2. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Believe what?
Again, it's all about the historical context. Why was Jesus so important? What did people want from Jesus? What did they think they could get from Jesus?
Literally speaking, in John 14:6, Jesus says he is "the way" to the Father. Obviously what Jesus promised was that there was a "path" or "journey" that one could take to get to God.
It should be noted that there is a similar idea in Judaism and Islam as well. The word "halakha" in Judaism means "way of walking" and "shariah" in Islam means "way" or "path." The difference between the way mainstream Christianity conceptualises "the way" and how Judaism and Islam conceptualise "the way" is that Judaism and Islam have a system of Law associated with "the way" whereas mainstream Christianity does not.
When I say "mainstream Christianity" I mean that there is nothing to suggest that "the way" as meant by Jesus cannot be grounded in a system of Law. It may actually be possible to follow "the way" as taught by Jesus while still following Jewish or Islamic Law.
When most people think of "the way" as Jesus said in John 14:6, they think it means you have to convert to Christianity. You have to "become" a Christian, say that Jesus is your saviour, that he died for your sins and that you will not be "saved" if you don't accept him as saviour. You have to say and do everything a "Christian" is expected to do in today's world.
But if I was to assume that the Gospel of John was written in "relatively chronological order," then Jesus' assertion that he was "the way" comes before his arrest, crucifixion, death and resurrection, which means that "the way" as meant by Jesus was
whatever he was teaching, not in the idea that he was "saviour" and "died for people's sins." People would have interpreted his words that way, not the way Christians do today.
"The way" as meant by Jesus was therefore his teachings. But what was the purpose of his teachings? This is where we get back to what I said about Jewish and Islamic Law.
Jesus' teachings were
an approach to Judaism. In Jesus' day there were two dominant factions in Judaism. Beit Hillel, the House of Hillel followed Hillel the Elder. Beit Shammai, the House of Shammai followed Shammai. Shammai could be likened to the fundamentalist Christians of today: judgmental, legalistic and supremacist. He taught a legalistic approach to Judaism. Hillel taught a liberal and humanity-oriented approach to Judaism. He understood and recognised the importance of our humanity, to "tread lightly on people." Jesus' teachings were similar to Hillel's.
1. Being Judgmental
Hillel: "judge not your fellow man until you yourself come into his place" (M. Abot 2:5)
Jesus: "do not judge, and you will not be judged" (Luke 6:37)
2. Humility and Greatness
Hillel: "My humility is my exaltation; my exaltation is my humility"
Jesus: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:11)
3. Loving your Neighbour
Hillel: "What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor; this is the whole Law; the rest is commentary!"
Jesus: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12)
There may be other examples, but I can't remember what they are. What is important to know is that Hillel came before Jesus. Hillel was an old man when Jesus was born and died when Jesus was just a child. This is a blow to any Christian belief that Jesus' teachings were original. I personally have no problem with this. It is more important to understand the significance of Jesus' "mission."
The Law was about peace, harmony and justice and following the Law was the way the Jewish people fulfilled their covenant. But there were differences in opinion on how to "follow the Law." Shammai believed you had to adhere to "high standards" while Hillel wanted to be fair to people and understand their needs and weaknesses. Hillel believed that you had to value people's humanity. If humanity has always been important to the fulfillment of the Law, then what Shammai was doing was
dehumanising the Law.
Hillel was the President of the Sanhedrin, the committee or panel that decided what people were to regard as "Law" around the time Jesus was born. When he died, Shammai took over as President, and you can just imagine how he "changed" Judaism. It would be like fundamentalist, charismatic and evangelical Christians today taking over the leadership of every church, including Catholic and Orthodox and imposing their legalism and fundamentalism on every Christian on the planet.
Shammai and his followers passed what was called the "13 ordinances" or "13 measures." I don't know what the content of those 13 measures was and couldn't find out from my Google searching, but I can guess that because everyone now had to follow the "heavy yoke" of Shammai's legalism, Judaism was drowned into a really legalistic culture and ideology.
With the "establishment" now "corrupted" by the legalism of Shammai, Jesus came to take people away from the judgmentalism and legalism that Shammai and his followers were creating. In Matthew 11:29-30 he says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus was leader of a kind of separatist movement away from the established legalism of Shammai.
Until now, I have been establishing the historical context of "the way" spoken of by Jesus. I will now explain what I think it means to "believe in" Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to believe in his teachings. It is to believe that the humanity-oriented approach that Jesus took toward Judaism, which was similar to the one Hillel took, was "the way" that Jesus was talking about. It doesn't mean that we all have to follow a "Law System" like Jews and Muslims. The gist of Jesus' words and teachings is that whether you do or don't adhere to a Law System, your love of humanity is "the way" to God.
