The cosmic Christ. On a spirituality of power.

There is so much written about the historical Jesus. The debate is often heated and intense. Scholars give many answers to the question: “Who was Jesus?” “Facts” are distinguished from what they say is the “fiction” of later beliefs.

And the facts lead to many different portraits of Jesus which explains his ministry and provides the "real" explanation of the origins of Christianity. Thus Jesus is a miracle worker, or he is a liberator, a freedom fighter, or a pious Jew, or an itinerant preacher.

And yet, if one reads the New Testament, the Jesus who interested the early Christians was the powerful Resurrected one. Christians confessed Him as the Divine One, through whom God acted decisively. He represents humanity, as the second Adam. But he is also the first-born of creation” – as Colossians 1:15-17 formulates it.

He is so powerful in their eyes that early Christians regarded him as the One in whom all things in heaven and earth were created. And creation finds it unity in Him.

Christians were, therefore, more interested in speaking about the power that Christ unleashed in their lives than about "reasonable" explanations for their faith. They were more interested in the transformation which took place among them, in the power that they were experiencing than in "realistic" portraits of a "founder" of their faith. They were not digging in the past to discover historical remnants on which to reflect. They lived in an existential, powerful relationship with the divine which transformed them in all their relationships.

And how astonishingly powerful was their experience of Christ. Their faith had a cosmic, universal character.

They saw, for example, a special link between the Jew, Jesus, from Nazareth and creation. Particularity and universality are closely intertwined and linked in their faith. The man from Palestine was to them the creator and ruler of the world and of humanity.

To have faith in Jesus therefore fundamentally determines how one sees creation. If one relates to Jesus, one discover the special “glory” of Christ.

I am fascinated by my reading of Hebrews' introductory remarks. How highly and powerfully the author experienced the One who changed his life: Christ is “the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of God’s nature, sustaining the universe by God’s powerful command” (Heb. 1:3). He says what Paul was also saying: Christ was for him so powerful that “every knee should bow in heaven and earth and under the earth” (Phil. 2:10)

This early Christian faith experience has clear consequences for who we are and what we do. Through Christ, our faith is linked with this planet and all its people. Christ’s compassion for us is also his compassion for creation and all its inhabitants. If we fail to live our faith with this perspective in mind, we compromise and devalue our faith. While some dig in the past for “facts” about the historical Jesus, faith inspires us to do much more than this. We are called to heal our planet, to care for people, to live in compassion for our universe. Christ is, after all, the cosmic Christ in whose power everything is renewed.