Compassion: what do they say about Jesus?

What are they saying about Jesus?
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The Cross: A Witness to Jesus

Jesus and the Cross Clearly, the cross is what separates the Christ of Christianity from the Jesus that other religious traditions know. Judaism has no precedent for a Messiah who dies, and much less who dies a criminal's death, as Jesus did. In Islam, the story of Jesus' death is rejected as an affront to Allah himself. Hindus can accept only a Jesus who passes into a peaceful state, a yogi who escapes the degradation of death. There is, in short, no room in other religions for a Christ who experiences the full burden of mortal existence; for them there is no reason to believe in him as the divine Son whom the Father resurrects from the dead.

Even so, Christians can learn by observing Jesus mirrored by Jews and Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. His image as a benign Jesus with universal appeal should come as no surprise. That most of the world cannot accept the Jesus of the cross should not come as a surprise, either. Indeed, the idea that Jesus can serve as a bridge uniting the world's religious is inviting, but for non-Christians it seems ultimately impossible.

Jesus remains today what he always has been, "a sign of contradiction." However, Christians believe in that "sign of contradiction" as the bridge, which will ultimately lead to the unity of all the world's religious.

That little boy in the movie was more perceptive than he realized when he said to the man who carried the cross . . . "Hey, mister, are you Jesus?"

beginning of article

What do they say about Jesus? • Variations on the theme of Psalm 22
New hope for Jewish-Christian dialog • Compassion in art
Editor's Note

Sign of the Passion