In this high-flying life of mesmerising cosmetics that enhances the high-tech sexing viabilities and beautifications, the mystic life that Christ led has truly become an anachronism for the vast majority, making a financial bonanza like that of the book ‘ Da Vinci’s Code’ that depicting Christ leading a profligate life, the one that the moderns think is the only outlet of boomeranging the present life of promiscuities and fads. Today’s generation cannot see anything better than that of our own reflections of our degenerated life, just as the Jews who belonged to the time of His first coming.

History repeats itself. He lived the life of a pauper, even far, far worse than that of under the poverty line. Despite man has nothing to claim on this earth, he boasts as if he were the creator of this universe. Jesus had no place to hide His face, whereas the ravens have their nests and foxes their holes. But He carved out a place for a temporary rest in between the earth and the sky after a nomadic wanderings of about thirty-four years, but He was forced to remain there motionless over three hours of untold agonies and pains, causing out of the bruises and bleeding of crucifixion that He received from the members of His own household. “What are the wounds on your back?...The wounds I received in the house of my friends”, Zec.13: 6. Such a tragic fate that He received didn’t come all of a sudden, the yoke of sufferings one after the other that He had to receive from His own house was foretold since the beginning of time. “ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearer’s is dumb, so he opened not his mouth” , Is.53: 7. “ I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard: I did hide not my face from shame and spitting…”, Is.50: 6…He started His public ministry on the basis of such prophesies and He presented His undeterred manifesto of His mission in His Sermons on the Mount.

Sermon on the Mount:
The Sermon on the Mount, Mt.5, 6 &7, that He addressed soon after defeating His archenemy in the battlefield of forty days’ temptations in the wilderness is the manifesto of His mission that He strictly adhered to till His last breath. While the first and some other prescriptions of the sermons could be ruminated by individuals in their solitude, there are others that a group has to practice, for example the case of divorce. “Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also…”, Mt.5: 38-40. Despite the precept of non-violence and ahimsa that the Indian mystics advocated, the spirit of total submission to the adversary and forgiving 7 times a day, Lk.17: 4, that Jesus promulgated was first of its kind, while the vanquished multitude of Jewish remnants were thirsting for a Messiah liberating them from the brutality of the Roman yoke. Many of us spend our passions during the heyday and come to a calmer mind towards the end of our life, but Christ had never cherished a double character of dubious beginning at any time. The irresistible silence of total submission to His enemy is the fortress of His victory that has been spinning martyrs for His Kingdom of peace and waiting for their crown that yet to be flowered in an ocean of tranquil Eternity lying ahead of our graves. He didn’t emphasise a group therapy of grabbing power by unionism and sabotage, His aim apparently was to change the individual make up that harness every one to be equipped for the worship of the Lord of hosts here and hereafter in the perpetuity of time.

Humanity has been benefiting only by a handful of individuals from time to time, whereas group therapy has only prostituted the high ideals what the persecuted individuals have offered by their incessant sufferings, inflicted by human animals. Behold the dubious works of 2300 church denominations and similar cults that add vexations for Jesus who did all good things for the redemption of mankind. No work of art has been provided by a group, nor a committee of scientists discover or invent many things. Religion is a personal exercise; spirituality cannot be imposed upon any one because it is a gift of God from above to an individual of high deserts. The Himalayan yogis who caved themselves into particular inhospitable holes or pits have given us the spiritual and social values that have to last till the peril of the world. There is an imperishable message from Prophet Daniel who dragged the time at the jaw of lions, his destined predators. The Son of Man who alone could carve out salvation for the vanquished mankind; no man could help Him at the time of His wailings during the crucifixion and no one could workout the formula of His resurrection from the dead. All that we got from is only His gifts, for which our contributions are only violent insolences.

Worldly Possessions:
The soul of Jesus’ gospel is for the cure of our souls’ ailments, despite the body also imbibes the spirit in turn. “ Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life doesn’t consist in the abundance of his possessions”, Lk.12; !5, because it is useless to waste the whole sojourn life for the transitory fleeting of the flesh at the expense of one’s soul that has an everlasting life. “And do not fear that kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell”, Mt.10: 28. Despite the author of both our body and soul is God, there is a claim for Satan over our body as it is wrought in the depths of the earth, Ps.139, on the basis of “a bond which stood against us with its legal demands”, Col.2.14. The mission of Jesus and His apostles have been to preach the world that the life on earth is only a transitory one, the cradle for the soul that is to find its abode in a plane that is over the other side of the gigantic galaxies.

He taught, therefore, that there is no meaning in making possessions in this rusty world that belongs to robbers and swindlers. This is the reason for the Lord of the universe to live an oblivious life that portrayed His credentials and credibility explicitly to the madding crowd. He had no roof over His head, nor had He any worldly possessions. He ate something that was provided by others. He felt hungry while returning from the house of Martha and Mary after an overnight sleep there, yet didn’t complain to none but only cursed the fig tree. Should we assume that He was starving for the sake of His apostles who had a bit of breakfast in Bethany? On another occasion, His disciples plucked heads of grains for eating to quell their hunger, Mt.12: 1. As Jesus was fatigued by hunger and thirst after the long walk, He asked the Samaritan woman to get some water while His disciples went for buying some food. Though He didn’t have any source of income, He felt sympathy over the hungry multitude and fed them enough in the wilderness. Despite He lived a pauper’s life of starvation; He gave food to the starving ones, cured the sick and comforted the physically and mentally crippled ones by miraculous ways. He helped others by miracles while he continued to live a nomadic life of a recluse. We have to adore the life of the apostles who also chose such a reclusive life by leaving their households, jobs and possessions behind, Mk.10: 28-31. The life style of Jesus is a warning to the modern charismatic faith healers and prosperity gospel preachers who lead the blind by robbing and misleading the simple hearted. This is treachery and greed, hello, the apostles of modern flamboyant Christianity! Even if you can’t give something to the poor, don’t grab the hard earned money from the vulnerable and the helpless victims of circumstances.

Many devoted ones who were attracted by His life style scarified their wealth for the mission of Jesus, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, Lk.8: 1-3. It was likely that the household of Martha and Mary-Bethany- was such a commune place where Jesus and His apostles spent the night just before the hosanna day. Jesus used to visit their home occasionally. In spite of getting some provisions by such means, instead of the Lord handling money, He allowed Judas to keep the fund that made him a crook, who sold the head of Jesus also at a cheap price. The corruption of Judas’ charity fund also signals the corruptions in all the vistas of the present day churches. Money is the only language that can work in our spiritual arenas where spinning money is a spiritual game.

Christ, the only Role Model:
Jesus is our only mediator and role model who still pleads for us by sitting at the right hand of the Father. The manifesto that He laid in the sermons on the mount was meticulously followed during His life time, particularly when the whole inferno unleashed its fury during the Passion Week. Despite the religious superiors wanted to get rid of Him by stoning to death, Jn.8: 59 or throw Him down headlong from the height, Lk.4: 29, He managed to escape from their hands. They tried to quiz and heckle Him to defeat on religious, spiritual and political arguments. Despite they cast aspersion about Him, He solved all such riddles on religious or humane grounds. They misinterpreted His associations with the social outcasts and sinners, yet the Lord of all everything found solutions that comes under the jurisdiction of Divine love. Despite He chastised them against their hypocrisy and leavened bread, still He loved them all as He knew the weaknesses of the flesh. Instead of focusing the torch to their inward being they lived on the yeast of their hypocrisy. The hard-heartedness that conceived the deceit electrified the volatile crookedness of their shifty nature. The power and pomp that guided their heart paved their way to misjudge the truth that was the weapon of Christ to propagate the Heavenly mysteries.

Ripeness of Time:
Jesus came at a time when the time was matured enough to turn the tides to ripeness. The secular, religious and social climate of a profligate life style made a class-oriented society of shepherdless flock that had been craving for a Messiah who could establish an Israelite nation that of the dimensions of king David’s empire. The Roman yoke that ruled the country by the help of King Herod of an Edomite descent and the corrupt spiritual hierarchy of two high priests, despite there ought to have been only one High priest as the head at the same time, preyed upon the vulnerable for their high-profile life. The son-in-law pulled the leg of the High priest and grabbed the position, forcing in accommodating him also in sharing the position. The theocratic judiciary, as of today, was corrupt to the core. The religious and social values were replaced with the financial values and sophisticated status symbol of artificiality. The religion of hypocrisy and sex that corroded the meaning of life was the real uncrowned monarch of the time.

The sigh of hopelessness was the breathing reality for the lower strata of a superfluous society. That was the reason for Jesus to move around with such misguided mob of the despised ones of the society and sowed the pearls of the Kingdom of God to the storm tossed ones. The reason for grouping the fishermen and tax -collectors as His apostles who belonged to that class of the outcasts was to ignite their passion of categorizing the Lord also under the same group which puzzled the Devil who was meticulously studying whether He was the real God or not. The disciples who also naturally eyed for high positions in the ministry were also riddled by the complexities of his enigmatic and reclusive life style, yet the unnatural miracles that He performed made some of them believe that He was the Son of God. Even during the Last supper, St.Peter’s ambition in becoming the highest in His kingdom was quite transparent. The cloud of oblivion that shaded Jesus as an ordinary man was to befool the devil that was following the saviour to study His authenticity as a real shepherd as foretold by the prophesies of old. Hence Jesus hid His real mission from everyone, yet revealing Himself at times in oblivious manner. This sort of enigmatic living style, at the same time to lead a sinless life, was a real test for the Lord, apart from the day to day real problems, to conceal His identity from His archenemy and also from the corrupt religious high command, an alleged part of His cocooned life. This type of horizontal and vertical collision of ideas inter acting one another was a real cross that pushed Him to carry the real cross to Golgotha towards the end of His short journey of thorns and prickles. The church and the human animals that ride on the Beast during His second coming will not give any heed to His command, Rev.17.1-10

Passions of The Cross:
Most of Jesus’ 7 utterances that He made are the clear-cut translations of His preachings as how to practice in life His sermons on the mount and thereafter.

1. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”, Lk.23: 34. For not in any event or in any literature, there is no such case of praying for the malefactors who indignantly tortured a person to death. Despite He was interrogated and questioned against the Roman jurisprudence at the dead of the night, their audacity to sentence a person to death during the night was horridly abhorrent. They daren’t do it during the daylight, knowing that that would lead to a civil war, eventuating in their total wipe out or the severe punishment from Caesar. And the chief judge who represented the Roman Caesar gave the verdict thrice, Lk.23: 13-25, so also king Herod, “I have found in Him no crime deserving death”, and as a gesture of His innocence, Pilate washed off his hands. He was under their assaults and violent torture for the whole night and most of the day too, without getting anything to eat or drink. The whip, equipped with pointed hooks, that they used to scourge Him pulled off the flesh from His body, including the flow of blood from the thorny crown that resulted in continuous bleeding and making a bloodbath beyond the descriptions of anyone. They bit, spat, kicked and mocked Him in a hideous way. Yet He did not rebuke or cherish any ill-feeling against them. To make a prayer to the Father to forgive the crucifiers who used to benefit so much from Him is unthinkable. Ghandiji’s case was entirely different because he got only a kick from the policeman after dragging him out of the train, yet his fast and hunger-strike shook the foundations of a global empire. Nowhere in history we find a case where the victim was tortured bestially by a carnivorous mob that was boiled with crude religious fanaticism, notwithstanding, a prayer for their ignorance and forgiveness from the victim is even unheard in the fiction.

2. After forgiving the enemies, His next mission was to forgive the sins of another person who was an enemy of His persecutors who crucified him as a sign of seeking vengeance and portray that Christ was a condemned heretic and a criminal rebel, fit to be crucified with religious or social untouchables. “Today you will be with me in Paradise”, Lk.23: 43. This proved that He was a Messiah of the oppressed and suppressed. The forgiven robber was the only convert of His mission while He was on earth; literally He was in between the earth and heaven. First He forgave the whole world that sleeps in the sloth of sin, and then the mission of forgiving a cruel individual proved that He was the one who literally lived by His manifesto, given at the beginning of His public ministry. He was the first person or despised criminal who was replanted in the celestial kingdom of Paradise after the dismissal of Adam from there.

3. If the first two important concerns were elevating the criminal world and criminal individual, the next benevolent thought was about His mother, Jn.23: 46, who lived a life of chastity that brought dishonour, contempt and miseries all throughout her life. Not only that she lived like an ill repute woman, but also that she was not more than forty-four years old who needed protection after Jesus’ crucifixion. It was His moral and natural duty to look after her for the whole life; instead He brought an ignominious death that invited scorn and contempt for the whole family, Jn.7: 1-8. Instead of deserting His earthly duties He handed over her to His cousin, the most beloved St.John. Representing the clergy, this apostle agreed to look after St.Mary, the symbol of church, and conveyed the message that both of them were witnessing the first live H.Qurbana on Calvary. Jesus obeyed the fifth Mosaic commandment in its true spirit in its outward form because the disciple was not able to care her thereafter as the apostles were dispersed around the world for their mission of propagating the Kingdom of God.

4. Despite He was in utter agony and desperation, the Lord’s first three worries were about the sinful world, then about each sinner, followed by His duty of caring and nursing His mother. Came then the introspection about His own pitiable condition of being deserted by the whole world, including His Father who sent for their ministry, Mk.15: 34; Mt.27: 46. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”? He took up a hazardous duty of His Father, bringing back the lost species that has forsaken the Father, as well as the Son who voluntarily took the burden of restoring the estranged ones in Paradise. He felt deeply that the benefactors and the Manager both have abandoned Him to His perdition, a wretched condition that every one faces in this world, not only once or twice but many times in many ways. The physical tragedy, not pain, of man can somehow be shared by the onlookers but who can share the mental torture and anguish of storm-tossed sufferers? The usual interpretation by the theologians is that while the fog of humanity’s sins that He bought had clouded with infernal darkness, Jesus felt the loneliness and the silence of the land of silence, hell. This, according to them, is a mental case of isolation that He experienced at the time of darkness. The explanation that I outlined in my books is that it was a deliberate intention of driving away the Devil that was sifting through whether Jesus was the real Son of Man, just as he tempted the Saviour in the wilderness.

   Jesus solved his riddles/ temptations in the wilderness by quoting from the bible, conveying the message that He was only an ordinary human being. When the Devil heard this helpless utterance from an alleged son of God that he was forsaken by God, the son of perdition concluded that he was not the saviour that was sent from above. Thus the Devil finished his work, with the satisfaction that Jesus was not the Saviour of mankind bringing salvation to the fallen ones, and retreated from tempting Jesus further. Saying that His Father forsook the Son or vice versa doesn’t suit the Divine wisdom and reality of inseparable mystery of the H. Trinity. The Devil, the author of connivance and craftiness, who cheated the first parents and God in order to snatch the fruit from the Tree of Life, was deceived at last by the Messiah while hanging on the Tree of Life. The tradition attests that the wood of the cross was a dismembered branch of The Tree of Life during the great flood of Noah’s time. This piece that was lying in Lake Bethzatha was once in a while was allegedly washed by the angels, Jn.5, in the light of traditions.

5. “It is finished”, Jn.19: 30. A long drama that started in Eden has come to a near close, but the event budded in the Eternity, the rebellion of Lucifer, will come to a finish only after throwing the enemy and its cronies into the lake of fire after His second coming. Though the bygone 4000 or 6000 years is only a dot in the Eternity, the pain to defeat the archenemy in a hide and seek battle was an unimaginable silent war for the H.Trinity. The bleeding crucifixion on the cross achieved His aim, for which He carried the yoke of sufferings for the lost race of Adam.

6. When the Devil apparently left the scene, He called the Father, saying, “Into thy hand I deposit my spirit. And having said this he breathed his last”, Lk.23: 46. Have we ever put our life into the hands of the Creator at any point of time?

7. Simultaneously by committing His Spirit into the hands of the Father “Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his Spirit”, Mt.27: 50; Mk.15: 37. The last utterance with a loud voice accomplished everything that He had to do for regaining the lost Paradise, even by admitting the robber convert as the first member there. The Messiah shed tears thrice in His lifetime, one for an individual, Lazar, Jn.11.35, another for His chosen race, Lk.13: 32-35. The last one on the cross was for the whole humanity that is inflicted by the sting of Death. We can proudly say that He bled for our redemption that is a strong fortress for our salvation, but won’t work out without blotting out the lust of our flesh. The Saviour’s whole life, starting from St.Mary’s conception, was pregnant with the haunting of the sins of Adam and his progeny. The net of the Devil was haunting everywhere, the hands of the religious and secular hierarchies to grab and finish Him off was a threat of different dimensions, the feuding of His disciples in their power struggle to snatch the best place was a great agony; behold, yet He bore the burden of humanity of commissions and omissions that ingrained in the infernally- concocted forbidden fruit. These are our doings, not His, for which the Lord’s sufferings are of immeasurable dimensions.

Despite He took the whole responsibility of driving the first parents into such a slot of devil’s test, the Lord underwent through the torments that led Him to Golgotha for our own sake. As is the duty of a mother to supplement the requirements of an embryo that dangles within the confinement of the womb like an astronaut, the responsibility of a person is to care and nurse his parents who are struggling for their life in their second childhood. The Provider who carved out our salvation lived the life of a destitute or refugee here; it is our duty now to follow the same path that the Creator has drawn for us as an immaculate and impeccable example. It is easy to lead a life of the persecutor, not the persecuted. The life style of Lazarus not that of the rich man, earned a place of bliss for himself at the bosom of Abraham. This is what we are called for, the terrestrial plane that provide with the lust of the flesh is the only venue that can book a life in the land of the Living which the eye has not seen, nor the ear has heard about. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps: He committed no sin; no guile was found in his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls”, 1.Pet.2: 18-25. Let these verses be our lodestar in this life of fickleness and multiple dimensions of vicissitudes.