Day 5: Living Daily in Reality: Reality is in the Creator’s Son
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Living daily in reality – that’s what we’re talking about for five
minutes each day. Naturally the first question that we’ve been dealing
with is ‘what is reality?’ And we’ve answered so far that the only human
being that seems to have existed outside this earth – and been conscious
of his existence – and therefore of any reality behind what we all see
and touch here – is the man known as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ.

We’ve discussed the fact that he undoubtedly existed in the first century
and we’ve looked at some of the ancient manuscripts that contain the
accounts written and spoken by eye-witnesses. These old documents are
older and more numerous than those we have for any of the other
well-known classical histories of those days.

When, for instance, we think of Plato’s Republic (the basic text for most
university philosophy departments), we accept the text on the basis of
one manuscript which was written 1200 years after Plato wrote his
masterpiece, yet we do not question that we have what Plato wrote.
Similarly with Herodotus, Aristotle, and Lucretius whose works are based
on 2 to 8 manuscripts all of which were written about 1300 years after
the author died. The eye-witness accounts of this man Jesus, on the other
hand, are found in more than 4,000 Greek manuscripts some of which were
written as early as 125 a.d. – while contemporaries were still alive. So
we have no doubt that we are reading what actually happened: there just
wasn’t the time gap for a legend to develop.

But why do we think he was the only son of the Creator of the universe
and that you and I were made inside him? Why would you think he was the
only son of God?

Because he talked like God’s son! Even though his earthly father was an
ordinary carpenter, he said to his parents once when he was just twelve
and they found him in the temple, “Did you not know I would be about my
father’s business?” His mother, of course, knew her husband had no
business in the temple. In a very natural way, he identified himself with
God, saying things like, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also”
(John 14:7) and “He who has seen me has seen the Father also.”(John 14:9)

Indeed, where prophets like Mohamed avoided claiming a unique kinship
with God, this man made it the focal point of his followers with the
question, “Who do men say that I am…who do you say that I am?”(Matthew
16:15)

Well, probably all of us can think of people who make all kinds of wild
claims as long as they will benefit from them; but this man was pointed
and blunt about it even when he was on trial for his life about this very
question of his identity. He was being tried for his life and the

presiding official asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the
Blessed?” He replied, “I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at
the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”(Mark
14:62)

When I read that as a sceptic, I thought, “That explains it right there –
the man was a lunatic. The psyche wards are full of crazy people claiming
to be anything from Napoleon to God’s Son – that’s what he was – just
another mad demagogue!”

But this man Jesus didn’t act like a lunatic! The insane people in psyche
wards not only make insane claims for themselves, but they act insanely –
they produce other symptoms of their mental imbalance. But this man Jesus
does not behave as a deranged person; his character does not have the
abnormalities or extremes of a madman. Indeed, the opposite is true. When
anyone in the world – whatever their religious or non-religious
background – wishes to set forth an example of a perfectly balanced and
integrated personality, Jesus of Nazareth is the one who is presented as
the model to follow.

“His zeal never degenerated into passion, nor his
constancy into obstinacy, nor his benevolence into weakness, nor his
tenderness into sentimentality. His unworldliness was free from
indifference and unsociability or undue familiarity; his self-denial from
moroseness; his temperance from austerity.” Such are the opinions of most
of the behavioral experts of our time. If this man was a lunatic, then
all of us are hopelessly insane. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, “No one has
yet explained how such deep, moral teaching could come from the lips of a
megalomaniac!”
But perhaps Jesus was simply a con man, a simple liar! Maybe he knew he
wasn’t God but deliberately deceived his hearers about his true identity
in order to lend authority to his preaching.

But he is universally regarded as the teacher of the highest ethical
ideals the world has ever seen; moreover, his life is looked upon as the
outstanding example of a perfect, faultless example of his teaching. If
he is a liar, then the whole world of logic crumbles in our hands, and
our ability to make even the simplest observations with our five senses
becomes questionable.

It is nonsense to say that the greatest moral teacher and example the
world has ever seen — lied — about the focal point of all his teaching
— his own identity! If Jesus was a liar, then the world is a “tale told
by an idiot.” Or is reality that he is the only son of our Maker and that
you and I were created inside him?