Fundamentals of the Christian Faith in the Light of the Gospels
by Maulana Sadr-ud-Din
Significance of the Term “Son of God”: Human to the Bone of His Back
Jesus, like all other men, ate bread and drank water and wine. It is stated repeatedly in the Gospel: He sat down at meat; he ate a piece of broiled fish; he prayed for bread; he hungered, and came to a fig tree, but found no fig thereon, for it was not the fig season; when he regained consciousness after having been taken down from the Cross, he disguised himself for fear of recapture; he felt hungry, and asked for food, saying: “Have ye here any meat?” When his disciples were affrighted and thought that they had seen a spirit, Jesus said unto them: “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke, 24:39). At the time of his arrest, as well as at the time of his crucifixion, Jesus was in a state of great agony and distress. It is exactly the picture of an afflicted human being. When produced before Justice Pilate, he could not utter a single word, being overwhelmed with fear. Such shortcomings are only human, and it was on account of these shortcomings on the part of Jesus that the faith of his disciples faded and failed; some betrayed him into the hands of the enemy, some denied and denounced him, and all of them, in the hour of trial, forsook him and fled (Matthew, 26:56; Mark, 14:50). Even after crucifixion, the disciples entertained doubts about him, and Jesus reprimanded them as people of little faith. His own mother believed not him (Luke, 8:21); and his kith and kin, too, called him mad, and refused to accept his claim (Mark, 3:21). In a word, the Gospels present Jesus as a mortal, Who has raised as a prophet for the good of the children of Israel.