Video on the gospel of John - some thoughts
Over the past few days I watched, in parts, The Visual Bible - Gospel of John, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emlHESNWFGI, 2 hr, 53 min, 12 sec. I found it to be a very engrossing and spiritually powerful account of the life and wonders of Jesus Christ. I thought I should put down my thoughts about the video right away, even though they will lack easy-to-refer info. Next, I plan to, on a part time basis, go through the text of the gospel of John, http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/john.htm, and provide my thoughts based on the text readings where I can also easily provide the text references (and extracts).
So here are my thoughts:
*) The divine/paranormal/miraculous powers of Jesus Christ are shown in a simple and matter of fact way.
*) The disbelief of many of the "learned" people - especially the Jewish priestly class in Jerusalem - slowly gives way to acceptance of such powers that Jesus has. I find it to be very interesting that the Jewish leaders tend to accept that Jesus has miraculous power. But those were pre-science days. They questioned those who were the beneficiary of such miracles, and their relatives and then accepted it as true (a person born blind who gets vision due to Jesus's intervention and his parents, are questioned). That then led the debate to whether Jesus is the Jewish Messiah and whether these miracles of Jesus are in keeping with Jewish faith and practice. [While I don't recall this video showing Jesus' detractors raising questions whether his powers were due to (black) magic, I recall that Reza Aslan's book, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, does mention it.]
*) Jesus is heavily critical of some of the Jerusalem Temple practices. Now this Temple was the seat of religious power among the Jews (in Judea, Galilee, Samaria etc. if I got that right) even if military control was under the Roman governor (and so, Roman empire). This challenge of Jesus to the temple authorities including the "finance" guys cannot be tolerated by the existing authorities. [He sets the sacrificial animals free and overturns the tables of the money-changers]. So they plot to have him crucified for rebellion against the Roman emperor - the Jewish Messiah is supposed to be the 'King' of the Jews and their argument is that by claiming to be the Jewish Messiah and so, Jewish King, Jesus is directly challenging the Roman emperor (a serious charge of sedition).
*) The apostles of Jesus are mainly drawn from simple folk. Jesus himself is from the simple peasant folk of Galilee. They see his miracles and believe. But they also get quickly into doubt. Jesus gets frustrated, at times, by the lack of belief in his divinity among his followers.
*) Jesus is viewed as a teacher (rabboni) by his followers. So, while the miracles are a vital part of his advent, his teaching is critical. He heals one person suffering from some terrible sickness but then warns him not to sin again as otherwise he would face such sickness again!
*) Jesus heavily emphasizes the teaching of loving one another, and has a wonderful community good outlook in his dealings with his flock and the people who come to see him. The multiplication of the bread and fish miracle, to me, shows his intense desire to make all the people who come to him happy. How can the hungry be happy? First and foremost, they must be fed - as simple as that. So he does that by an astonishing miracle of multiplication of food.
*) Jesus is deeply concerned about the well-being of his flock after he leaves them (including after his last post-resurrection interaction with the apostles). He is the shepherd and the followers are his sheep who need to be looked after. Peter seems to be given the main responsibility of looking after the flock (according to this gospel, if I got that correctly).
*) The first well-publicized miracle, if I recall correctly, is when Jesus turns water into wine, on the request of his mother to rescue a wedding party host family from embarrassment of the wine having run out.
*) Jesus knows the thoughts of the people around him and shows that he knows it on many occasions. He also says, if I recall correctly, that he is in his followers/disciples and that they are in him. [Perhaps Jesus was in the highly evolved state of consciousness where he identified himself with all around him and thus knew the thoughts of those around him.]
*) Jesus says that he chose his disciples/apostles and that they did not choose him! Very fascinatingly, Jesus knows that Judas Iscariot, who has the money bag responsibility in the flock, will betray him. But he also knows that this must happen and so lets it happen. [I think all kinds of people get drawn to spiritual masters including some chaps with pretty strong negative sides. The truly great thing about spiritual masters which clearly sets them apart from worldly powerful people is that they accept, at least some, negative persons into their community knowing that they will do them bodily (and mental) harm. A Hindu view of the matter may be that it is the Rinanubandha (the bond of karmic debt/relationship across past lives) that draws the spiritual masters' disciples and devotees to him/her, including the ones that eventually turn against the master. The spiritual master sees and knows this Rinanubandha and so accepts such people into his flock even if he/she knows that they will eventually harm him/her and his/her flock.]
*) The resurrection of Jesus is viewed (by this gospel, and perhaps all four canonical gospels) as a great spiritual triumph of Jesus over worldly power. Jesus mentions about this triumph and resurrection just before he is arrested but in an indirect way which the flock does not understand then, but after later events, the flock has a better understanding of Jesus' words.
*) Jesus says many times that he works his miracles through the power that his father gives him. He says that his father has sent him among people to show them the way to eternal life.
*) At times Jesus says that he and his father are one. That gets viewed as blasphemy by many of the public who want to stone him (to death perhaps as that seems to have been the punishment for a man claiming to be God in those times, and even today in some parts of the world).
*) I recall only a few instances in this gospel account where Jesus says that the way to the father is through him alone. My view is that these aspects of the gospel are given far, far more importance by some preachers/teachers of Christianity than they deserve.
--- end points about gospel video ---
I must say that I see a lot of parallel between this gospel account and the devotee experiences of Shirdi Sai Baba and Sathya Sai Baba. Perhaps the essential life and teachings of such super-powerful spiritual masters are the same. It is the following, especially after the physical passing away of the spiritual master, that tends to embellish the legacy with exclusive beliefs and practices that sometimes makes the following a new sect or sometimes even a new religion, instead of infusing faith in the essential/core beliefs and practices of established religions and sects (barring beliefs and practices that are hateful towards other religions and sects).
As an example of embellished legacy I think today's Shirdi Sai Baba temple-masjid practices seem to be predominantly Hindu. Perhaps that attracts larger crowds and that is why these practices have taken root. But, from my humble perspective, the essential Muslim/Sufi aspect of Shirdi Sai Baba where he is supposed to have said Allah Malik very frequently, has got covered up/hidden in the Hindu-type worship practices of the Shirdi Sai temple that we see now. However, the books, including those published by Shirdi Sai Sansthan (Trust), if I am not mistaken, do clearly mention about Shirdi Sai Baba's frequent utterances about Allah and the 'fakir' (Muslim (Sufi) ascetic literally but a reference to God/Allah in this case) whose will/wish he followed/obeyed (as an instrument of God) to work miracles just like Jesus said he followed his father's will/wish (as an instrument of God) to work miracles.
So here are my thoughts:
*) The divine/paranormal/miraculous powers of Jesus Christ are shown in a simple and matter of fact way.
*) The disbelief of many of the "learned" people - especially the Jewish priestly class in Jerusalem - slowly gives way to acceptance of such powers that Jesus has. I find it to be very interesting that the Jewish leaders tend to accept that Jesus has miraculous power. But those were pre-science days. They questioned those who were the beneficiary of such miracles, and their relatives and then accepted it as true (a person born blind who gets vision due to Jesus's intervention and his parents, are questioned). That then led the debate to whether Jesus is the Jewish Messiah and whether these miracles of Jesus are in keeping with Jewish faith and practice. [While I don't recall this video showing Jesus' detractors raising questions whether his powers were due to (black) magic, I recall that Reza Aslan's book, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, does mention it.]
*) Jesus is heavily critical of some of the Jerusalem Temple practices. Now this Temple was the seat of religious power among the Jews (in Judea, Galilee, Samaria etc. if I got that right) even if military control was under the Roman governor (and so, Roman empire). This challenge of Jesus to the temple authorities including the "finance" guys cannot be tolerated by the existing authorities. [He sets the sacrificial animals free and overturns the tables of the money-changers]. So they plot to have him crucified for rebellion against the Roman emperor - the Jewish Messiah is supposed to be the 'King' of the Jews and their argument is that by claiming to be the Jewish Messiah and so, Jewish King, Jesus is directly challenging the Roman emperor (a serious charge of sedition).
*) The apostles of Jesus are mainly drawn from simple folk. Jesus himself is from the simple peasant folk of Galilee. They see his miracles and believe. But they also get quickly into doubt. Jesus gets frustrated, at times, by the lack of belief in his divinity among his followers.
*) Jesus is viewed as a teacher (rabboni) by his followers. So, while the miracles are a vital part of his advent, his teaching is critical. He heals one person suffering from some terrible sickness but then warns him not to sin again as otherwise he would face such sickness again!
*) Jesus heavily emphasizes the teaching of loving one another, and has a wonderful community good outlook in his dealings with his flock and the people who come to see him. The multiplication of the bread and fish miracle, to me, shows his intense desire to make all the people who come to him happy. How can the hungry be happy? First and foremost, they must be fed - as simple as that. So he does that by an astonishing miracle of multiplication of food.
*) Jesus is deeply concerned about the well-being of his flock after he leaves them (including after his last post-resurrection interaction with the apostles). He is the shepherd and the followers are his sheep who need to be looked after. Peter seems to be given the main responsibility of looking after the flock (according to this gospel, if I got that correctly).
*) The first well-publicized miracle, if I recall correctly, is when Jesus turns water into wine, on the request of his mother to rescue a wedding party host family from embarrassment of the wine having run out.
*) Jesus knows the thoughts of the people around him and shows that he knows it on many occasions. He also says, if I recall correctly, that he is in his followers/disciples and that they are in him. [Perhaps Jesus was in the highly evolved state of consciousness where he identified himself with all around him and thus knew the thoughts of those around him.]
*) Jesus says that he chose his disciples/apostles and that they did not choose him! Very fascinatingly, Jesus knows that Judas Iscariot, who has the money bag responsibility in the flock, will betray him. But he also knows that this must happen and so lets it happen. [I think all kinds of people get drawn to spiritual masters including some chaps with pretty strong negative sides. The truly great thing about spiritual masters which clearly sets them apart from worldly powerful people is that they accept, at least some, negative persons into their community knowing that they will do them bodily (and mental) harm. A Hindu view of the matter may be that it is the Rinanubandha (the bond of karmic debt/relationship across past lives) that draws the spiritual masters' disciples and devotees to him/her, including the ones that eventually turn against the master. The spiritual master sees and knows this Rinanubandha and so accepts such people into his flock even if he/she knows that they will eventually harm him/her and his/her flock.]
*) The resurrection of Jesus is viewed (by this gospel, and perhaps all four canonical gospels) as a great spiritual triumph of Jesus over worldly power. Jesus mentions about this triumph and resurrection just before he is arrested but in an indirect way which the flock does not understand then, but after later events, the flock has a better understanding of Jesus' words.
*) Jesus says many times that he works his miracles through the power that his father gives him. He says that his father has sent him among people to show them the way to eternal life.
*) At times Jesus says that he and his father are one. That gets viewed as blasphemy by many of the public who want to stone him (to death perhaps as that seems to have been the punishment for a man claiming to be God in those times, and even today in some parts of the world).
*) I recall only a few instances in this gospel account where Jesus says that the way to the father is through him alone. My view is that these aspects of the gospel are given far, far more importance by some preachers/teachers of Christianity than they deserve.
--- end points about gospel video ---
I must say that I see a lot of parallel between this gospel account and the devotee experiences of Shirdi Sai Baba and Sathya Sai Baba. Perhaps the essential life and teachings of such super-powerful spiritual masters are the same. It is the following, especially after the physical passing away of the spiritual master, that tends to embellish the legacy with exclusive beliefs and practices that sometimes makes the following a new sect or sometimes even a new religion, instead of infusing faith in the essential/core beliefs and practices of established religions and sects (barring beliefs and practices that are hateful towards other religions and sects).
As an example of embellished legacy I think today's Shirdi Sai Baba temple-masjid practices seem to be predominantly Hindu. Perhaps that attracts larger crowds and that is why these practices have taken root. But, from my humble perspective, the essential Muslim/Sufi aspect of Shirdi Sai Baba where he is supposed to have said Allah Malik very frequently, has got covered up/hidden in the Hindu-type worship practices of the Shirdi Sai temple that we see now. However, the books, including those published by Shirdi Sai Sansthan (Trust), if I am not mistaken, do clearly mention about Shirdi Sai Baba's frequent utterances about Allah and the 'fakir' (Muslim (Sufi) ascetic literally but a reference to God/Allah in this case) whose will/wish he followed/obeyed (as an instrument of God) to work miracles just like Jesus said he followed his father's will/wish (as an instrument of God) to work miracles.
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