Teacher, preacher, healer, Jesus of
Nazareth, lived and died in Roman Palestine long ago, but is well-known today and through the centuries because of traditions and writings handed on by his followers. Peter, John, Paul and Mark are among the names of Jesus' followers and from them we learn that Jesus came to the people of Israel to announce the coming kingdom of God (Mk 1:15). God' s kingdom, its mystery, its invisibility, its power, its spread, was the message of the Nazarene. Jesus was dedicated to God, whom he called "
Father," and taught his disciples many things about God. To read the gospels and study them is to learn about the mission of Jesus. Outside Scripture are other writings, such as '
Didache,'
Letters of Ignatius and
Gospel of Thomas, that contribute to historical grasp of message and mission of Jesus the Nazarene.
Mission of Jesus and Ends of Man
Without meaning and purpose in life, people suffer anomie, become listless with a sense of worthlessness. [1] A growing child is educated, directly and indirectly, through interaction with people and surroundings and will discover purpose for herself. Meanings, values, life-purpose, may be adjusted, discarded and replaced. The purpose that lasts, becomes firm in heart and mind, provides direction in decisions to be made. Remembering one's overall purpose in life, thinking about accomplishing it day after day, making needed changes in understanding purpose (vocation, calling), is a necessary focal point in reasoning.
To be happy or at least, content, is a goal of man (male or female). A father might say to his son, 'respect yourself, son and have respect for others. Son, a person must work to make a living. I don't care what your career or work is, be happy in your work. All honest work is important.' Peace, happiness, contentment, do not seem to be the default position of people, rather, our default seems to be waiting, waiting for something. This waiting or looking for something, from infancy to old age, indicates a basic lack in human being. This human lack or empty space inside self may be called 'soul.' [2]
Following is an excerpt from Gospel of Mark, chap. 1 (NIV):
Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
The phrase, "why I have come," in verse 38, shows Jesus' raison d'etre; he prays, travels, in order to proclaim a message. The 'praying' shows the connection to God in Jesus' mission. The heart of Jesus' ministry was to bring God and people together.
Another end of man is death. Jesus integrated death, his own future death, into his teaching.
The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Lk 9:22)
Death, proper end of fallen man, should be part of self-examination and self-understanding. Sixteenth century English poet
John Donne, expresses a Christian viewpoint on the matter.
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
. . .
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Here is a passage from Matthew's Gospel, chap. 22, in Good News Translation:
The Question about Rising from Death
23 That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus and claimed that people will not rise from death. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses said that if a man who has no children dies, his brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children. 25 Now, there were seven brothers who used to live here. The oldest got married and died without having children, so he left his widow to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second brother, to the third, and finally to all seven. 27 Last of all, the woman died. 28 Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All of them had married her.”
29 Jesus answered them, “How wrong you are! It is because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power. 30 For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry. 31 Now, as for the dead rising to life: haven't you ever read what God has told you? He said, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is the God of the living, not of the dead.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.
Jesus represents man in history. He was firm in purpose and had a large impact on his society. We can read two-thousand-year-old documents about him. Jesus also stands in for man in eternity.
..he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. (Acts 2:31f)
By means of this Spirit, disciples of the Nazarene bear witness to a way transcending death, leading mankind to a heavenly realm. Jesus, "his whole life presupposes the reality of God.." [3]
Notes
[1] "Among my patients from many countries, ... a considerable number ... were suffering ... because they could find no meaning in life or were torturing themselves with questions.." C.G. Jung,
Modern Man in Search of a Soul (NY: Harcourt, 1933), p. 231; see online article, '
Worthlessness' (2019) at goodtherapy.org
[2] See, S.E. Frost,
Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers (Garden City: Doubleday, 1962), chap. VI, 'The Soul and Immortality,' "Death is a universal experience." "But the human mind has never been content to let the matter rest.." "Early man had his dreams." "This was probably the beginning of a belief in the human soul." (pp. 153f); ancient Greeks discussed 'soul' (psyche or
psuche), such as presocratic thinkers, Thales (6th century B.C.), who "seems to have believed that the soul was something that produces motion" and Pythagoras (6th cent. B.C.), who is reported to have told someone whipping a puppy to "stop, do not beat it, for it is the soul of a dear friend" and held doctrines of immortality of soul, as well as, transmigration of souls, cf., Jonathan Barnes,
Early Greek Philosophy (London: Penguin, 1987), pp. 64, 82, 86; see, also, online article, '
Ancient Theories of Soul' (2009) at 'Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'
[3] R.T. France, I Came to Set the Earth on Fire: A Portrait of Jesus (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1975), p. 170
