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Was Jesus a megalomaniac?

Was Jesus a megalomaniac?

This is an important issue. What we think of Jesus and his own identity is the most important problem in the field of current thought. Oscar Wilde expressed the opinion, quoted in an interesting book by Rivkah Zim, that Jesus was a deluded mystic whose creative imagination was the source of all his ideas. So was Jesus just a mystical Jewish peasant teacher, conjuring up fabulous visions of himself as I AM, his God, heaven and hell, or is he who he claimed to be? Are we able to distinguish between megalomania; a person with a vast deluded sense of his own importance and his true deity?

• GREAT DIVISION

This is where no one stays on the fence. Jesus is the great divider of humanity. Like Oscar Wilde with his, ‘Jesus of Nazareth was created entirely from his own imagination’ [1] You form a judgment based on whatever views you have gathered about Jesus, and you are ready to condemn him as a deluded mystic. Or to use Stephen Fry’s view of Jesus, he was ‘twee'[2] – Picturesque or sentimental. But everyone must form their own conclusion.

Here is a group of topics that can help in any evaluation.

• WITNESS

The first is the issue of the historical and factual nature of the biblical information about Jesus. This includes the quality of the eyewitness reports, the nature of the relationship with Jesus of the people who knew him, and the claims of the eyewitnesses. Here, we ask, were these people prone to exaggeration, perhaps for spiritual favors or material advancement, and if so, what motivations were there, for uneducated Jewish men, to transform a peasant teacher into God-incarnate? Was this simply a common trait of Jewish messianic extremism, of which the followers of Jesus were conspicuous examples?

• BALANCE

A second theme could have to do with the psychological balance of Jesus as described in the New Testament. Are the grandiosity elements of it, a serious delusional disorder that, if it were part of a person’s psyche today, would require treatment? Or was Jesus well integrated, and how would we assess that?

Along with this, a third question might ask if Jesus was subject to mood swings. Was he a typical case of a manic-depressive, whose genius ignited a brilliant moral and ethical splendor, but then quickly sank to the depths, when he washed the feet of others and taught them that he was destined for a sacrificial death?

• CLAIM (IT IS

A fourth investigation could prove the veracity of Jesus. This would help to see if he was prone to making claims to impress, but then he used dubious means to try to make good on those claims. If we could see through a façade, beneath which lies a complex psyche engrossed in intrigue or weaving webs of deception or conspiracy to promote his massive popularity, this might be illuminating.

A fifth and final area might consider the emotional maturity of Jesus. How well adapted was he to cope with the change? Was he outgoing, were his responses to others appropriate, or did he tend to demand his own way and get angry when events went against his wishes? Was he well integrated into his various relationships? Or did he become the center of attention by exploiting the weaknesses of others in a way that betrayed an obsessive or insecure temperament?

• STAFF

My own assessment is not unique to me. I have read many authors, both non-Christian and Christian, on this subject. And if the Apostle Paul was ‘the least of all saints’ (Ephesians 3:8), ordinary Christians like me don’t claim to be expert witnesses. But I totally agree that the biblical testimony of Jesus is transparent, objective, not flattering or insincere, but totally trustworthy: it is not based on unjustified prejudices or relativistic ideas, it is the inspired record, in which the writers Humans were inspired by God. the same. Surprisingly, I see a profound unity of purpose with the Jewish Old Testament Scriptures, of detailed promise and fulfillment, which has the characteristics in part of being eyewitness testimony. And it also includes much of what Jesus’ opponents thought of him. Everything is offered to his own scrutiny and evaluation.

• GOD-MAN

When I look at the life of Jesus, I see a man asleep in a small boat, who when he wakes up, quells the fury of the storm like God, with one word: ‘Peace! Be quiet!’ (Mark 4:37-41). I see a man who has ‘nowhere to lay his head’ (Matthew 8:20), but as deity, says of God ‘the Father who dwells in me’ (John 14:10). I see a man in anguish before death, but who, as the Lord of life, calls Lazarus from his grave with, ‘Lazarus, come out’ (John 11:33 and 43). I see a man, who spoke like God, final source of abundant life for all: ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink’, so that even his enemies said: ‘No one has ever spoken like this! men!’ (John 7). :37 and 46). I see a man, who as the eternal God says, ‘before Abraham was I AM’ (John 8:58). I see a man who, like the compassionate Son of God, blesses little children (Matthew 19:13), but who rages like the God of wrath against the swindlers in the Jerusalem Temple (Matthew 21:12-13 ).

• MISTER

I see a man, bleeding and broken with a crown of jagged thorns stuck in his forehead, standing as if crushed and helpless before Pilate, the authorized agent of Rome, supreme world power, but I also see Jesus as the supreme Lord, coming to die. , willingly bearing the curse for others like the Lamb of God, teaching Pilate that there is a higher throne, ‘You would have no authority over me if it had not been given you from above’ (John 19:11).

• GLORY

Well, who judges whom? Was Jesus a megalomaniac? Oscar Wilde and Stephen Fry have simply created a ‘Jesus’ entirely from their own imaginations. But when we weigh Jesus, we find that he is doing the same to us, and we discover, with millions throughout the centuries, that it is we for whom the tide goes out, leaving us high and dry, empty shells in need of eternal life, and Jesus high and sublime, the humble Christ of the cross, the exalted risen Lord, glorious in his eternal divine majesty, before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Philippians 2 :eleven).

1. De Profundis, Oscar Wilde, ed. Ian Small (Oxford University Press, 2005), p117.

2. Stephen Fry interviewed by Gabriel Byrne on Radio Telefis Eireann (Irish Television), ‘The Meaning of Life’, February 1, 2010. 2015.

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