Sijo Chemmannur
Member
Stagnancy is detrimental in its all sense. When apostles tried to convey about the spiritual growth, it means the growth to the perfection and stature of our lord and savior Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:13). But, it is not a philosophical or religious utopia, instead an achievable state of enlightenment both in its human nature and that of the anointed 'Christos'.
We should really understand the inseparable nature of this relationship. Not one over the other. It won't therefore be ideal to even inculcate Jesus Christ only as a human or only as the anointed one- the Messaiah.
Jesus as a man is a Jewish Rabbi who learned the Torah and other Judaic books, well versed with all the commandments of Moses and living a noble life in Nazareth till his 'time' of anointment came at the age around 30 years. He went on to teach the kingdom of God and the necessity to repent from the sin (Matthew 4:17). He went on to preach his novel teachings and do many miracles near-around Jerusalem and Judea. The beauty and essence of Jesus' teachings is its socialistic outlook. He always gave importance to the weak and the poor. Ladies and children got very special attention from Him (John 8:7, Luke 18:16, Mark 16:10 etc..). He went to the next extend to relate Himself (God ness and goodness) to the least among the people "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). The exhortation He made on the mount of sermon is His declaration of Hope. A hope and dream of equality. An empowerment to the needy and downtrodden (Matthew 5:3-11). When there is no barriers for the love to the all, even to the enemies (Matthew 5:44). In a 1930's speech, Mahatma Gandhi told, "when there is no barrier of love and when there is no idea of retaliation, then Christianity is fully lived". He uphold an idea of 'Loga samastha sugino bhavanthu' (let there be peace to everyone on earth). A mental state of togetherness beyond the boundaries of nations. That might be the reason he is called 'the father of the nations'.
The deeds and teachings of Jesus Christ might sway our way out of a greedy capitalistic society where the center of the world revolves around "I" and 'more'. Competitiveness of the current world made peoples eyes blind towards the needy around us. Pragmatic logical reasoning of the society constricted our mentality towards the disabled to accuse them of the incompetency. "Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not?" (Mark 8:18) is really happening around us. Jesus Christ believed in Socialism- a society where all are considered equals apart from the barriers of cast, creed, ethnicity, culture, language, gender, nationality etc. This is the sign of a true communism. Power to all and all are same. We are indeed the beacon of Jesus Christ's love, kindled by His anointment from God.
The Messiah (Christ-Christos-anointed one) is embedded in the divine understanding of the God in human flesh. This concept might be difficult to understand with materialistic or worldly notion. In John 6, when Jesus Christ started explaining about His divine nature- "I am the living bread which came from heaven", people started murmuring and said "This is an hard saying; who can hear it? (John 6:60). This caused many of His disciples went away from Jesus Christ. Christ embody the ultimate possibility of God, burgeoning in human. A hope of a perfect man with divine love and love for others. A man who do to others what he would have them do to himself (Matthew 7:12) and a man who lays down his life for his friend (John 15:13). An idea that humans are no longer servants of God (John 15:15), but we are His children to call Him Abba father (Romans 8:15). Christ transformed us from our human nature and from the dominion of darkness to his glory (Colossians 1:13). A understanding of the truth that Christ (anointment) in us (Colossians 1:25-27). This understanding and our faith in Christ will purify us from the corruption of this world and keep us away from sins (2 Peter 1:4).
James, in his epistle clearly states that faith without action is dead and useless (James 2: 14-26). Through faith we are made righteous and the outpour of that faith should lead us to outward extension of our faith to action. On the contrary, action without faith and understanding of the persona of Jesus Christ is also vain as the completeness of divine nature is only through Jesus Christ. Let us grow more in Jesus Christ through our faith and also through our actions.
We should really understand the inseparable nature of this relationship. Not one over the other. It won't therefore be ideal to even inculcate Jesus Christ only as a human or only as the anointed one- the Messaiah.
Jesus as a man is a Jewish Rabbi who learned the Torah and other Judaic books, well versed with all the commandments of Moses and living a noble life in Nazareth till his 'time' of anointment came at the age around 30 years. He went on to teach the kingdom of God and the necessity to repent from the sin (Matthew 4:17). He went on to preach his novel teachings and do many miracles near-around Jerusalem and Judea. The beauty and essence of Jesus' teachings is its socialistic outlook. He always gave importance to the weak and the poor. Ladies and children got very special attention from Him (John 8:7, Luke 18:16, Mark 16:10 etc..). He went to the next extend to relate Himself (God ness and goodness) to the least among the people "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). The exhortation He made on the mount of sermon is His declaration of Hope. A hope and dream of equality. An empowerment to the needy and downtrodden (Matthew 5:3-11). When there is no barriers for the love to the all, even to the enemies (Matthew 5:44). In a 1930's speech, Mahatma Gandhi told, "when there is no barrier of love and when there is no idea of retaliation, then Christianity is fully lived". He uphold an idea of 'Loga samastha sugino bhavanthu' (let there be peace to everyone on earth). A mental state of togetherness beyond the boundaries of nations. That might be the reason he is called 'the father of the nations'.
The deeds and teachings of Jesus Christ might sway our way out of a greedy capitalistic society where the center of the world revolves around "I" and 'more'. Competitiveness of the current world made peoples eyes blind towards the needy around us. Pragmatic logical reasoning of the society constricted our mentality towards the disabled to accuse them of the incompetency. "Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not?" (Mark 8:18) is really happening around us. Jesus Christ believed in Socialism- a society where all are considered equals apart from the barriers of cast, creed, ethnicity, culture, language, gender, nationality etc. This is the sign of a true communism. Power to all and all are same. We are indeed the beacon of Jesus Christ's love, kindled by His anointment from God.
The Messiah (Christ-Christos-anointed one) is embedded in the divine understanding of the God in human flesh. This concept might be difficult to understand with materialistic or worldly notion. In John 6, when Jesus Christ started explaining about His divine nature- "I am the living bread which came from heaven", people started murmuring and said "This is an hard saying; who can hear it? (John 6:60). This caused many of His disciples went away from Jesus Christ. Christ embody the ultimate possibility of God, burgeoning in human. A hope of a perfect man with divine love and love for others. A man who do to others what he would have them do to himself (Matthew 7:12) and a man who lays down his life for his friend (John 15:13). An idea that humans are no longer servants of God (John 15:15), but we are His children to call Him Abba father (Romans 8:15). Christ transformed us from our human nature and from the dominion of darkness to his glory (Colossians 1:13). A understanding of the truth that Christ (anointment) in us (Colossians 1:25-27). This understanding and our faith in Christ will purify us from the corruption of this world and keep us away from sins (2 Peter 1:4).
James, in his epistle clearly states that faith without action is dead and useless (James 2: 14-26). Through faith we are made righteous and the outpour of that faith should lead us to outward extension of our faith to action. On the contrary, action without faith and understanding of the persona of Jesus Christ is also vain as the completeness of divine nature is only through Jesus Christ. Let us grow more in Jesus Christ through our faith and also through our actions.
