It’s so normal for us to say it, we sometimes forget that “Jesus Christ” isn’t really Jesus’ name. Saying Jesus Christ is like saying Madonna Singer or Houdini Magician. “Christ” isn’t a name. It was a title given to him by Peter and means one manifesting the spirit of God. Jesus of Nazareth was a first-century Jewish preacher who rarely strayed from his hometown. Jesus the Christ rose from the dead. Two very different things.
I could be wrong about this, but I’ve come to the reluctant conclusion that Jesus, the man, may not have done all the miraculous things he was credited with. Written over the course of 100 years after his death, is it possible (purposefully or mistakenly) that some of the stories about the risen Christ were attributed to Jesus of Nazareth to increase his distinction among men?
For instance, did the apostles really see Jesus of Nazareth walking on the water when he was alive? Or was it the spirit of Jesus they thought they were seeing after he died? Did Jesus of Nazareth really rebuke the winds and the sea when the disciples’ boat was being swamped by the waves? Or was it his departed spirit they cried out to just before the storm passed? Over a hundred years the scribes could have written these stories any way they heard them. Is it possible that some were retold as miracles of the man known as Jesus?
Did he really feed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish, or did food suddenly appear after they prayed to Jesus? Did he really turn water into wine or was it discovered at a wedding Jesus attended and remembered many years later as a miracle. It could be said that Jesus provided a miracle in both instances. Did the Church need them to encourage people’s faith in their new religion?
My point is this. If Jesus didn’t really do miracles aren’t we wasting our time trying to do them? On the other hand, if he really did do miracles, shouldn’t we be doing them ourselves by now? He said we would. I’m choosing to believe him. I’m still expecting us to move mountains. So why aren’t we?
In all my church years, from Catholic school as a kid to Evangelical Protestant as an adult, I’ve seen the faithful pray for sick people who don’t get well, lame people who don’t walk, addicted and depressed people who don’t recover. I know people who say they know someone who did, but I haven’t. And I have never seen anyone walk on water or make storms disappear. Why is that?
It is my carefully considered opinion that it is because we don’t accept our innate divinity the way Jesus did. “Jesus Christ” confers on Jesus an identity that can’t be approachable for the rest of us, because we believe he was the only begotten son of God. It is a distinction that, no matter how hard we try, is not possible for us to emulate. But what if Jesus wasn’t the only begotten son of God? What if he was just the first to realize it. Didn’t he tell us to pray to “Our” father? What if divinity is our birthright the same as it was his? Isn’t that what he asked God to reveal to us with his final prayer in Gethsemane?
I believe it will happen for us because the discovery of Christ in man is the very purpose of our existence. When it happens for enough of us, the world will see Jesus again and call it his long-awaited Second Coming.
In the meantime, discouraged because we aren’t becoming like Jesus, we worship him in hopes that it will change our lives and fix our world.
As Dr. Phil would say, “How has that been working for us?”
