Jesus Christ Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

Jesus Christ
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
Jesus Christ, the son of God, is Jesus of Nazareth
To me, a Hindu, he speaks of unspeakable suffering
In the time of death to have his teachings and faith heard
He taught in the form of parables;

Contrary to the belief of Christians, the Jews do not believe in
A son of God who can descend from the Kingdom of Heaven
And rescue the people from their difficulties
With his resurrected power;

As Christians believe, he was born to a virgin, Mary
And his father, Joseph, was shone the way by the Star of Bethlehem
And thus the birth of Jesus was heralded as a miracle
To free the people from their sins and to believe in the power of God;

Jesus calls people to repent their sins
And to devote themselves completely to God
Jesus tells his followers to adhere to Jewish law,
Although he is perceived by some to have broken the law himself, for example regarding the Sabbath
When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replies:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind";

He was crucified for teaching a new faith, Christianisty,
And in the face of so much suffering, he found it in him to say:
"Dear God, forgive them for they know not what they are doing"
Such compassion in the time of pain and suffering merited his resurrection,
Rising from the dead and becoming a living soul and going to God's Kingdom of Heaven.
Approximately thirty parables form about one third of Jesus' recorded teachings
And the parables appear within longer sermons and at other places in the narrative
Which often contain symbolism, and usually relate the physical world to the spiritual
And common themes in these tales include the kindness and generosity of God
And the perils of transgression;

Applying his philosophy to paintings on Jesus Christ
I say that the fact that in the painting, The Last Supper by Juan de Juanes
The fact that all of them have a dinner roll speaks that they are all eating from the Bread of Life
And only Jesus has a goblet in front of him
Which speaks of his subsequent drinking of the manna from heaven;

The painting included below, The Baptism of Christ by Almeida Junior,
Shows a man in a poor man's garb pouring water from a conch shell
Which implies that the receiver has esoteric wisdom and spiritual powers
And the fact that there is a dove flying close by means
That the man, Jesus Christ, being baptized,
Represents peace and happiness in people;

As a Hindu, I plan on making a painting to celebrate the birth
Of the Son of God with him descending from heaven
And a Easter lily blooming
With the title, The Beginning of Christianity,
Which has shown the way to billions of people
And taught them to love rather than fight among themselves.



Sources of reference:
1) Wikipedia
2) MasterMind