which is "Christ". So when people speak of "Jesus Christ", they are saying, in effect, "Jesus the Chosen One". It is possible to infer Jesus's confirmation of this title, by His elevation of Simon to primacy among the disciples, and by renaming Simon as "Peter" (Kaifas, which means "the rock", or Petra in Greek). Using the title "Jesus Christ", from a Bahá'í point of view, is tantamount to first naming which Manifestation one is referring to (Jesus) and subsequently asserting that He *is* a Manifestation (Christ, "The Chosen One").

The title "Son of God" is, like "Messiah", rooted in the ancient Jewish Scriptures. In the Gospels, the only time which Jesus accepts this title is during His trial, when He is asked whether He is the "Son of God". Jesus replies that He is, but that whoever comes to Him, He will give them the power to become sons of God. The inference could be drawn that the word "son" implies closeness, and not any kind of physical family relationship. It is probable that the idea of Jesus being, in some physical sense, God's Son, came more from Greek influences, Greek religious and mythological systems having frequent physical relationships between the human and the divine.

Jesus Himself sometimes used the title, the "Son of Man" when referring to Himself. Again, the title is an eschatological reference from Jewish Scripture, indicating in an understated way a supremely important figure in religious history (probably comparable to the Bahá'í title "Manifestation of God"). By using this title in the third person, He may have been avoiding the trap of seeming to claim something directly for Himself.

Jesus in Bahá'í Scripture

Jesus is specifically mentioned by Bahá’u’lláh in a number of passages. In Gleanings we read:

“ Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit." ” — Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 85