When God sent Jesus Christ, He was God’s very image. He was born by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin, had no genetic material of a fallen man and he was the perfect Lamb of God who came to pay the price of man’s sin.

Let us see what Bible says: “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God sent His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the redemption of man. He shed his precious blood for the redemption of man and he died. He buried and on the third day God raised him from the grave. Through his resurrection, death was defeated.

The mission of Jesus Christ was paying the price of sin as determined by God the Father. He did this so that His sons like you and me would be free from the condemnation of sin. This way God executed His grace towards man without overlooking any of His attributes.

In the earlier story, we saw that the judge sent his eldest son to deliver his younger son who was caught by the police. We saw that the judge cannot hold his office and become a Saviour. Same way, God is the judge had to send His son to deliver us. This concept we have to accept because that is what happens in nature. There is always a messenger or representative to execute the work God wants to do. This concept is followed even in your cells.

We know each of our cells in the body has a nucleus with helical nucleic acids in it. The DNA in the nucleic acids carries all the genetic information required for the synthesis of components and maintenance of the cell. Protein synthesis is one such activity and it takes place in the cytoplasm which is situated outside the nucleus and inside the cell. Does DNA directly get involved in the protein synthesis? No. Prior to the protein synthesis, the helical DNA unwinds and the messenger RNA attaches with DNA and copies all the genetic information on the DNA. In other words, messenger RNA takes the image of DNA and comes out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm. Now this image is used to synthesize proteins in the cytoplasm. This way the concept of a mediator or Saviour from God can be accepted rationally.

1. a) Was Jesus Christ a Westerner or an Oriental man?

Jesus Christ was neither a Westerner nor an Oriental person. He was an avatar who was born to pay for the sins of the whole world as mentioned in our earlier discussions. However, if we look into his life carefully, you will notice that he was truly an Oriental man.

I narrate some incidences to show how Jesus Christ behaved in those situations, (Table 1). You make your verdict.

Table 1

When we analyze the life of Jesus Christ we will find that he behaved more like a true Eastern man. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life that depicted the Eastern spirituality, which all the saints in India longed to have. No wonder why Swami Vivekananda called Jesus Christ a true son of the Orient (east) ⁸.

Let us not be carried away by the wrong impression that Jesus Christ was a westerner. He came to pay the price of sins and make our relationship with the Father, the Absolute Truth. He came to make our relationship with the Sovereign God. He did not come to make a religion. He only spoke of the Father in heaven and His love for all men. Unfortunately, what started as a relationship with God through Jesus Christ became a philosophy in Greece, an institution in Rome, a culture in Europe, projects in the Third World Countries, a commercial venture in America, a program in traditional Christianity circles and a performance in all spiritual meetings ⁹. Let us go to the fundamental purpose for which Jesus Christ came into this world. It was for reconciling man with God, the Father. In fact he does not want to be a mediator in our prayers which is very clear from his words mentioned below. “and I say not unto you, that I will pray to the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. (John 16: 26-27). In other words, it is very clear from the words of Jesus Christ that God is looking for a One to One relationship with the man. He does not want any mediator. If there was a mediator, then Jesus Christ would have said, “You pray to me and I will put your requests to God”. But it is not that way. This is also very clear from Bhagawat Gita where the Supreme Lord talks about direct relationship with his devotees. Otherwise, the Supreme Lord would have told Arjuna to be his mediator because he heard the truths of the Lord. Therefore, praying through some mediator is unwarranted. I always ask those who pray to some mediators this way, “You know the CEO of a company, met him personally and communicated your needs. Will you come out of his cabin and meet any of his subordinates and request them to carry your request to the CEO?” You will not do that because you know you have put your request to the CEO directly and there is no need to meet any of his subordinates with the same request. Then why should you pray to other mediators when you have full access to God. In other words, you do not trust God’s words.

Now in this context, we need to be clear that praying in the name of Jesus is not same as praying to Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, many people believe that way. Normally after praying to the Father with all the requests, we end the prayer saying, “we ask these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. What it means is that we are saying “Father I am unworthy to stand before you and make this request. But you have accepted me as your son because I believed that Jesus Christ was sent by you. I am putting my request as your son because I have accepted your grace and I am covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ”. This is what “asking in the name of Jesus Christ” means. It is a final stamp on your requests. From all this discussion it is clear that God does not want any mediators for our relationship with Him. God does not keep a multi-level relationship with the man. It is a one to one relationship and it is a unique relationship because there is no other person in this world like you. Relationship God has with you cannot be compared to any of your relationships in the world. To a King, you are one of the subjects, to an administrator, you are one of those under him and to a prime minister of the country, you are just one vote from his vote banks. But remember God’s relationship with you is unique and nobody can replace that. He has the full count of your hairs, cells in your body and everything about you.

Salvation is by the grace of God and God has paid that price for our sins. It is the fulfillment of Bhagawat Gita 18:66, just accept God’s plan of salvation and surrender to Him. He will remove all effects of evil and He will give eternal abode as he has promised in Bhagawat Gita 18:62 and John 3:16. Let us not look to Christianity or Churchianity. Just look to God and His plan of salvation only.