Gandhi on Jesus.
Did Mahatma Gandhi ever know Jesus? We are told a letter written by the great Indian statesman is now up for sale. Going for a song at US$50,000, the document from 1926 seems to indicate Gandhi knew something of Jesus and had great esteem for him.
We do not hear much about Gandhi these days but he played a central role in gaining the nation of India’s independence from British rule. He was famous for his advocacy of non-violent activism, agitating for civil rights, going on hunger strikes and walking 390km to the sea to protest against an unfair tax on salt. Gandhi was no doubt a very wise man and continues to be greatly respected to this day.
In his letter, Gandhi acknowledges that, “… Jesus was one of the great teachers of mankind”, but he did not think that Jesus was much more than that. In his opinion, all religions were more or less equal and Christianity was ultimately no different to any other faith.
But was Jesus merely a great teacher? We would think that it would be impossible for anyone reading one of the Gospels to come to that conclusion. Jesus was too… peculiar, bizarre even. He healed the sick, he drove demons out of people, he fed thousands with a few buns and some sardines, he raised people from the dead, and for crying out loud, he claimed equality with God!
Well known Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis wrote, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”
And do all roads lead to God? Jesus himself had this to say, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NIV). Jesus is either right or he is not.
Sources:
https://www.raabcollection.com/blog/ghandis-original-letter-jesus-christ-sale-raab
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition (Hammersmith, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2001), 52.
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