Jesus Christ Quotes

We have collected and put Jesus Christ’s best quotes. May these Jesus Christ Quotes on many subjects inspire you to never give up and keep working towards your goals. Who knows—success could be just around the corner.

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Christ (Χριστός, Christós, meaning “anointed”) is a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Māšîaḥ) and the Syriac M’shiha, words for a “Messiah“, which is used as a title for Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament; among most Christians the words “Jesus” and “Christ” are often treated as synonyms. It is also used to indicate the presence of a Divine Essence or Holy Spirit of Christ manifest within all human beings, especially so in those of great saintliness. Most Christians believe that in the Second Coming of Christ, Jesus will personally return to Earth. In Judaism Jesus is not accepted as a Messiah, and notions equating him and God are rejected as idolatry. Islam does accept Jesus as the messiah Isa al-Masih and that he will return to Earth in a great and final apocolypse, but both Jews and Muslims reject assertions that he is a deity, should be worshiped as God, or called Son of God.

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I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – Jesus Christ, John 14:6

’The most important one,’ answered Jesus, is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ‘There is no commandment greater than these.’ – Jesus Christ, Mark 12:29-31

Jesus Quotes

Jesus Quotes

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – Jesus Christ

A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ – Jesus Christ, John 16:32-33

All my authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. – Jesus Christ

All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbor as yourself. – Jesus Christ

And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time. – Jesus Christ

And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. – Jesus Christ, Luke 11:9-10

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. – Jesus Christ

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. – Jesus Christ

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. – Jesus Christ, John 15:9-17

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. – Jesus Christ

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. – Jesus Christ

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. – Jesus Christ

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:10

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:11-12

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. – Jesus Christ

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 6:33

Come, follow me and I will send you out to fish for people. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 4:19

Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day. – Jesus Christ

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. – Jesus Christ

Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:12

Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 6:34

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. – Jesus Christ, John 3:3

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. – Jesus Christ, Mark 10:45

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? – Jesus Christ

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 11:30

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 23:12

For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? – Jesus Christ

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 12:50

Give to everyone who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. – Jesus Christ

He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. – Jesus Christ

I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – Jesus Christ

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. – Jesus Christ, John 16:33

I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. – Jesus Christ

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. – Jesus Christ, Mark 8:34-35

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. – Jesus Christ

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. – Jesus Christ

If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. – Jesus Christ

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. – Jesus Christ

Jesus answered them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. – Jesus Christ, Luke 5:31-32

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. – Jesus Christ, John 14:6

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going. – Jesus Christ, John 14:1-4

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 19:14

Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone. – Jesus Christ

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:16

Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in this world. – Jesus Christ

Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:43-47

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. – Jesus Christ

My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world. – Jesus Christ, John 18:36

My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place. – Jesus Christ

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. – Jesus Christ, John 10:27-30

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. – Jesus Christ, John 2:23-25

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. – Jesus Christ, John 7:37-39

Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. – Jesus Christ, John 20:21

So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. – Jesus Christ

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. – Jesus Christ, Luke 11:9-10

That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?  Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?  Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? – Jesus Christ, Matthew 6:25

The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 9:37

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. – Jesus Christ, John 10:10-11

Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?’ – Jesus Christ, Luke 9:23-25

They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. – Jesus Christ, Luke 5:31-32

What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. – Jesus Christ, Mark 8:36-38

What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 18:12-14

Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. – Jesus Christ, Mark 11:24-25

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:42-45)Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. – Jesus Christ, Mark 10:42-45

Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. – Jesus Christ, John 4:13-14

With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 19:26

You have said it. And in the future, you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 26:63-64

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. – Jesus Christ, Matthew 22:36-40

So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. – Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ Quotes

Jesus Christ Quotes

Christ Quotes from Wikiquote

  • The Spirit of Christ breathes across the desert of life. Like a spring It wears Its way through the solid rocks. In the milky firmament It radiates in lights beyond counting, and rises upward in the stem of every flower.
    • Agni Yoga, Leaves of Morya’s Garden I, 72.
  • Jesus Christ was the supreme example of authentic anarchy — the creative non-violent anarchist par excellence— working not from the top down, but from the bottom up with the poor, and the poorest of the poor, to empower people and enable them to realize their potential, as men and women made in the images of God.
    • Dave Andrews, in Christi-Anarchy: Discovering A Radical Spirituality of Compassion (1999), p. 73
  • The insidious tricks of the enemy may disturb you, but the humility and humanity of Christ should console you. This man emphasizes how high above you Christ has been lifted up; Christ, though, says how low he came down to you.
    • Augustine of Hippo, in Sermon 361 : On the Resurrection of the Dead, as translated by Edmund Hill in Works of Saint Augustine, A Translation for the 21st Century, III/10, Sermons 341-400, edited by John E. Rotelle
  • The Father willed that these two, the God Christ and the Church, should be one man. All men are one man in Christ, and the unity of the Christians constitutes but one man. And this man is all men, all men are this man; for all are one, since Christ is one.
    • Augustine of Hippo, On the Mystical Body of Christ, in The Whole Christ: The Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Scripture and Tradition (1938, 1962) by Fr. Emile Mersch, S. J., translated by John R. Kelly, S.J, Part 3 : The Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Western Tradition, Ch. 4, Augustine’s Sermons to the People, p. 414
  • In order to understand the Scriptures, it is absolutely necessary to know the whole, complete Christ, that is, Head and members. For sometimes Christ speaks in the name of the Head alone … sometimes in the name of His body, which is the holy Church spread over the entire earth.
    • Augustine of Hippo, On the Mystical Body of Christ, in The Whole Christ: The Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Scripture and Tradition (1938, 1962) by Fr. Emile Mersch, S. J., translated by John R. Kelly, S.J, Part 3 : The Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Western Tradition, Ch. 4, Augustine’s Sermons to the People, p. 419
  • Though absent from our eyes, Christ our Head is bound to us by love. Since the whole Christ is Head and body, let us so listen to the voice of the Head that we may also hear the body speak.
    He no more wished to speak alone than He wished to exist alone, since He says: “Behold, I am with you all days, unto the consummation of the world” (Matt. 28:20). If He is with us, then He speaks in us, He speaks of us, and He speaks through us; and we too speak in Him.

    • Augustine of Hippo, On the Mystical Body of Christ, in The Whole Christ: The Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Scripture and Tradition (1938, 1962) by Fr. Emile Mersch, S. J., translated by John R. Kelly, S.J, Part 3 : The Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Western Tradition, Ch. 4, Augustine’s Sermons to the People, p. 420
  • Christ’s whole body groans in pain. Until the end of the world, when pain will pass away, this man groans and cries to God. And each one of us has part in the cry of that whole body. Thou didst cry out in thy day, and thy days have passed away; another took thy place and cried out in his day. Thou here, he there, and another there. The body of Christ ceases not to cry out all the day, one member replacing the other whose voice is hushed. Thus there is but one man who reaches unto the end of time, and those that cry are always His members.
    • Augustine of Hippo, On the Mystical Body of Christ, in The Whole Christ: The Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Scripture and Tradition (1938, 1962) by Fr. Emile Mersch, S. J., translated by John R. Kelly, S.J, Part 3 : The Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Western Tradition, Ch. 4, Augustine’s Sermons to the People, p. 423
  • What does the Scripture mean when it tells us of the body of one man so extended in space that all can kill him? We must understand these words of ourselves, of our Church, or the body of Christ. For Jesus Christ is one man, having a Head and a body. The Saviour of the body and the members of the body are two in one flesh, and in one voice, and in one passion, and, when iniquity shall have passed away, in one repose.
    And so the passion of Christ is not in Christ alone; and yet the passion of Christ is in Christ alone. For if in Christ you consider both the Head and the body, the Christ’s passion is in Christ alone; but if by Christ you mean only the Head, then Christ’s passion is not in Christ alone. Hence if you are in the members of Christ, all you who hear me, and even you who hear me not (though you do hear, if you are united with the members of Christ), whatever you suffer at the hands of those who are no among the members of Christ, was lacking to the sufferings of Christ. It is added precisely because it was lacking. You fill up the measure; you do not cause it to overflow. You will suffer just so much as must be added of your sufferings to the complete passion of Christ, who suffered as our Head and who continues to suffer in His members, that is, in us. Into this common treasury each pays what he owes, and according to each one’s ability we all contribute our share of suffering. The full measure of the Passion will not be attained until the end of the world.

    • Augustine of Hippo, On the Mystical Body of Christ, in The Whole Christ: The Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Scripture and Tradition (1938, 1962) by Fr. Emile Mersch, S. J., translated by John R. Kelly, S.J, Part 3 : The Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Western Tradition, Ch. 4, Augustine’s Sermons to the People, p. 424
  • Let every Christian, yea, let the whole body of Christ everywhere cry out, despite the tribulations it endures, despite temptations and countless scandals, saying: “Preserve my soul, for I am holy; save Thy servant, O my God, that trusteth in thee” (Ps. 85:2) No, this holy one is not proud, for he trusts in God.
    • Augustine of Hippo, On the Mystical Body of Christ, in The Whole Christ: The Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Scripture and Tradition (1938, 1962) by Fr. Emile Mersch, S. J., translated by John R. Kelly, S.J, Part 3 : The Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Western Tradition, Ch. 4, Augustine’s Sermons to the People, p. 429
  • The members of Christ, many though they be, are bound to one another by the ties of charity and peace under the one Head, who is our Saviour Himself, and form one man. Often their voice is heard in the Psalms as the voice of one man; the cry of one is as the cry of all, for all are one in One.
    • Augustine of Hippo, On the Mystical Body of Christ, in The Whole Christ: The Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Scripture and Tradition (1938, 1962) by Fr. Emile Mersch, S. J., translated by John R. Kelly, S.J, Part 3 : The Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Western Tradition, Ch. 4, Augustine’s Sermons to the People, p. 430
  • “Thou dost honor me in vain,” He cries from heaven, “thou dost honor Me in vain!” If someone wished to kiss thy cheek, but insisted at the same time on trampling thy feet; if with his hailed boots he were to crush thy feet as he tries to hold thy head and kiss thee, wouldst thou not interrupt his expression of respect and cry out: “What are thou doing, man? Thou art trampling upon me!” … It is for this reason that before He ascended into heaven our Lord Jesus Christ recommended to us His body, by which He was to remain upon earth. For He foresaw that many would pay Him homage because of His glory in heaven, but that their homage would be vain, so long as they despise His members on earth.
    • Augustine of Hippo, On the Mystical Body of Christ, in The Whole Christ: The Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Scripture and Tradition (1938, 1962) by Fr. Emile Mersch, S. J., translated by John R. Kelly, S.J, Part 3 : The Doctrine of the Mystical Body in Western Tradition, Ch. 4, Augustine’s Sermons to the People, p. 436
  • The Avatar is always one and the same, because God is always One and the Same, the Eternal, Indivisible, Infinite One, who manifests Himself in the form of man as the Avatar, as the Messiah, as the Prophet, as the Ancient One — the Highest of the High. This Eternally One and the Same Avatar repeats His manifestation from time to time, in different cycles, adopting different human forms and different names, in different places, to reveal Truth in different garbs and different languages, in order to raise humanity from the pit of ignorance and help free it from the bondage of delusions.
    • Meher Baba, in “The Highest of the High” Dhera Dun, India (7 September 1953)
  • Whether there have been 26 Avatars since Adam, or 124,000 Prophets, as is sometimes claimed, or whether Jesus Christ was the last and only Messiah, or Muhammad the last Prophet, is all immaterial and insignificant when eternity and reality are under consideration.
    • Meher Baba, in a statement before 1955, as quoted in God Speaks : The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose (1973), p. 266
  • Many years of work as an evangelist and as a teacher in the field of Christian principles, and a difficult cycle in which I faced the problem of my own relation to Christ and to Christianity, have brought me to two definitely clear and clean-cut recognitions: first, a recognition of the reality of the Individuality of Christ and of His Mission; and secondly, a recognition that the development of the Christ Consciousness and the Christ Nature in individual man, and in the race as a whole, carries with it the solution of our world problem. (Forward)
    • Alice Bailey, in From Bethlehem to Calvary. (1937)
  • He has been for two thousand years the supreme Head of the Church Invisible, the Spiritual Hierarchy, composed of the disciples of all faiths. He recognises and loves those who are not Christian but who retain their allegiance to their Founders – the Buddha, Mohammed and others. He cares not what the faith is, if the objective is love of God and of humanity. If men look for the Christ Who left His disciples centuries ago, they will fail to recognise the Chirst Who is in the process of returning. The Christ has no religious barriers in His consciousness. It matters not to Him of what faith a man may call himself.
    The Son of God is on His way, and He cometh not alone. His advance guard is already here, and the Plan which they must follow, is already made clear. Let recognition be the aim.

    • Alice Bailey in “The Reappearance of the Christ” (1948) p. 60
  • He is the World Teacher and not a Christian teacher. He Himself told us that He had other folds, and to them He has meant as much as He has meant to the orthodox Christian. They may not call Him Christ, but they have their own name for Him and follow Him as truly and faithfully as their Western brethren.
    • Alice Bailey in “The Reappearance of the Christ” (1948) p. 62
  • In the future, the eyes of humanity will be fixed upon the Christ, and not upon any such man-made institutions as the Church and its dignitaries; Christ will be seen as He is in reality, working through His disciples, through the Masters of the Wisdom, and through His followers who toil unseen (and usually unrecognised) behind world affairs. The sphere of His activity will be known to be the human heart and also the crowded market places of the world, but not some stone edifice, and not the pomp and ceremony of any ecclesiastical headquarters.
    • Alice Bailey in “The Reappearance of the Christ” (1948) p. 66
  • A myth is capable of becoming a fact in the experience of an individual, for a myth is a fact which can be proven. Upon the myths we take our stand, but we must seek to re-interpret them in the light of the present. Through self-initiated experiment we can prove their validity; through experience we can establish them as governing forces in our lives; and through their expression we can demonstrate their truth to others. This is the theme of this book, dealing as it does with the facts of the Gospel story, that fivefold sequential myth which teaches us the revelation of divinity in the Person of Jesus Christ, and which remains eternally truth, in the cosmic sense, in the historical sense, and in its practical application to the individual. This myth divides itself into five great episodes: 1. The Birth at Bethlehem. 2. The Baptism in Jordan. 3. The Transfiguration on Mount Carmel. 4. The Crucifixion on Mount Golgotha. 5. The Resurrection and Ascension. (Chapter One)
    • Alice Bailey, in From Bethlehem to Calvary. (1937)
  • And so, looking over the world at the moment, there seems little likelihood that when He comes He will be welcome. A few will recognise Him as they ever have done, and maybe, as the characteristics of the coming race are those of spirituality, there will be more to welcome Him, for the spiritual life is spreading to-day, and those who are of the Spirit will know the law of the Spirit; and I would fain leave you with the thought tonight that that is a truth, that the Supreme Teacher will again ere very long be incarnate upon earth, again made manifest as Teacher, again walking and living amongst us as last He walked in Palestine. Splendid as is the hope, mighty as is the inspiration, there is nothing too glorious to be possible for the ever-unfolding Spirit in man, and the hope of to-day is that that spirit is spreading, despite the characteristics of our time; that men are becoming more liberal, more tolerant, more ready to recognise that which is true and just.
    • Annie Besant, in The Changing World and Lectures to Theosophical Students, Lecture VI, The Coming Christ, (May, June, and July 1909)
  • It may well be that we have reached such a time…that the popular mind of the day will be transcended by large numbers of the more spiritually minded, and that when He comes again He will be able to stay amongst us more than the three brief years that marked His last ministry. That, then, is the word, the thought I leave with you: to develop in yourselves the Spirit of the Christ, and then at His coming you shall recognise His beauty. Learn compassion, learn tenderness, learn good thoughts of others rather than evil, learn to be tender with the weak, learn to be reverent to the great; and if you can develop those qualities in you, then the coming Christ may be able to number you among His disciples, and the welcome that the earth shall give Him shall not again be a cross.
    • Annie Besant, in The Changing World and Lectures to Theosophical Students, Lecture VI, The Coming Christ, (May, June, and July 1909)
  • Our Christian conviction is that Christ is also the messiah of Israel. Certainly it is in the hands of God how and when the unification of Jews and Christians into the people of God will take place.
    • Pope Benedict XVI, “God and the World”, as reported by National Catholic Reporter (October 2000)
  • The vision of Christ that thou dost see is my vision’s greatest enemy.
    Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read’st black where I read white.

    • William Blake, The Everlasting Gospel (c.1818)
  • I believe blindly in those words of Christ that I clearly understand and still more in those that were expressed by Him in the Sermon on the Mount for I find them literally repeated in the Buddhist sermons of Gautama, in the Dhammapada and in the Sastras of Siddhartha Buddha, as well as the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
    • H.P. Blavatsky, The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky: Volume 1 1861-1879, ISBN-13: 978-0835608367
  • The religion which the primitive teaching of the early few apostles most resembled — a religion preached by Jesus himself — is the elder of… Buddhism. The latter as taught in its primitive purity, and carried to perfection by the last of the Buddhas, Gautama, based its moral ethics on three fundamental principles. It alleged that 1, every thing existing, exists from natural causes; 2, that virtue brings its own reward, and vice and sin their own punishment; and, 3, that the state of man in this world is probationary… However puzzling the subsequent theological tenets; however seemingly incomprehensible the metaphysical abstractions which have convulsed the theology of every one of the great religions of mankind as soon as it was placed on a sure footing, the above is found to be the essence of every religious philosophy, with the exception of later Christianity. It was that of Zoroaster, of Pythagoras, of Plato, of Jesus, and even of Moses, albeit the teachings of the Jewish law-giver have been so piously tampered with.
    • H.P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, Vol. II, Chapter III], (1877)
  • In following Jesus, people are released from the hard yoke of their own laws to be under the gentle yoke of Jesus Christ. … Jesus’ commandment never wishes to destroy life, but rather to preserve, strengthen, and heal life.
    • Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in Discipleship (1937), “Preface”, as translated by Barbara Green and Reihhard Krauss (2001)
  • The living truth is what I long to see : I cannot lean upon what used to be.So shut the Bible up and show me how
    The Christ you talk about
    Is living now.

    • Sydney Carter, in “Present Tense” in Nothing Fixed or Final (1968), p. 27
  • I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.
    • Sydney Carter, in Green Print for Song (1974)
  • Scriptures and creeds may come to seem incredible, but faith will still go dancing on. Even though (because it rejects a doctrine) it is now described as “doubt”. This, I believe, is the kind of faith that Christ commended.
    • Sydney Carter, as quoted in his obituary in The Independent (17 March 2001)
  • Every new cosmic cycle — we are entering a new one now, the Age of Aquarius — brings into the world a teacher. People like Hercules and Hermes, Rama, Mithra, Vyasa, Zoroaster, Confucius, Krishna, Shankaracharya, the Buddha, the Christ, Mohammed — these are all Masters who have come from the same spiritual centre of the planet, called the Spiritual, or Esoteric, Hierarchy, which is made up of the Masters and Their initiates and disciples of various degrees.
    • Benjamin Creme in The Ageless Wisdom, An Introduction to Humanity’s Spiritual Legacy, Share International (1996), p.6
  • The only difference between the Christ and ourselves, the Buddha or Krishna and ourselves, is that They have manifested Their divinity. They know that They are Sons of God, and They demonstrate it.
    • Benjamin Creme in The Ageless Wisdom, An Introduction to Humanity’s Spiritual Legacy, Share International (1996), p. 29
  • In the esoteric tradition, the Christ is not the name of an individual but of an Office in the [esoteric spiritual] Hierarchy. The present holder of that Office… has held it for 2,600 years, and manifested in Palestine through His disciple, Jesus, by the occult method of overshadowing, the most frequent form used for the manifestation of Avatars. He has never left the world, but for 2,000 years has waited and planned for this immediate future time, training His disciples, and preparing Himself for the awesome task which awaits Him… They stand now, waiting for us to take, of our own free will, the needed first steps in the direction of unity, cooperation and fusion. Then They will emerge with the Christ at Their Head, and Their Presence in the world will be an established fact.
    • Benjamin Creme, in The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom (1980)
  • The disciple Jesus, Who is now the Master Jesus, was born in Palestine as a third-degree initiate… He was, and still is, a Disciple of the Christ and made the great sacrifice of giving up His body for the use of the Christ. By the… process of overshadowing, the Christ, Maitreya, took over and worked through the body of Jesus from the Baptism onwards. In His next incarnation, as Apollonius of Tyana, Jesus became a Master.
    • Benjamin Creme, in The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom (1980)
  • He lives now in a Syrian body which is some 600 years old, and has His base in Palestine. He has, in the last 2,000 years, worked in the closest relation to the Christ, saving His time and energy where possible, and has special work to do with the Christian Churches. He is one of the Masters Who will very shortly return to outer work in the world, taking over the Throne of St Peter, in Rome. He will seek to transform the Christian Churches, in so far as they are flexible enough to respond correctly to the new reality which the return of the Christ and the Masters will create. [Author’s note, 2006: The Master Jesus is now living on the outskirts of Rome.]
    I am afraid that the Churches have gone very far away from the religion which the Christ inaugurated; which is to do with sharing, with love, with brotherhood and right relationship.

    • Benjamin Creme, in The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom (1980)
  • Christ Consciousness — The energy of the Cosmic Christ, also known as the Christ Principle. Embodied for us by the Christ, it is at present awakening in the hearts of millions of people all over the world. The energy of evolution per se.
    • Benjamin Creme, Maitreya’s Mission, Vol. III, Glossary, Share International Foundation (1997)

The Grand Inquisitor by Feodor Dostoevsky (1879–1880)

  • He comes silently and unannounced; yet all–how strange–yea, all recognize Him, at once! The population rushes towards Him as if propelled by some irresistible force; it surrounds, throngs, and presses around, it follows Him…. Silently, and with a smile of boundless compassion upon His lips, He crosses the dense crowd, and moves softly on. The Sun of Love burns in His heart, and warm rays of Light, Wisdom and Power beam forth from His eyes, and pour down their waves upon the swarming multitudes of the rabble assembled around, making their hearts vibrate with returning love.
  • He pauses at the portal of the old cathedral, just as a wee white coffin is carried in, with tears and great lamentations. The lid is off, and in the coffin lies the body of a fair-child, seven years old… ‘He will raise the child to life!’ confidently shouts the crowd to the weeping mother. The officiating priest… looks perplexed, and frowns… The procession halts, and the little coffin is gently lowered at his feet. Divine compassion beams forth from His eyes, and as He looks at the child, His lips are heard to whisper once more, ‘Talitha Cumi’–and ‘straightway the damsel arose.’ The child rises in her coffin…and, looking round with large astonished eyes she smiles sweetly…
  • A terrible commotion rages among them, the populace shouts and loudly weeps, when suddenly, before the cathedral door, appears the Cardinal Grand Inquisitor himself… He pauses before the crowd and observes. He has seen all. He has witnessed the placing of the little coffin at His feet, the calling back to life. And now, his dark, grim face has grown still darker; his bushy grey eyebrows nearly meet, and his sunken eye flashes with sinister light. Slowly raising his finger, he commands his minions to arrest Him…
  • The Grand Inquisitor… addresses Him in these words: “‘It is Thou! … Thou!’ … Receiving no reply, he rapidly continues: ‘Nay, answer not; be silent! … And what couldst Thou say? … I know but too well Thy answer…. Besides, Thou hast no right to add one syllable to that which was already uttered by Thee before…. Why shouldst Thou now return, to impede us in our work?… But art Thou as well aware of what awaits Thee in the morning?…to-morrow I will condemn and burn Thee on the stake, as the most wicked of all the heretics…
  • …his words mean, in short: ‘Everything was given over by Thee to the Pope, and everything now rests with him alone; Thou hast no business to return and thus hinder us in our work.’ In this sense the Jesuits not only talk but write likewise.
  • He [the Grand Inquisitor] seriously regards it as a great service done by himself, his brother monks and Jesuits, to humanity, to have conquered and subjected unto their authority that freedom, and boasts that it was done but for the good of the world… Man is born a rebel, and can rebels be ever happy?…
  • Having disburdened his heart, the Inquisitor waits for some time to hear his prisoner speak in His turn… The old man longs to hear His voice, to hear Him reply; better words of bitterness and scorn than His silence. Suddenly He rises; slowly and silently approaching the Inquisitor, He bends towards him and softly kisses the bloodless, four-score and-ten-year-old lips. That is all the answer.
  • If one purges the Judaism of the Prophets and Christianity as Jesus Christ taught it of all subsequent additions, especially those of the priests, one is left with a teaching which is capable of curing all the social ills of humanity.
    It is the duty of every man of good will to strive steadfastly in his own little world to make this teaching of pure humanity a living force, so far as he can.

    • Albert Einstein, in The World As I See It (1949), § Christianity and Judaism
  • The Christian sees the Church as the Body of Christ, as the vessel that guards with absolute integrity the deposit of faith, as the faithful Spouse who communicates without addition or subtraction all that Christ entrusted.
    • Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (later Pope Francis), in Catechesis (English translation) given by Bergoglio at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, in Quebec (18 July 2008)
  • The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! “Father, the atheists?” Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace.
    • Pope Francis, as quoted in “Pope at Mass: Culture of encounter is the foundation of peace” at Vatican Radio (22 May 2013)
  • I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God, there is God and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator. This is my Being.
    • Pope Francis, interviewed in “How the Church will change” by Eugenio Scalfari in La Repubblica (1 October 2013), as translated from Italian to English by Kathryn Wallace
  • The dictionary definition of a Christian is one who follows Christ; kind, kindly, Christ-like. Anarchism is voluntary cooperation for good, with the right of secession. A Christian anarchist is therefore one who turns the other cheek, overturns the tables of the moneychangers, and does not need a cop to tell him how to behave. A Christian anarchist does not depend upon bullets or ballots to achieve his ideal; he achieves that ideal daily by the One-Man Revolution with which he faces a decadent, confused, and dying world.
    • Ammon Hennacy, “Christian Anarchism” in The Book of Ammon (1965)
  • Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
    • Jesus, as quoted in Gospel of Mark (KJV) 18:6-7
    • Variants:
    • Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
      • As quoted in Gospel of Matthew (KJV) 24:4-6
  • And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
    • Jesus, as quoted in Gospel of Mark (KJV) 18:19-22
    • Variants:
    • Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
      Behold, I have told you before.
      Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

      • As quoted in Gospel of Matthew (KJV) 24:21-27

Testimonies of Jesus

  • Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
    And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.
    And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
    And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

    • Gospel of Mark 8:27-30
    • Variants:
    • When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
      And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
      He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
      And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
      And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
      And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
      Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

      • Gospel of Matthew 16:13-20
  • And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.
    Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am.
    And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.

    • Gospel of Luke 22:66-71
  • The true founder of anarchy was Jesus Christ and … the first anarchist society was that of the apostles.
    • Georges Lechartier, as quoted in Anarchism : A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements (1962) by George Woodcock, Part One : The Idea, Ch. 2 : The Family Tree p. 36
  • Christ founded no church, established no state, gave practically no laws, organized no government and set up no external authority, but he did seek to write on the hearts of men God’s law and make them self-legislating.
    • Heber Newton, in Free Speech for Radicals (1916) by Theodore Schroeder, p. 7
  • Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
    Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
    Christ on my right, Christ on my left
    Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise
    Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
    Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
    Christ in every eye that sees me,
    Christ in every ear that hears me.

    • Saint Patrick, in “The Lorica of Patrick”
  • Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
    But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

    • Paul of Tarsus, in Epistle to the Galatians 20:16-21
  • If the great examples and sacrifice of Christ kindles the fires within our hearts, and if we apply his Covenant, it can be said that he did not suffer in vain, and that precisely the Cup that he accepted, sealed his Covenant. But if we imagine that, regardless of what we do and what crimes we commit, the blood that was shed by Christ will save us forever from the power of the devil, then we ourselves become these very devils! No one can save another. Only by personal efforts can the spirit ascend into the preordained beautiful worlds. “Faith without works is dead.”
    All the Great Teachers are called Saviors of the World, because again and again they point out to us the Path of Light. However, They are able to help and safeguard us only so far as we ourselves accept Their protection. The whole of Cosmos is based on the law of reciprocity or mutuality, and where there is no response, there is no result. This explains why Christ could not perform miracles where there was no faith in him, and where there was no striving of the spirit toward his healing ray.

    • Helena Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich II, 8 June 1936
  • At sea on a ship in a thunderstorm
    on the very night the Christ was born
    a sailor heard from overhead
    a mighty voice cry “Pan is Dead!”
    So follow Christ as best you can
    Pan is dead — Long live Pan!

    • Mike Scott, in “The Return Of Pan”, on Dream Harder (1993)
  • I’m gonna look twice at you
    until I see the Christ in you
    when I’m lookin through the eyes of love.

    • Mike Scott, in “The Christ in You” · Video at YouTube (with images from Findhorn)
  • Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?
    • George Bernard Shaw, In reference to the burning of Joan of Arc, in Saint Joan : A Chronicle Play In Six Scenes And An Epilogue (1923)
  • At its beginnings there was very powerful meditation on the presence of Christ in the oppressed Indians, which objectively pointed toward a christology of the “body of Christ.” Guamán Poma, for example, said, “By faith we know clearly that where there is a poor person there is Jesus Christ himself,” and Bartolomé de las Casas declared, “In the Indies I leave Jesus Christ, our God, being whipped and afflicted, and buffeted and crucified, not once but thousands of times, as often as the Spaniards assault and destroy those people.” But this original christological insight did not thrive, and what became the tradition was a christology based on the dogmatic formulas, in which—however well they were known and understood—what was stressed was the divinity of Christ rather than his real and lived humanity.
    • Jon Sobrino, Jesus the Liberator (1991), p. 11
  • The sublime title “Christ” is an adjective which only receives its specific value from the specificity of the noun, Jesus of Nazareth. If Jesus is forgotten, then it becomes possible to fill the adjective with whatever suits at the time, without checking whether Jesus was like that or not, or whether this means leaving the world sunk in its wretchedness or not; or worse still, without asking if this image legitimates the tragedy of the world or brings liberation from it.
    • Jon Sobrino, Jesus the Liberator (1991), p. 15
  • Burning the witch Giordano Bruno is one more wound inflicted on Christ’s body.
    • Dejan Stojanovic, in The Sun Watches the Sun (1999) “Christ” (Sequence: “Is It Possible to Write a Poem”)
  • Always think of yourself as everyone’s servant; look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.
    • Teresa of Avila, in “Maxims for Her Nuns” in Complete Works St. Teresa of Avila (1963) edited by E. Allison Peers, Vol. 3Maxim 25, p. 257
  • I had some trepidation about the Christ parallels, but I hoped there would be little outcry if I handled it tastefully, since I was not really making any serious statement on religion… at least not overtly.
    • Roy Thomas, on developing Adam Warlock as a messiah figure, inspired by the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, as quoted in “The Life and Death (and Life and Death) of Adam Warlock” by Karen Walker, in Back Issue magazine (June 2009), p. 34
  • Christ says, “Forgive all. Forgive not once, not seven times, but forgive without end.” “Love your enemies.” “Do good to those who hate you.” Courts of law do not forgive, but they punish; they do not do good, but evil, to those whom they call the enemies of society. So, the true sense of the doctrine is that Christ forbids all courts of law.
    • Leo Tolstoy, What I Believe (1885), Ch. III
  • Christianity in its true sense puts an end to government. So it was understood at its very commencement; it was for that cause that Christ was crucified. So it has always been understood by people who were not under the necessity of justifying a Christian government. Only from the time that the heads of government assumed an external and nominal Christianity, men began to invent all the impossible, cunningly devised theories by means of which Christianity can be reconciled with government. But no honest and serious-minded man of our day can help seeing the incompatibility of true Christianity — the doctrine of meekness, forgiveness of injuries, and love — with government, with its pomp, acts of violence, executions, and wars. The profession of true Christianity not only excludes the possibility of recognizing government, but even destroys its very foundations.
    • Leo Tolstoy, in The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894), Ch. X
  • You have already heard that the Quakers date their epoch from Christ, who, according to them, was the first Quaker. Religion, say they, was corrupted almost immediately after His death, and remained in that state of corruption about sixteen hundred years. But there were always a few of the faithful concealed in the world, who carefully preserved the sacred fire, which was extinguished in all but themselves; till at length this light shone out in England in 1642.
    • Voltaire, in “The History of the Quakers” (1762)
  • The flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn’t look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being in the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought…:
    Oh, boy — they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch that time!
    And that thought had a brother: “There are right people to lynch.” Who? People not well connected. So it goes.
    The visitor from outer space made a gift to Earth of a new Gospel. In it, Jesus really was a nobody, and a pain in the neck to a lot of people with better connections than he had. He still got to say all the lovely and puzzling things he said in the other Gospels.
    So the people amused themselves one day by nailing him to a cross and planting the cross in the ground. There couldn’t possibly be any repercussions, the lynchers thought. The reader would have to think that too, since the Gospel hammered home again and again what a nobody Jesus was.
    And then, just before the nobody died, the heavens opened up, and there was thunder and lightning. The voice of God came crashing down. He told the people that he was adopting the bum as his son, giving him the full powers and privileges of the Son of the Creator of the Universe throughout all eternity. God said this:
    From this moment on, He will punish horribly anybody who torments a bum who has no connections!

    • Kurt Vonnegut, in Slaughterhouse-Five, Or The Children’s Crusade : A Duty-dance with Death (1969), Ch. 5
  • I say of Jesus, as all humanists do. “If what he said is good, and so much of it is absolutely beautiful, what does it matter if he was God or not?”
    But if Christ hadn’t delivered the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of mercy and pity, I wouldn’t want to be a human being.
    I’d just as soon be a rattlesnake.

    • Kurt Vonnegut, in A Man Without a Country (2005) p. 80
  • Missionary zeal has not Christianized Africa, Asia and Oceania, but has brought these territories under the cold, cruel and destructive domination of the white race, which has trodden down everything. It would be strange, indeed, that the word of Christ should have produced such results if it had been properly understood.
    • Simone Weil, in Letter to a Priest (1951), Section 9
  • Except for one or two passages in St. John’s Gospel it is difficult to get any words actually ascribed to Jesus in which be claimed to be the Jewish Messiah (rendered in Greek by “the Christ”) and still more difficult is it to find any claim to be a part of the godhead, or any passage in which he explained the doctrine of the Atonement or urged any sacrifices or sacraments (that is to say, priestly offices) upon his followers.
    • H. G. Wells, in “The Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth”, in The Outline of History : Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind (1920)
  • Christ had truths to present which the people were unprepared to accept or even to understand. For this reason also He taught them in parables. By connecting His teaching with the scenes of life, experience, or nature, He secured their attention and impressed their hearts. Afterward, as they looked upon the objects that illustrated His lessons, they recalled the words of the divine Teacher. To minds that were open to the Holy Spirit, the significance of the Saviour’s teaching unfolded more and more. Mysteries grew clear, and that which had been hard to grasp became evident.
    Jesus sought an avenue to every heart. By using a variety of illustrations, He not only presented truth in its different phases, but appealed to the different hearers.

    • Ellen G. White, in Christ’s Object Lessons (1900), Ch. 1
  • Reward for information leading to the apprehension of —
    Jesus Christ
    Wanted — For Sedition, Criminal Anarchy — Vagrancy, and Conspiring to Overthrow the Established Government.

    Dresses poorly, said to be a carpenter by trade, ill-nourished, has visionary ideas, associates with common working people, the unemployed and bums. Alien — believed to be a Jew. Alias: “Prince of Peace. Son of Man.” “Light of the world” &c. &c. Professional Agitator, Red beard, marks on hands and feet the result of injuries inflicted by an angry mob led by respectable citizens and legal authorities.

    • Art Young, Jesus Christ “wanted-poster” political cartoon in The Masses (1917)
Messiah Quotes

Messiah Quotes

Messiah Quotes from Wikiquote

Messiah (literally, “anointed one”) is a term for a savior or liberator of a group of people, which originated in Judaism, and is prominent in all the Abrahamic religions, but is also now used in reference to figures of many diverse ethnic, religious and social groups. In the Hebrew Bible, a messiah (Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ, Modern mashiaẖ, Tiberian māšîăḥ) is a king or High Priest traditionally anointed with holy oil. Jesus of Nazareth, who is accepted as the Christ (Messiah) of Christianity, is not accepted as a Messiah in Judaism. Islam accepts Jesus as both a prophet and Messiah, but notions of him as either God or the equal of God are rejected by both Jews and Muslims as idolatry. In Jewish traditions, the Messiah to come is thought to be a human leader, physically descended from the paternal Davidic line through King David and King Solomon, who will be involved in predestined accomplishments, including the unification of Israelites, the gathering in of Jews to the [[w:Land of Israel|Land of Israel], the ushering in of a Messianic Age of world peace and the annunciation of the World to Come.

  • I am no more messiah than you The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.
    • Richard Bach, in Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
  • Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a fake messiah.
    • Richard Bach, in Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
  • Our Christian conviction is that Christ is also the messiah of Israel. Certainly it is in the hands of God how and when the unification of Jews and Christians into the people of God will take place.
    • Pope Benedict XVI, “God and the World”, as reported by National Catholic Reporter (October 2000)
  • Everywhere in the world people were expecting the latter coming of one or another kickshaw messiah who would remove the discomforts which they themselves were either too lazy or too incompetent to deal with; and nobody had anything whatever to gain with electing for peculiarity among one’s fellow creatures and a gloomier outlook.
    • James Branch Cabell, in The Silver Stallion : A Comedy of Redemption (1926), Book Five : “Mundus Vult Decepi”, Ch. XXVII : Fond Motto of a Patriot
  • Whether it be a lamb having its throat cut ritually, or a Messiah nailed to a cross and “dying for your sins”. Somebody should tell all of Yahweh’s followers, Jews and Christians, that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
    • Robert A. Heinlein, in Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984)
  • The real crazies who are looking for a messiah… after an hour or so they realize I’m not it and go off and look somewhere else.
    • Ken Kesey, as quoted in “Trip of a Lifetime” (1999) in The Sun Times (29 August 1999)
  • I forgot to tell you — the spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe. A desolate, dry planet with vast deserts. Hidden away within the rocks of these deserts are a people known as the Fremen, who have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah who would lead them to true freedom. The planet is Arrakis, also known as Dune.
    • David Lynch, in the introductory narrative of Princess Irulan for Dune (1984)
  • Even on important issues, like Moon’s claiming to be the messiah, there are church members whom I met, including a close aide to Moon, who demur. A religious leader whom they respect and whose theology they believe, yes; the messiah, perhaps not.
    • Peter Maass, “Moon at Twilight”, in The New Yorker (14 September 1998)
  • I fancy that this moment Shakspeare in heaven ranks with Gabriel, Raphael and Michael. And if another Messiah ever comes twill be in Shakesper’s person.
    • Herman Melville, in a letter to Evert Augustus Duyckinck (24 February 1849); published in The Letters of Herman Melville (1960) edited by Merrell R. Davis and William H. Gilman, p. 77
  • Having lived all my life in a country swarming with messiahs, I have been mistaken, perhaps quite naturally, for one myself, especially by the others. It would be hard to imagine anything more preposterous. I am, in fact, the complete anti-Messiah, and detest converts almost as much as I detest missionaries. My writings, such as they are, have had only one purpose: to attain for H. L. Mencken that feeling of tension relieved and function achieved which a cow enjoys on giving milk. Further than that, I have had no interest in the matter whatsoever.
    • H. L. Mencken, in “For the Defense Written for the Associated Press, for use in my obituary” (20 November 1940)
  • Now, you listen here: ‘e’s not the Messiah, ‘e’s a very naughty boy! Now, go away!
    • Monty Python, in Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
  • Brian: I’m not the Messiah!
    Arthur: I say you are, lord, and I should know, I’ve followed a few!

    • Monty Python, in Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
  • Brian: …Will you please listen? I’m not the Messiah! Do you understand? Honestly!
    Woman: Only the true Messiah denies his divinity!
    Brian: What? Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All right, I am the Messiah!
    Crowd: He is! He is the Messiah!
    Brian: Now, fuck off!

    • Monty Python, in Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)

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