A Comma,

It is remarkable that in a mere 300 years, the entirety of the life, ministry and work of Jesus was distilled from the Sermon on the Mount and other teachings in the Gospels, Acts and Gnostic texts to a simple comma in the Apostle’s Creed.

I believe in God…and in Jesus Christ…

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

Born of the Virgin Mary,

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

Was crucified, died, and was buried:

See that?  See the comma between “Mary” and “Suffered”?  That’s it.  30-odd years of life and presumably three or so years of documented ministry rolled up into a single punctuation mark.  I see and hear here Victor Borge sitting by his piano on Sesame Street making that noise out of the corner of his mouth.  An entire life – and not just any life, mind you – summarized in a comma.

Not having had the benefit of a miraculous birth, my concern was left to dying in some particularly memorable way, thus my death would overshadow my life.  Divinity argument aside, he was a great man who lead a great life who is remembered now mainly for the peculiar circumstances of his birth and the gruesome means of his death.  And for that, I am saddened.

Ghandi may have had a point when he said:  “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”