The Puzzle of Christianity. Peter Vardy

      Figure 1: Statue of the Archangel Michael defeating the devil (Coventry Cathedral). Christians hold that it is the power of love that can defeat the forces of evil and that this love was shown most clearly in Jesus’ life, teaching and death.

      So the first and most important command which Jesus affirmed was the absolute centrality of the love of God. Secondly came unconditional love of neighbour. The first command every Jew would recognise and accept, but Jesus taught that the second should be taken literally: that is, it did not apply to Jews alone. It also questioned whether those who were thought to be holy were really so.

      For Jesus, the love of God for every human being was essential. God was the Father of all human beings and should be addressed in the intimate way that a child addresses a father. God was a God of love, wanting above all what was best for individual human beings. God would always welcome back those who failed, those who did wrong. Jesus told many parables to illustrate this, including the parables of the Prodigal Son, the Lost Coin and the Lost Sheep. For Jesus, God almost cared more for those who were lost than those who were faithful. The person who was a failure and marginalised had more need of God than the person who was always faithful.

      It is an issue of trust. Christian teaching is that the Christian should trust their whole life to God and should be willing to accept and believe in God’s love and forgiveness. God’s love is unconditional; it does not come as a result of a person being virtuous or good. God’s love is there, whatever happens, like a parent who will always love a child, no matter what the child does, and simply wants the child to return. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus tells the story of a rich man who had two sons, one of whom was obedient, stayed at home and worked hard. The other, however, demanded from the father that the eventual inheritance he could expect should be given to him. He then left home and spent all his father’s money on a dissolute life. He ended up destitute and sleeping among the animals. In despair, he decided to go back to his father, recognising that it would be better to be one of his father’s lowest servants than to go on living as he had been doing. When he returned, the father ran to greet him, put on him the choicest clothes and laid on a great feast for him. This was not because he had done anything good – he had not; but simply because he had returned home. The other son resented this because he had spent all his life being loyal and working hard, yet his father had never laid on a similar feast for him. Jesus explained that God loves those who have failed, those who have ignored God and yet come back, almost more than those who never need forgiveness. It is not, however, easy to accept being loved unconditionally and many reject God because they simply cannot accept that God loves them as they are. Trust in this love is, therefore, a central element of Christian belief.

      Figure 2: Rembrandt’s painting of the Prodigal Son (c. 1669) shows the father welcoming back his penitent son. One of the hands of the father is male, the other female. The poverty of the returning son is shown in his clothes and also in him only having one shoe. Jesus referred to God as Abba (Mark 14:36) – a very intimate term similar to ‘Daddy’ today. God is seen as the Father of all who wants nothing more than to welcome people back, however far they may have strayed in terms of selfishness and lovelessness.

      What is more, Jesus taught that Christians should refuse to judge others. Only God could truly see into the heart of another human being. Only God could judge justly. If any Christian judged others, then he or she would be judged harshly by God. If Christians forgave others, they would be forgiven by God. One man asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother – seven times? Jesus said, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times’ (Matthew 18:22). In other words, Christians should act towards each other as God acted towards them and should be willing to forgive again and again – and yet again.

      Jesus was absolutely clear that the way Christians behaved towards other human beings would determine the way God behaved towards them. God would judge a person by the innermost nature of their heart and not by appearances. Jesus therefore condemned those who would make a display of their religious observances. If people were fasting, He said that they should disguise the fact; if people gave to charity, they should do so anonymously. If the real motive for doing good was in order to be recognised by other people, then the good actions were actually just self-centred (Matthew 6:1–4). Jesus said that people should do acts of kindness without others knowing; God sees into the hearts of everyone and will reward those who do good and punish those who do evil. Jesus was clear that God knows everything: not even a sparrow dies without God knowing about it. Humans are worth more than many sparrows and all human actions are seen by God and judged accordingly (Matthew 10:29–30).

      Jesus was, however, clear that God’s love was a demanding love. God had to be placed at the centre of a person’s life and the love of God had to be shown in action. There was no room for complacency, and the idea of trusting in the love of God and ignoring the need for practical action runs contrary to Jesus’ message. Jesus specifically warned of a rich man who decided to take life easy and enjoy his wealth: that very night his soul ‘was demanded from him’ (Luke 12:16–21). In other words he died and had to face God and account for his life. Anyone who ignores those in need, or the demand for practical action to relieve suffering, effectively ignores God. Words without action are empty.

      The one category of people that Jesus did condemn was those who deliberately ignored God or pretended to be devoting their lives to God when they were not. He utterly condemned the priests and religious leaders who were so proud of their own reputation as holy and good people but, inside, were self-centred and corrupt. His language about these people was anything but temperate (Matthew 12:34–37). The one incident that the Gospels record when Jesus seemed to have lost His temper was when He went into the Temple in Jerusalem and found it filled with merchants selling things and people who changed money. He was angry that they had turned what should have been a house of prayer to God into, as He termed it, a den of robbers. He took out a whip and physically attacked the merchants. His anger was greater because He is recorded as calling the Temple ‘my Father’s house’ (John 2:13–17) referring, of course, to the Christian claim that Jesus was the Son of God and not the son of any human father. Instead of a place of holiness and devotion to God, the Temple had become something very different. The extent, therefore, to which Jesus would have been seen as a scandalous and uncomfortable figure by those with money and power is hard to over-emphasise.

      For Jesus, prayer should be at the centre of a person’s life. Prayer was like talking to a close friend and Christians should bring all their concerns to God. His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, and the Gospels record what has become the most famous prayer for Christians, called ‘The Lord’s Prayer’:

       Our Father in heaven,

       hallowed be your name,

       your kingdom come,

       your will be done,

       on earth as it is in heaven.

       Give us today our daily bread.

       And forgive us our debts,

       as we also have forgiven our debtors.

       And lead us not into temptation,

       but deliver us from the evil one.

      (Matthew 6:9–13)

      The word ‘Amen’ is generally added at the end of Christian prayers and means ‘so be it’. It is used at the end of all prayers, even prayers said by the priest or leader of worship, and links those participating with the prayer. It is important to note that Christians ask to be forgiven by God in the same way they forgive others; in other words, if they do not forgive others, God will not forgive them.

      If God is truly at the centre of a person’s life, then all the things that normally preoccupy people will assume lesser importance. When Jesus’ called His first disciples He called them to leave everything behind: friends, family and possessions. Disciples are required to put