"Which version of Jesus?"

A new friend asked me what I thought of Jesus, especially in the context of my prior writings here and my fondness for Emerson's Divinity School Address.

"Which version of Jesus?" I generally replied. Was it an understanding of Jesus that was common before Augustine piled-on layers of guilt out of thin air? Did she mean the view of the Eastern Orthodox church, which split from the West before the development of Anselm's legalistic and noxious spin on a doctrine of atonement? Did she mean the modern American evangelical version?

Here is a beautiful presentation of Jesus, may peace be upon him, from the Koran. Is this the image she had in mind? (You may wish to note that this portion of the Koran gently reminds that everything is easy for God.)



So Peace on him the day he was born, the day that he dies, and the day that he will be raised up to life (again)!

Relate in the Book (the story of) Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place in the East. She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent her Our angel, and he appeared before her as a man in all respects.

She said: "I seek refuge from thee to (Allah) Most Gracious: (come not near) if thou dost fear Allah." He said: "Nay, I am only a messenger from thy Lord, (to announce) to thee the gift of a pure son. She said: "How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?" He said: "So (it will be): thy Lord saith, 'That is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us'. It is a matter (so) decreed."

So she conceived him, and she retired with him to a remote place. And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree. She cried (in her anguish): "Ah! would that I had died before this! would that I had been a thing forgotten!" But (a voice) cried to her from beneath the (palm-tree): "Grieve not! for thy Lord hath provided a rivulet beneath thee; "And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree: It will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee. "So eat and drink and cool (thine) eye. And if thou dost see any man, say, 'I have vowed a fast to (Allah) Most Gracious, and this day will I enter into no talk with any human being'"

At length she brought the (babe) to her people, carrying him (in her arms). They said: "O Mary! truly a strange thing has thou brought! "O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" But she pointed to the babe.

They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?" He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah. He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet; "And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live; "(He hath made me) kind to my mother, and not overbearing or unblest; "So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)"!

Interpretation of the Holy Koran, Sura 19:15-33, Mariam, by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (paragraph spacing added)."


My friend replied she meant the Jesus she is head-over-heels in love with, the lap upon which she gleefully sits as a child. What a blessing for her and others that she learned to see and share such affection.