Idee

Idée d’jour: Jesus, the Man With No Name

Who is Jesus?  He has no name.
— Meister Eckhart

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Today's "Idée" was chosen at random from The Gospel According to Zen, ed. by Sohl & Carr.

I think understand why this chosen for a book related to Zen. It has a very koan-like quality to it. In other words, the statement seems to be a contradiction How can one say Jesus has no name right after they have said the name?

But what is true of most of us is equally true of Jesus: the truth of the whole person is not defined by the name alone. The fact I am called James, and that I inherited my name from my paternal grandfather, may tell you a little about me, but it does not give you much of a clue concerning the whole person. The fact that I have given myself a number of pseudonyms — jac, Jason, and Jonah — may tell you something about my sense of fractured identity and my sense of play, but it still doesn't reveal the whole person.

In the case of Jesus, this may be understood in the context of the pre- and post-resurrection Jesus.

Marcus Borg talks about the pre-resurrection Jesus and the post-resurrection Jesus. The pre-resurrection Jesus is the historical Jesus, of whom we know relatively little. Borg's claim is this person never referred to himself as "Son of God" or claimed equality with the Divine. There is no question this was a remarkable person, who reportedly performed a number of miracles. The persistence of a following after his grisly death suggests that much.

Borg sees the resurrection as a metaphor for the persistence of Jesus' teachings, rather than as a physical reality. So, when Borg talks about the post-resurrection Jesus, he is talking about how the disciples and the early church understood the life and teachings of the very human person Jesus.

I would extend this further to say the post-resurrection Jesus is given flesh (as it were) by those who sincerely strive to follow those teachings. In which case, Jesus may be James as easily as Jane. This is the Jesus who has no one name, but abides with each of us as we serve and allow ourselves to be served.