It is through numerous spiritual insights (which include some revelations about some of the extracanonical writings) that I (Benford) began to discover exactly who Jesus Christ really was. In her book, The Origin of Satan, religious historian Dr. Elaine Pagels alludes to the fact that Matthew saw the Pharisees as the chief rivals to his own teachings about Jesus. As a result he decided to present Jesus and his message in palatable terms acceptable to the Pharisees and their large following (Pagels, 77).
In order to gain credence with the oppositional Pharisees, Matthew revises Mark's story by saying that the spirit descended upon Jesus not at his baptism, but at the moment of his conception. So, Matthew says, Jesus' mother "was discovered to have a child in her womb through the Holy Spirit" (Mt. 1:18). One major thing that Matthew intentionally left out of his story was Jesus' early wrongdoings or transgressions. Matthew was concerned to refute damaging rumors about Jesus such that he neglected or even violated observance of Sabbath and kosher laws (Pagels, 77-78).
But herein lied the catch -- Isaiah had prophesied that the Messiah would have to learn good from evil: "He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste." (Isa. 7:15-16) Although many scholars see this prophecy as mainly applying to the future King Hezekiah in Isaiah's day, Christian tradition also has seen a complete fulfillment of this prophecy through Jesus. These passages left Jesus' disciples in a quandary: tell about Jesus' early transgressions and "humanness" and risk losing credibility or attempt to prove the prophecy without including such damaging evidence.
Jesus had to grow physically and spiritually just as we do. Jesus was not exclusively God -- he was also a human being just like us. He avoided nothing here on earth: he committed acts perceived as wrongful by the people of his day, he pleaded for God's help, he accepted the Holy Spirit into his life and he was transformed -- that is the lesson. The objection could be raised that even if Jesus did wrongful acts as perceived by others, they were not, in reality, wrong. The crucial point here is that goodness is in the eye of the beholder, and Jesus uses this to teach us about human nature and divine nature. If one looks at Jesus' genealogy, one will find more than one disreputable person in the list of his ancestors. It is surely a sign to us that disreputable aspects in our lives need not keep us from also sharing to some degree Jesus' divine nature.
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. . .For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." (He. 2:9,17-18)
Jesus' baptism by the Holy Spirit represented his transformation from a called to a chosen, from the ignorant to the wise. It was his "birth" into the spiritual realm. His role and his gifts were different from ours but the process was and is the same. Jesus demonstrated his ability to overcome the devil, or the World, when he was challenged in the desert after his baptism. This shows us how, as I had been told by him previously, once a soul is transformed, "Evil cannot touch you now." It is the same for us as it was for him. This is what he wants us to know.
Jesus wants us to relate to him not exclusively as a divinity but as a big brother: at once a fellow biological being who is also a child of God. "As Jesus started on his way; a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. 'Good teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?' 'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good -- except God alone.'" (Mk 10:17-18) Jesus didn't say "Only God and I are good and you are bad." In this context, "good" refers to actions antithetical to the contrived laws or beliefs of mankind not to sin, which involves thoughts and actions denying God's paramount law: refusing to accept God's divine love, which kills our soul. This is an extremely important concept to grasp, because it is so often misunderstood and is the cause for our defeatists attitudes in striving for perfection, or being all-loving to each other, which is the second part to God's paramount law.
An analogy to describe our spiritual development is the process with those working towards spiritual/intellectual transformation with first graders just entering school. Prior to school, they were not subject to any types of formal lessons but only confined to following their parent's most rudimentary "laws" until they were mature enough for formal training. Once admitted to school, the child learns specific lessons required for passing each grade. If the child remains in school and completes each grade satisfactorily, he or she finally progresses to graduation. Once graduation occurs, the student begins working from a completely different perspective. The graduate is now challenged with new and different tasks to succeed in the "real world," whether it is the physical world for students studying the sciences or the spiritual world for souls.
Jesus' message was clear. He was one of us in every way. He did not consider his gifts and talents exclusively his alone -- with his help, we would be made as strong as he was, thus elevating us to his level as a Christ. An analogy using a 1-year-old child and a 31-year-old person might be instructive. Although a 31-year-old person is more advanced in all ways than a 1-year-old child, the former is not more perfect as a human being because he/she is more advanced. The 1-year-old child has the same capacity to become as advanced as the 31-year-old person. So while they are
