The Coming Comforter.
Jesus once advised his disciples to be patient and constant "for unless I go, the comforter shall not come". With these words he implied that someone greater than himself (the comforter) would come only once Jesus had departed.
[Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. http://bible.cc/john/16-7.htm]
That he said this cannot be doubted because it contradicts the very canon of the Church. For here he does not say "I must be sacrificed or die that you may be saved", but "I must go that he may come".
Whilst Christians may scramble to accommodate those words, by interpreting them as referring to either the Holy Ghost or to the Church, as is their want. But even they cannot deny the emphasis that these words place on departure as opposed to blood sacrifice, and upon somebody greater than himself as opposed to the culmination of all belief in one final moment of "passion".
Contradiction as a gateway to Truth.
Indeed to find the truth of any matter, and to scratch beneath the surface of all that seems true, the starting point in every discipline is supposed "contradiction".
For the greatest truths will always be found at the most contradictory of events.
Sometimes these are within the events themselves, at others with what is considered true (as in this case), and lastly when the event contradicts with human nature as we know it.
But it is not the contradiction that lays bare the truth, for of themselves many can and do ignore such things. Rather it is the contemplation of possible explanations that sheds bare falsehoods and un-shades hidden light.
And when several contradictions taken together verify a sole potential explanation, then the result is incontestable.
It is understandable that the Christian explanation for the above words rests upon a supernatural Spirit, or a humanistic psychological agency (conscience), or a millennia-old institution (the Church), or a community of believers.
The Greatest Contradiction.
But that is not the greatest contradiction in the life of Jesus, nor is it the sole contradiction in his life. For words can and always will be explained away, or more often than not just plainly ignored.
But not so, for acts and events.
Acts which are contradictory cannot be so easily explained away, and cannot be hidden. And these are of the first order of contradiction.
The act and event that I speak off started at the beginning of the dramatic three days of Jesus's life.
3 DAYS
After preaching in Galilee, and by general consensus being forced from there, instead of going further into the dessert, Jesus (as) makes his way to Jerusalem. This was a very bold act considering that he knew that his opposition would only grow at the centre of the Jewish faith. For, he preached a message that the Jewish people needed to hear, but that their priests were averse to. A universal message of hope for all.
And then he does something quite extraordinary and if you think about it a bit, completely contradictory.
On the outskirts of Jerusalem, at the start of the Passover feast, he asks his disciples to bring to him a colt, the son of a colt. He enters Jerusalem riding on it, whilst a multitude of Jewish people come to homage him. Three days later that very same crowd becomes a mob and bays for his death and choose a thief and robbers life over his. And that too on the most religious day of their calendar and in their holiest of cities.
Therein lie all of the greatest of contradictions of Jesus's (as) life.
And I for one do not presume to know all of their answers.
But that they happened cannot be doubted.
Listed they are:-
1- That he choose to Jerusalem.
2- That he choose to enter Jerusalem, at the start of the passover, in a manner as part fulfilment of the Prophesy of Zechariah that signalled the coming of the King of the Jews. And thence their undoubted return to power, authority and victory over the Romans.
3- That the Jewish multitude that welcomed him into Jerusalem and, then subdued (recognising one who had the right, a Prophet from God), allowed him to cleanse the temple, on the third day morphed into the mob that bayed for his death.
And then on that, their holiest of days in their holiest of cities, when Pontius Pilot allowed for them to choose to free any one prisoner as a show of his clemency. The Jews choose a thief over a Messenger of God.
THE CONTRADICTION.
Put simply the contradiction is "why did Jesus (as) start to enact a prophesy that he knew would excite both the fervent nationalistic and religious tendencies of his people, knowing full well that he did not intend to bring those aspirations to fruition?"
For the Prophesy of Zechariah, with absolutely no ambiguity, suggests the coming of a Prophet-King-Conqueror who would vanquish the Jewish enemies and bring about lasting Peace. The clarity of that Prophesy is so evident even to this day, so much so that the Jews still await it's fulfilment.
[[http://bible.cc/zechariah/9-9.htm, http://bible.cc/zechariah/9-10.htm] see also for my interpretation http://shafeesthoughts.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html]
A possible explanation?
Given the Christian mantra we might explain the anomaly by supposing that that was God's plan.
But then the reality of such an argument would lead us to believe that Jesus (as) was sent to bait his own people. For whilst some of them may have become Christian and hence earned forgiveness from his supposed crucifixion, the majority bayed for his death and remained Jewish ever afterwards. Condemned by he who was of them.
Jesus (as) was after all from the Jewish Nation and loved his people, and that is why he sought to preach to them foremost, to bring them out of the depths of their hypocrisy. It was a hypocrisy that saw them label their God as being a God for them alone, to the exclusion of the rest of humanity. At each point of his message you can still feel his sincerity, in trying to stir them to remember that God's mercy and care is universal. From "Anyone who makes himself somebody, will become nobody", to his denial in such a cryptic manner of his Lordship over David. So much so that he excluded all other Jews from that honour.
[for an explanation of this see http://shafeesthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/12/yahwah-said-to-my-adon-king-of-jews.html]
The examples are numerous and even include the parable of the good Samaritan, a people with whom he was not really concerned about.
Another explanation.
And then if we discount the baiting of a whole people, what have we other than that he did so to remind the people of "he who would come".
But Jesus (as) was not the one they eagerly waited for, for he said "Give to Caesar what is his, and give to God what is His". And with those words demolished all of their hopes and expectations. And they being a volatile and proud people could not wait, and their humility in real terms only increased them in arrogance and pride. So they bayed for the life of one who sought only to open their eyes to God's universal mercy.
His was an act that could not be washed from the annals of history, nor be explained away. But that would stand as a testament to all those who believed in him, that he might instruct them in a "Messenger from God who would be greater than he", and who would fulfil that age old prophesy.
And he backed up this act with words that can be overlooked. But when you look at them in the light of that act, then that is convincing proof.
That another Messenger from God would come out of the wilderness, and that he would be no Jew but from another line descended from Abraham of old.
And he would speak words in God's name, and he would be a comforter for any that believed in Jesus (as).
For with him would come the confirmation that is so often disputed to this day, of Jesus's miraculous birth and his mission. And with the revelation of the Qur’an came more than a mere reflection of what is known from the bible of Jesus’s (as) life. Indeed the Qur’an answers questions on his life that Christianity has never even asked before.
But for those who awaited the comforter he did not come as they expected.
For they expected him around the corner of time and not half a centuary later.
But for any that have listened to the words of a true Prophet of God, will know that for them the "day of reckoning" is upon us already. Even whilst we have tarried an age. For all things are small in God's eyes.
Ad-Duha, the Morning Light (a Comfort from the Darkness of no revelation).
And maybe their wait was summed up in one of the first Surah's (Chapters), of the revealed Qur'an, that Muhammad (saw) loved most:
"In the of God, most gracious, abundantly merciful.
I call (God calls) to witness the breaking dawn, and the night when it is stillest.
Indeed your Lord has not forsaken you, nor is He displeased with you."
A message to Muhammad (saw) after a period of silence in the revelation.
Mirrored by the centuries of silence that the believers in Jesus had to endure before the comforter came.
And indeed the night is stillest when you have almost given up hope.
And then God brings a fresh day, and a light to show you the way.
The Chapter then consoles Muhammad (saw) with what he had to endure on his path to his destined station.
And then ends by confirming him in what he had already been doing, and that for him was the first command from God upon him,
"but as for him in need, repulse him not.
And instead tell him of God's mercies (upon himself, and comfort him through that)."
Surah Ad-Duha. (the Morning Light, Chapter:93 http://quran.com/93]
The first vested mission of Muhammad (saw) to provide comfort to those in need.
A mission that was fulfilled in every act that he did.
May GOD reward him who taught us true belief and enlightened our lives with knowledge, Ameen.
Mohamed Shafi Bachelani
PS There are other textual references to a Prophet that would come after, but the greatest of them all is the act on enactment of that Prophesy.
I
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