Charting a New Reformation, Part VIII – God –“Not a Being but Being Itself” (Cont.)

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 21 January 2016 7 Comments
Please login with your account to read this essay.
 

Question

I have a question about the concept of the “messiah.” I understand that this idea comes from the belief that we are fallen people, who need to be saved from original sin and also out of a culture of oppressed people, who were looking for someone to lead them to freedom. My question is this: What does it mean today? Was Jesus the messiah and, if he was, exactly what does that mean? We are still living in an imperfect world and from what I can see, Christians are no less sinful than anybody else. What makes Jesus more of a messiah than any other great religious leader?

Answer

Dear Evan,

Messiah is a word and a concept that was born in Judaism. It was, at its birth, nothing more than a title for the king of the Jews; it means literally “The Anointed One.” When there ceased to be a king of the Jews after the royal house of David had been destroyed by the Babylonians in the sixth century BCE, the concept of messiah entered into mythology and began to reflect the hopes of the Jewish people. The messiah became the fantasy figure, who would restore the fortunes of the Jews. How this figure would accomplish that task varied widely. Some messianic images were quite triumphant, while others were quite humble. In time, divinity entered the messianic images. We see that especially in the book of Daniel. The Bible has numerous images of messiah. My favorites are the “Servant” from II Isaiah (40-55) and the “Shepherd King” from II Zechariah (9-14). Jesus’ followers, quite clearly, wrapped messianic images around his memory.

When Christianity, under the influence of Augustine in the 4th century, became obsessed with the fall, with guilt and with the need to be saved, the memory of Jesus began to reflect these views. Later generations then assumed that these post-Augustinian views reflected “traditional” and even original Christianity. They do not! They reflect rather a 4th century CE distortion of Christianity.
One part of Judaism defined messiah very broadly as any life through which the will of God is lived out or any life in which the “word of God” is heard speaking. Even Cyrus of the Persians was called “messiah” in II Isaiah because the Jews believed that his role in freeing them from their exile was an act in fulfillment of God’s will. I like those images. They have nothing to do with beliefs and have everything to do with being.

I have no problem calling Jesus the messiah, for he is the life through which I experience God’s will and God’s presence and the life in which I hear God’s word being spoken. This is not an exclusive concept, however, for I can experience God’s presence and hear God’s word through many other human beings. I recognize the Christ principle in others because I see it lived out so completely in Jesus of Nazareth. It is, however, and indeed should be present in every person. When you or I are the the source of life, love and being to another, we are living out the messianic or the Christ presence.

Hope this helps.
John Shelby Spong

 

Comments

 

7 thoughts on “Charting a New Reformation, Part VIII – God –“Not a Being but Being Itself” (Cont.)

  1. WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on this website.

    Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.