Pantokrator (The Easter King), part 2

To most people. Easter is no different from any other holiday during the year. It presents much desired opportunities to relax, read, mix with friends, get abreast of long-postponed household chores and so on. But very few people spend their precious time off reflecting on the events that secured Easter the position as a staple feature on our calendar.

In Europe in particular, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday seem to have completely lost their religious and cultural significance, in that the majority population appear to wilfully ignore the events that spawned such a radical, even revolutionary, change in our outlooks, values, jurisprudence and, yes, even in our economies.

JESUS: A NAME OF NO CONSEQUENCE?

It's not that Jesus isn't debated anymore, it's not that his contribution to our common cultural heritage has been devalued beyond all hopes of recovery; but this alleged preacher of unattainably high ideals has lost his audience. Once he commanded superior attendance in churches every Sunday, whereas nowadays people prefer tuning in to other sources of faith, information and entertainment. His claims may be true, a lot of people seem to think, but they constitute, at best, religious truths and not scientific ones.

So we're free to disregard the religious truth that his original disciples put forward, namely that sometime around AD 30 this Jesus from Nazareth died on a cross, subsequently to rise again from the dead and ascend to this mystic realm called heaven? No, we're not. Not at all.

RELIGIOUS TRUTH

One prevalent fallacy that an increasing number of Europeans have begun to subscribe to, is that our own choices can somehow stamp out, nullify, the truthfulness and legitimacy of any given claim, all but including claims relating to scientific finds and purported facts. One example: "Jesus may be Lord to you, the Christian, but it is only true to you because you believe it to be true, and choose to order your life accordingly. To me, the agnostic or the atheist or the Buddhist, this claim is nonsensical and untrue, simply because I do not believe in it. Jesus is Lord, fine. But don't be the regular bigot and talk demeaningly and disapprovingly of my personal choice."

How can this possibly be regarded as a fallacy, you may ask. To get at an answer, lets first look at the term religious truth. Can slomething be true as a religious statement, while simultaneously be demonstrably untrue? Can Jesus e.g. physically have risen from the dead, then to leave - unaided -  his empty tomb behind for all to see, then to appear alive to his followers only in the minds of easily deluded simpletons? The answer to that is obvious. The resurrection of Jesus cannot have literally happened while at the same time only materialized as an immaterial concept. Either it literally happened, or it literally did not. Consequently, in this case there is little to back up the valid concept of (merely) religious truths.

REAL DEATH, REAL RESURRECTION

The Romans were expert executioners and were in no doubt whatsoever about Jesus' physical death. And his disciples, having spent almost three years in close proximity to this unusual man, we're equally convinced about his literal, physical resurrection. The men of antiquity were arguably less sophisticated than we are in many ways, but they could sniff a corpse whenever there was one. And with regard to Jesus, even his adversaries couldn't produce a body to quell this religious revolt, this disturbing claim that soon must have reached even the Imperial Palace in Rome.

Well, you may object, I don't doubt the claim that Jesus was somehow brought back to life supernaturally, but I still cannot swallow all this discriminatory hogwash about his supremacy over all other deities, all other lords. That objection comes across, on the surface of things, as quite reasonable. Why should Jesus' lordship imply that the god of the Christian has priority over every other name that is hallowed by the faithful Hindu or Muslim or New-Ager? Why isn't Jesus content with sharing religious power and influence with other contenders?

THERE'S ONLY ROOM FOR ONE

In his incarnated state, while he walked this earth in a physical body, Jesus routinely made astounding statements that incensed his opponents and even estranged some of his followers. He went on record as having said e.g. that "I am the way, the truth and the life...there's not way you can get to the Father (to the altered state of being that is enjoyed in heaven) except through me." That really made quite a few stoics lose their tempers. Or how about this one: "I am the bread of life that has come down from heaven.....only by eating this bread will you ever experience true, nourishing food that leads to eternal life" (paraphrased by me). Or to round things off with a bang: "I have been given all power in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to keep all that I have taught you.." (paraphrase).

The actual wording is in the gospels, and if you were provoked by the paraphrases, you'll go positively red with swelling, volcano-hot ire over the passages of Scripture that I am alluding to.

GIVE HIM WHAT IS DUE

In the gospel accounts, Jesus makes no bones about his unique position in the human pantheon of imagined and real deities. He is the only one with a record to prove his deity through real-life events that are well attested beyond all reasonable doubt. You cannot legitimately write him off as an obscurity, a well-meaning teacher of good morals, a misguided carpenter with a bloated ego due to an inflated (numerically) fan-base. Try if you will, but your chances of success are really slim. You see, this Truth is knowable. In his resurrected state, Jesus still is able to communicate in no uncertain terms, and he is still able to work a jaw-dropping miracle or two.

Ok, so what if he is the Lord of a dominating religion. Still, you may think that being God doesn't automatically require a positive response of subservience to religious ideals on your part, or a religious conversion that will completely revamp your whole identity, your waking hours, your priorities, your notions of ethically responsible behaviour?

AND YOUR RESPONSE IS....?

The claim that Jesus is Lord is based on events that demonstrated his uniqueness among religious leaders past and present, and his right to expect a rapt response of obedience from any human being. He is called the Pantokrator, which in essence is a title that applies to a person that is entitled to, or is currently exerting, total power in all possible spheres of human activity.

Jesus may not be enjoying an electrified audience of faithfuls in Europe right now, but he is - on the basis of merit - the Pantokrator that proved his claims by uniquely rising from the dead, thus commanding the attention of dictators, presidents, kings, autocrats, cultural and financial elites etc.

Easter is a reminder of what the one-.time Carpenter did on that demeaning cross, and of the implications that flow quite naturally from the supernaturally induced event termed the Resurrection.