6. The Teachings Of Jesus Christ
Confucius revised the ideas of the ancients and founded Confucianism. The Buddha did not claim to be a god, but only an enlightened person who discovered the truth and showed humanity the way out of suffering.
Jesus was different; he was not a sage in the sense of a wise man with profound knowledge and a virtuous life. Nor was he a prophet who founded a religion like Mohammed of Islam.
He was God who created the universe and redeemed it when it fell. As St. John writes in the opening page of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, … and the Word was God. … All things came to be through him … and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him” (Jn 1, 1-11).
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14, 6).
And He showed man a principle of living according to nature and the will of God when he created it.
Fear of God
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22, 37-39).
The Book of Proverbs says, “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov 9, 10).
The more we ponder, the more we see that God is the source of all wisdom. The knowledge that people understand today is just a drop in the ocean compared to what is hidden in the mysterious nature.
In the book “The language of God”, translated into Vietnamese “Ngôn Ngữ Của Chúa”, by Francis S. Collins, director of the human genome decoding program, on June 26, 2000, President Bill Clinton, announced to the world that this is a unique scientific work, containing knowledge about DNA and showing that God is the author and the great designer.
Some people say that our parents gave birth to us, and they are our parents. Let us ask if our parents have the authority to create or kill us, if they know anything when they gave birth to us, and who gave birth to our parents.
God is the creator of all things, He created us from nothing. He is truly our parent.
Filial piety is the essence of Vietnamese culture and the center of Confucianism. Filial piety is the first of hundreds of virtues that kings, scholars and commoners must respect and practice. In human behavior, there is no greater sin than unfilial piety.
Filial piety is the way of being human, so everyone should have filial piety: respecting parents and ancestors. Ancestor worship is the spiritual practice of worshiping ancestors, expressing the consciousness of “remembering the source when drinking water”, “remembering the person who planted the tree when eating fruit.”
Ancestor worship is very close to Catholicism, which considers God as the origin to show respect and love. Ancestor worship considers deceased grandparents to be very sacred, always loving their descendants selflessly and also strictly punishing them when they do not know right from wrong and do wrong.
Love of others
The second thing, which is equally important, that Jesus wants us to do, is to love one another.
There is so much to say about love that no amount of writing is enough.
Christianity is a religion of love and charity. Saint John said, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4, 8).
What is the specific practice of charity? Saint Paul explains, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink… Do not let evil overcome you, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12, 14-20).
He also asserts, “He who loves has fulfilled the law” (Rom 13, 10).
People live in a society, a mechanism, and must have laws to maintain order. Laws are often very harsh and are respected depending on the era and social situation. However, according to Saint Paul, when we truly love each other as God teaches, laws are only secondary.
According to him, true charity is:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13, 4-7).
Who is our neighbor to love?
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them” (Lk 6, 32).
Jesus tells us a parable about our neighbor:
The Good Samaritan. (Lk 10, 30-37)
“A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.”
Saint John said, “He who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4, 20).
Love for God is expressed in love for fellow human beings. Just as parents are only happy when their children love each other. Children who are sick or poor are given more priority and care.
Looking forward to goodness
In addition to the commandments that we must keep to “become a better person” in human morality, we must know how to strive upward and perfect ourselves. Jesus taught us the eight beatitudes, called the charter of the kingdom of heaven, the perfect path that people must reach in order to have true happiness:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven” (Mt 5, 3-12).
Catholicism is a social mechanism, evolving over time. A mechanism for people, and serving people, to survive, requires many rules, sometimes very harsh.
Over time, people only see rules, inhibiting individual freedom, being restrictive and rigid. But they do not see the means of educating the human heart that Jesus established from the beginning. People only see, even those involved, the container but do not see the much-needed content inside, without which, everything is meaningless.