Why Christ?

Why
Christ?




By
James Kelly, OSB

"If
there are, as we know there are, so many beautiful souls among the varied
religions of the world. If all men and
women, not just Christ's followers, who reflect God's own love will one day
share the divine life they now mirror.
Why proclaim Jesus Christ? Is
there any advantage in knowing Jesus Christ?"





In
his discussions over the years, especially with young people, Fr. Kelly has
found that many do not know the life of Christ or perhaps have turned away from
the Gospels as stale or out of date. He
proposes to tell that story in a form and idiom that will bring Jesus to life
for them.


His
interesting device is to adopt as narrator "the rich young man" of Matthew
19:16 now grown old but wiser for living with the guilt of having refused that
call. Fr. Kelly imagines him to have
been so moved by Jesus that, even though he could not make the full commitment
of a disciple, he nevertheless became a follower of Jesus. So he knew Mary and Joseph and the apostles,
and he heard from them what allows him to complete what he had observed
himself.


The
old man tells his stories to a young, Jewish Christian - of the First Century
but clearly a prototype of the young people Fr. Kelly wants to reach today. His
parents had taught him the essentials of their faith in Jesus, but he had not
paid much attention. He does not know
where to look to satisfy his longing for meaning and purpose. Walking in the Holy Land, he finds himself
on the wide path leading up the Mount of Olives from the Kidron valley that
lies between the Mount and Jerusalem.
And there he meets the old man who sets out in a series of personal
rembrances the story of Jesus and the impact he made on those around him.


Fr. Kelly lived several years in Jerusalem as
a biblical scholar. But he tells us: "I
also learned from the Land itself, from the people Jesus knew, His own
people. They are still there,