If you searched the internet for resources that either deny that Jesus existed or deny that he said and did the things recorded in the four canonical Gospels, you would be overwhelmed by the sheer number of results your search would turn up. Why is this?
Among those who started religious or quasi-religious movements, Jesus is unique in that people go out of their way to either try to prove he was the invention of some early Christian or that the Gospels contain fictions about a Jesus who really existed. Hardly anyone questions whether Buddha or Mohammed or Mahavir or Guru Nanak said and did the things the sources say they said and did. Jesus alone is singled out for such doubt.

For the past few weeks I have been wondering why this is the case. Why is Jesus singled out for such treatment? There must be something quite unique about him that gives rise to such a unique response.

On Easter, along with a regular Easter wish, someone sent me the following quote by Paramhamsa Yogananda:

“Don’t depend on death to liberate you from your imperfections. You are exactly the same after death as you were before. Nothing changes; you only give up the body. If you are a thief or a liar or a cheater [sic] before death, you don’t become an angel merely by dying. If such were possible, then let us all go and jump in the ocean now and become angels at once! Whatever you have made of yourself thus far, so you will be here after. And when you reincarnate, you will bring that same nature with you. To change, you have to make the effort. This world is the place to do it.”

None of the sources I have been able to access indicates where the quote is from. But I’ll assume that he did say this at some point. After all, it is only Jesus whose words are questioned! The quote emphasizes two things. First, we need to work on improving ourselves and making ourselves better people. Second, we need to do that while we live because death does not change anything.

This stands in opposition to the Christian message and reflects the consistent view among other faiths that sin is not as pervasive as it really is. To the contrary, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, clearly shows how far reaching human sinfulness is. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, shows us how we struggle to do what is right. It is not that we don’t know what is right. Rather, we are very often incapable of actually doing it.

The message of all other faiths is that we can improve ourselves, become better, and finally become good enough to merit salvation – whatever salvation is within that faith system. But the message of Jesus is that we are incapable of such self-improvement. Even if we do manage to become somewhat better, our motives remain selfish and impure. Moreover, the Christian conception of God’s holiness is so lofty that no amount of self-improvement would suffice.

And so the Christian message is one of sheer grace. Since we are incapable of bettering ourselves to any significant amount, God does the work for us. The Christian message is that things are much worse than we can ever imagine but that God’s grace is much grander than we could ever imagine.

The Christian message strikes at the heart of the human desire to be masters of their own fates. The Christian message is that those who attempt to chart their course through life on their own merits will find themselves shipwrecked.

And those who refuse to accept this know that it is Jesus who is the problem. Without him and his claims there would be no claim of grace on our lives. Without him and his claims we would have the unanimous testimony of all religious systems that we are capable of bettering ourselves and transforming ourselves. Without him we would be told that the responsibility of fixing things lies with us. But with him we have a different picture – we are desperately in need of God’s grace.

And so knowing that it is Jesus who has created the problem, those who oppose his message will do everything to get rid of him. Two thousand years ago they did it literally by killing him. Now they do it figuratively by refusing to engage with him.