Jesus Christ-Life and Influence - Research Paper Example

Jesus Christ-Life and Influence The Paper: Jesus Christ could rightly be stated to be one of the greatest personalities arrived on the face of the earth, in order to leave indelible imprints of his noble personality, spiritual eloquence and unwavering commitment and dedications to his elevated mission and the astounding moral values and teachings for the spiritual uplift of the humanity at large. It is therefore, he is admired even by his worst enemies, i.e. the Jews, because of his benevolence, compassion, meekness and steadfastness, though is loved and revered by his followers and true believers as their benefactor, spiritual mentor and Savior, who would steer their ship to the safe harbors particularly in the world Hereafter because of their having unconditional faith and unflinching belief in his person (Chadwick, 1975). Jesus is unanimously regarded as the one and the only virgin birth that has appeared in the entire history of mankind since the creation of Adam and Eve in the paradise. The Old Testament had already made a prediction about his arrival in the world through the virgin delivery to be made by a pious and chaste noble lady i.e. Holy Virgin Mary (Isaiah, 7:14). Thus, the pious and religious-minded Jews were well aware regarding this exceptional kind of birth in their tribe one day in the wake of the Commandments to be made by the Lord in order to show the pagans, non-believers and hypocrites the signs of the Omnipotence of the Lord. Since all the tribes having faith in Almighty God were in wait of such a sacred birth, the Magi also travelled wide from the ancient Persia to the city of Nazareth in order to see the blessed child arrived in the world from the high heavens in order to fill the world with the dazzling sacred light of justice, equality, righteousness and faith. The Gospel of Matthew provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the visit of the three Magi from the distant region of Persia (Matthew, 2:2). Since the Magi had been blessed with the knowledge of astrology, and their association with the Zoroastrians had increased their faith in the Oneness of Almighty God the Creator, the three Magi set out to an exhaustive expedition towards Nazareth in order to see the holy child and present their gifts to the Savior of humanity. Consequently, the child would certainly be unique and extraordinary one, which would spend his entire life in teaching, preaching and helping the people without discrimination, and would embrace death at the prime of his youth just for saving the humanity from becoming victim of the punishment and agony for committing the original sin. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and the Magi also met him at there (Anderson, 2005: 23-24). However, because of the opposition made by the hypocrites and non-believers, Holy Mary had to proceed to Egypt in order to save the sacred child from the hatred of the envious and resentful people of Nazareth. Little is known about the childhood and early youth of the Holy Christ, though the historians and theologians appear to be agreeing with the notion that the signs of the spiritual elevation of this sacred child had started appearing in his personality since the childhood years (Littleton, 1975: 22). Somehow, Jesus returned to his native city along with his sacred mother in his early youth, where he was baptized by Holy John the Baptist (Matthew, 3:13-16), though John is noticed to be declaring Jesus superior to him in all respects. Hence, it becomes evident that his contemporary righteous men of Nazareth had maintained the knowledge of the spiritual and elevated status of Jesus Christ. The Christian faith is attributed to Christ, who preached love and kindness to all mankind. It is by dint of his love and sacrifice for mankind that not only this that the followers of the Christian faith live in every part of the world without discrimination, but also the number and proportion of the followers of the Christians has been the highest one in the entire world for the last several centuries, which depicts the truthfulness of Christ’s mission and popularity of the teachings he had preached throughout his noble life. The Christian faith actually is the continuity of the Abrahamic teachings and mythology, where Christ has laid stress upon observing of the same deeds that had manifestly been described in the Old Testament. In Sermon on the Mount, Christ preaches his disciples as well as the crowds of people about performing goodness, refraining from practicing cruelties, adultery, injustice, avariciousness, pride and wickedness. Moreover, he particularly reiterated on meekness, humility and modesty while dealing the others, as the poor in spirit, according to him, are close to their Lord (the Beatitudes, 5:3-12). He also condemns aggression, intolerance, revenge and retribution. Thus, Christ strongly turns down all social evils due to the very fact that all these traits and characteristics not only damage the reputation of the individuals observing the same, but also bring troubles and miseries in their wake. The same views have also been expressed in Leviticus, including worshipping One God (Latourette, 1975, 5-6), keeping humble before the parents, performing decency and righteousness to the elders, younger, neighbors and travelers, as Jesus views: “love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Littleton, 2001:23). In addition, Jesus’ teachings urge the humanity to refrain from fornication of all kinds, including sleeping with the people of same sex, telling lies and committing dishonesty etc. Eventually, the sermon delivered by Jesus Christ conveys the same message and teachings as Leviticus 18 & 19 preaches through the texts and meanings. Jesus rendered exemplary services for the benefits of humanity without discrimination of creed, race or religious belief. His miracles infused life into the dead, and healed the patients suffering from incurable diseases even, particularly leprosy and others. Thus, he appeared to be determined to heal all the physical, mental and spiritual ailments the human beings suffered. He expressed outstanding compassion and benevolence while entering into conversation especially with the poorest and most downtrodden people. It is therefore, fishermen, washer men and other poor people started revering him and developed their belief in him (Anderson, 2005:38-43), which is actually the tradition of God that all the holy men sent by, including Noah, Abraham, Moses and Muhammad (peace be upon them all) were opposed by the elite stratum of their society, but were revered by the lowest communities. Jesus advocated in favor of the poor and oppressed ones, and laid stress upon their welfare and socioeconomic uplift by treating them on the noble principles of justice and equality. Further, the help and support provided by Jesus to them infused a new ray of hope in them. As a result, the people began realizing the injustices and irregularities being exercised by the king, courtiers and the clergy. It was really an extremely intolerable matter for the royalty, which turned against Holy Christ, and started making plans of murdering the noblest soul at any cost. Jesus was maltreated, rebuked and tortured, and various types of atrocities were inflicted upon him. However, Jesus remained as firm as rock in the face of all hardships and atrocities, for he was to save the entire humanity from the cruel clutches of satanic forces. Consequently, he openly opposed the crimes, sins and debaucheries observed and exercised by the people at the helm of the government and authority. His firmness, resoluteness and passion proved the last straw on the patience of the ruthless administration. At last, the cruel administration of Herod, in the light of the conspiracies made by the hypocrite Jewish priests, ordered for the arrest of Jesus Christ. Jesus was tried at the court, and was declared as the blasphemous of the teachings of the Old Testament. Consequently, he was tortured and rebuked, and was crucified on Friday in order to stop his noble mission from spreading. Though they assassinated this great personality out of sheer feelings of hatred and prejudice, but no one could impose any barricade on the way of spreading his noble mission in all corners of the globe. It is therefore over two and half billion Christians and nearly one and half billion Muslims feel pride to associate themselves with this holy figure and his spiritual teachings with great love and profound reverence. The Christians believe that the Son of God sacrificed his life in order to save the humanity from the punishment and agony they would have to suffer because of the original sin of first humans, which has been transferred to all the descendants of Adam and Eve since their expulsion from the Eden Garden. Since Holy Christ has sacrificed his life at crucifixion, just for the sake of humanity, he deserves to be loved and revered forever and ever. References Anderson, Leith (2005) Jesus Bethany House Publishers Chadwick, Henry (1975) The Early Church The Pelican History of Church 1 Penguin Book Latourette, Kenneth Scott (1975) A History of Christianity Volume I Harper Collins p.196 Littleton, Mark (2001) Jesus Westminster John Knox Press p.106 The Gospel of Matthews V, VI & VII The Bible Gateway Retrieved from http://www.cncumsl.org/pdfs/Outline_of_Mass_2.pdf Read More