I am writing this at the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and this year the fourth Sunday of Advent. For those of us in the northern hemisphere the lights of Christmas and of Hanukkah are a sign of hope and comfort in these dark days. Recently I was asked to do a short video for a neighbouring parish on the significance Jesus might have for other faiths as part of their Advent preparation. Sometimes Christians are surprised to find that other religions have a respect and reverence for Jesus even if they do not identify him as the Son of God.
In Islam, more than any other faith, Jesus has a special status. He is mentioned 25 times in the Quran. Mary is mentioned 34 times which is more than in the Gospels. She is In fact the only woman mentioned in the Quran and even has a chapter named after her. The Quran tells the story of Jesus conception and birth, but it is different from the one in the New Testament. In the Quran, the conception of Jesus (Isa) is a miraculous virgin birth, having been announced by the angel Gabriel but the birth takes place in a remote place under a palm tree, and as a baby, Jesus miraculously speaks to defend his mother and proclaim his status as a prophet of God. This is quite a different account from the Christian one but the important point of these stories is not to work out what happened, which one is right. Rather it is to ask what meaning there is in the stories and what do they tell us of Jesus. For Muslims Jesus is a prophet, one the 5 great messengers of God, the mention of whose name is accompanied by the phrase ‘peace be upon him’ as happens when the name of Mohammed is spoken. In the Quran God encourages Prophet Muhammed to take inspiration from Jesus as he, too, was persecuted for his faith and to learn from his admirable virtues which are a universal guideline for all. Islam recognises Jesus as the messiah, the anointed one who came from God and brought the gospel to humanity. He is seen as a preacher and miracle worker who was rejected by the Jewish authorities but in contrast to the Christian story he is stated neither to have been crucified, nor executed. Rather he was raised alive into heaven from where he will return at the end of time with the Mahdi, a messianic figure who will restore justice, defeat evil, and lead the world into a golden age.
For Jews Jesus is neither a prophet or a messiah or the Son of God. Rather he was born, lived and died a Jew, as did his early followers. It was Jewish worship, ethics, and practice that shaped Jesus’s life and teachings. It was the scriptures of his people that inspired and nurtured him. For Jews Jesus did not intend to establish a new religion. Rather he preached a way of living the Jewish Torah and through his followers and Christianity brought the world to a knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All of this is now accepted within Catholic and other Christian circles. Unfortunately for centuries the name of Jesus became synonymous with Christian antisemitism and the charge of deicide. Thankfully, since the promulgation of the Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate which states clearly that Jesus, his mother and the apostles were Jewish, that the Jews cannot be held responsible for the death of Jesus and that antisemitism is a sin and must be rejected, there is now a much more open approach to both Christianity and the person of Jesus within Judaism. In the year 2000 an interdenominational group of Jewish scholars issued a statement called Dabru Emet which means Speak Truth. It was signed by over 200 rabbis and scholars and stated that Jews and Christians worship the same God. “Before the rise of Christianity, Jews were the only worshippers of the God of Israel. But Christians also worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; creator of heaven and earth. While Christian worship is not a viable religious choice for Jews, as Jewish theologians we rejoice that, through Christianity, hundreds of millions of people have entered into relationship with the God of Israel”.
Hinduism and Buddhism belong to a different family of religions but both have an acceptance of Jesus within their own systems of belief. Hinduism is a way of life that began in India. It is rooted in religious views dating back to the 12th to 6th centuries BCE and has no single founder. There are many varieties of Hinduism embracing a complex and divergent set of views, and for this reason, it is difficult to isolate a unified set of beliefs related to Jesus. But many have no difficult in seeing Jesus as a holy man and a wise teacher, even a manifestation of divinity but not unique in this. This was the case with Mahatma Gandhi who greatly admired the teaching of Jesus greatly particularly that found in the Sermon on the Mount which he read constantly.
Buddhism as religion is based primarily on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama who lived in the 5th/6th cy BCE and who is known as the Buddha, the Enlightened One. Buddhism too incorporates a variety of religious traditions, beliefs and practices. Like Hinduism, it provides no singular unified view about Jesus, although a number of Jesus’ characteristics are described by many Buddhists. For them Jesus a holy man, an enlightened man, a wise teacher. Some Buddhists including the 14th Dali Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Tich Nhat Hanh have recognized Jesus as a” bodhisattva” that is one who delays final salvation seen as escape from the round of rebirth until all sentient beings are saved. In other words a man of infinite compassion and love. For Tich Nhat Hanh Jesus and the Buddha are brothers and he had a picture of this on his personal shrine. He has written “on the altar of my hermitage in France are images of the Buddha and Jesus and every time I light incense I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors. I can do this because of contact through friendship with real Christians like Martin Luther King who truly embody the spirit of understanding and compassion of Jesus. When you touch someone who authentically represents a tradition you also touch your own …… when those who represent a spiritual tradition embody the essence of it just in the way they walk, sit and smile speaks volumes about the tradition”
Is this not a salutary lesson for us all? And perhaps the real meaning of Christmas.
In Islam, more than any other faith, Jesus has a special status. He is mentioned 25 times in the Quran. Mary is mentioned 34 times which is more than in the Gospels. She is In fact the only woman mentioned in the Quran and even has a chapter named after her. The Quran tells the story of Jesus conception and birth, but it is different from the one in the New Testament. In the Quran, the conception of Jesus (Isa) is a miraculous virgin birth, having been announced by the angel Gabriel but the birth takes place in a remote place under a palm tree, and as a baby, Jesus miraculously speaks to defend his mother and proclaim his status as a prophet of God. This is quite a different account from the Christian one but the important point of these stories is not to work out what happened, which one is right. Rather it is to ask what meaning there is in the stories and what do they tell us of Jesus. For Muslims Jesus is a prophet, one the 5 great messengers of God, the mention of whose name is accompanied by the phrase ‘peace be upon him’ as happens when the name of Mohammed is spoken. In the Quran God encourages Prophet Muhammed to take inspiration from Jesus as he, too, was persecuted for his faith and to learn from his admirable virtues which are a universal guideline for all. Islam recognises Jesus as the messiah, the anointed one who came from God and brought the gospel to humanity. He is seen as a preacher and miracle worker who was rejected by the Jewish authorities but in contrast to the Christian story he is stated neither to have been crucified, nor executed. Rather he was raised alive into heaven from where he will return at the end of time with the Mahdi, a messianic figure who will restore justice, defeat evil, and lead the world into a golden age.
For Jews Jesus is neither a prophet or a messiah or the Son of God. Rather he was born, lived and died a Jew, as did his early followers. It was Jewish worship, ethics, and practice that shaped Jesus’s life and teachings. It was the scriptures of his people that inspired and nurtured him. For Jews Jesus did not intend to establish a new religion. Rather he preached a way of living the Jewish Torah and through his followers and Christianity brought the world to a knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All of this is now accepted within Catholic and other Christian circles. Unfortunately for centuries the name of Jesus became synonymous with Christian antisemitism and the charge of deicide. Thankfully, since the promulgation of the Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate which states clearly that Jesus, his mother and the apostles were Jewish, that the Jews cannot be held responsible for the death of Jesus and that antisemitism is a sin and must be rejected, there is now a much more open approach to both Christianity and the person of Jesus within Judaism. In the year 2000 an interdenominational group of Jewish scholars issued a statement called Dabru Emet which means Speak Truth. It was signed by over 200 rabbis and scholars and stated that Jews and Christians worship the same God. “Before the rise of Christianity, Jews were the only worshippers of the God of Israel. But Christians also worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; creator of heaven and earth. While Christian worship is not a viable religious choice for Jews, as Jewish theologians we rejoice that, through Christianity, hundreds of millions of people have entered into relationship with the God of Israel”.
Hinduism and Buddhism belong to a different family of religions but both have an acceptance of Jesus within their own systems of belief. Hinduism is a way of life that began in India. It is rooted in religious views dating back to the 12th to 6th centuries BCE and has no single founder. There are many varieties of Hinduism embracing a complex and divergent set of views, and for this reason, it is difficult to isolate a unified set of beliefs related to Jesus. But many have no difficult in seeing Jesus as a holy man and a wise teacher, even a manifestation of divinity but not unique in this. This was the case with Mahatma Gandhi who greatly admired the teaching of Jesus greatly particularly that found in the Sermon on the Mount which he read constantly.
Buddhism as religion is based primarily on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama who lived in the 5th/6th cy BCE and who is known as the Buddha, the Enlightened One. Buddhism too incorporates a variety of religious traditions, beliefs and practices. Like Hinduism, it provides no singular unified view about Jesus, although a number of Jesus’ characteristics are described by many Buddhists. For them Jesus a holy man, an enlightened man, a wise teacher. Some Buddhists including the 14th Dali Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Tich Nhat Hanh have recognized Jesus as a” bodhisattva” that is one who delays final salvation seen as escape from the round of rebirth until all sentient beings are saved. In other words a man of infinite compassion and love. For Tich Nhat Hanh Jesus and the Buddha are brothers and he had a picture of this on his personal shrine. He has written “on the altar of my hermitage in France are images of the Buddha and Jesus and every time I light incense I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors. I can do this because of contact through friendship with real Christians like Martin Luther King who truly embody the spirit of understanding and compassion of Jesus. When you touch someone who authentically represents a tradition you also touch your own …… when those who represent a spiritual tradition embody the essence of it just in the way they walk, sit and smile speaks volumes about the tradition”
Is this not a salutary lesson for us all? And perhaps the real meaning of Christmas.
RSS Feed
