What I have described previously as The Simple Truth is also the simple message of Jesus, and it is a tragedy that what, in essence, is so simple has been made so alien and convoluted that it makes no sense. In the name of Jesus, the Christian church tells us that we are possessed by a malady they call original sin and that God was so angry about this that he had his only son die on our behalf, somehow thereby fixing the problem. And if we believe this, then we are granted eternal life when Jesus comes again. What actually happened with Jesus was quite different.

Some Background history

1. There are a few things we may know about Jesus prior to his public ministry. Probably born in the hamlet of Nazareth, likely illiterate, a keen observer of the ever-present poverty and oppression of the poor by the wealthy, and also a disciple of John the Baptist, where Jesus no doubt heard John’s scathing criticism of the rich and powerful. After a time with John, and along with a few of John’s disciples, Jesus set out on his own. 

Background sources

2.  The information that we have about Jesus comes to us at best third/fourth hand. First, there were oral reports about him, narratives that were then combined into documents that were in turn combined with other sources, all of which were ultimately compiled by an editor, of which we have six, going by the names of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Thomas and Q. The first editions of what these editors wrote in the late first c- early second, are long since destroyed, and the earliest fragment of any document comes to us from the late second century. This does not imply that we know nothing about the lives of Jesus and the disciples, but it does mean that the documents require careful comparison and analysis.

What Jesus did

3.  Why did anyone pay attention to Jesus in the first place? Not because he walked on water, was born of a virgin, turned water into wine, or raised Lazarus from the dead, all of which he did not do. They paid attention because, above all else, they found in him what it meant to be a loving human being. Utilizing the human characteristics described in my previous article, The Simple Truth, [Moments, worlds, void, community], we can say that Jesus’ life was a continual Moment in which he was always aware of what he called the Father. Looking at it from another perspective, Jesus did not live in a self-contained egocentric world of his own creation. He was continually able to be there for others, open to their needs, and reach out in love so that he could become a moment for them. He also enabled others to realize that the source of their Moments, those eternal Nows manifest in smiles and tears and goosebumps- the source of those Moments was none other than God, the Ground of Being, The Great Spirit, The OneLove, Creator of All. He personally did not experience the void or search for meaning because his was a life of meaning itself. Because of who he was, Jesus was able to introduce people to themself just as he introduced them to God. He was both a mirror that reflected one’s very being and a window to the divine. Who he was and how he became that way remained a mystery, an event not to be explained, only experienced.

Types of disciples

4.  Not everyone paid attention to Jesus and of those who did, not everyone was changed by him. And of those who were impacted by their encounter with him, not everyone chose to stay with him. He did gather a family of about 25 women and men who lived together in Capernaum in Galilee, but there were others. Some accepted what Jesus taught them and moved on, showing and telling others about their new life.And some in Galilee were changed but did not join the family. 

Beliefs

5.  Those followers who were changed but who went on their way to live their life elsewhere left us two of the gospels, Thomas and Q. Most significant is the fact that neither of these sources from the very early communities has any mention of a sacrificial crucifixion and subsequent walking out of a tomb. All those who became disciples but moved on, initially had no knowledge of Jesus’ death.

6.  But the disciples who moved on were convinced that the Spirit of Jesus was alive in their midst wherever they were, even while he was still alive and walking with his Galilean family. Those disciples who stayed with Jesus and became his family of friends also were convinced, after his crucifixion, that his Spirit was alive in their midst.

7.  The presence of the Spirit could be experienced but not understood. The body was dead, the Spirit lived on. This belief is not the idea of Jesus walking out of an empty tomb.

8.  They also were convinced that their spirit, indeed, the spirit of all, like the Spirit of Jesus, would live on after the body passed on, returning to the Ground of all Being. 

9.  All of these beliefs were founded on a fundamental assurance that Love was the essence of all that is, that Being-Itself was a moral fabric of compassion that encompassed all that is. This faith created in them a sense of joy that could not be shaken, even in the face of hardship and adversity, a joy that others could see and emulate.

Go to Part I: The Simple Truth – Guidelines for a Happy Life

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Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith,   The Void and the Vision and  The New Matrix: How the World We Live In Impacts Our Thinking About Self and God. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT