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A Sad Jesus?
I am reading OSHO’s book titled The Absolute Tao. In this book, he commented on Jesus. He said he had deep sympathy for Jesus. He would like to carry his cross and walk with him for a while. But he would not like to be like Jesus. Why? Because he is too sad and burdened. It is as if he carried the burden of the entire humanity with him. He is surrounded with gloominess. This is actually true according to orthodox Christian theology.
OSHO’s comment is worth some reflections. In my book, The Zen Teachings of Jesus, I made a comparison between Buddha and Jesus. It is perhaps revealing that in the popular imagination, Buddha is always shown as smiling, while Jesus is always shown with a sad or serious face.
I took a position which is opposite to OSHO’s. My book is about Jesus as a master artist of living. I said that one lost dimension of Jesus (a dimension that people often miss) is joy. It is my belief that joy is an essential quality of a spiritual life. If one’s life is devoid of joy, then there is a question as to whether one’s spirituality is genuine. Having said that, it is true that Jesus and his disciples are often depicted as joyless in traditional Christian art and icons. This tradition may have started with Jesus himself. After all, Jesus is often shown as the suffering Christ nailed to a crucifix. He also played the role of the Jewish messiah. In that role as the messiah and prophet…
