Previous Chapter -- Next Chapter
12. Who is the Greatest?
This serious question cannot be appropriately directed to Christ and Muhammad. According to a human scale, both have reached a standard of acceptance that no other founder of a religion has reached. Islam has reached 1.6 billion people, 1,388 years after the death of its founder. Those who claim to follow Christ have surpassed the 2,2 billion mark. No political party, no philosophy, and no ideology ever gathered as many adherents as have Christ and Muhammad in the past centuries.
Muhammad warned his people in Mecca and endured severe persecution for twelve years. But after he emigrated to Medina in AD 622, everything changed. He turned into a leader experienced in politics, legislation and war. In the eyes of his followers, he is the head (Imam) of all believers, and the Ambassador of Allah for the Muslim nation (al-Umma).
Christ Himself was not ready to accept the question: Who is the greatest? He humbled Himself and declared that He did not come to be served but to serve and to give up his life as a ransom for many. He said to His followers, "Whoever wants to be first, must ultimately be last, and whoever intends to be a ruler, should be the slave of all" (Matthew 10:42). He promised that only the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). Christ did not only preach, but he also lived out His teachings. Despite His tremendous power, He chose to live humbly, to be rejected by men, and finally to be crushed by evil hands (Isaiah 53:1-3). When Peter tried to defend Him, He rebuked him, commanding him to return his sword into its sheath and not to interfere in the decreed plan of God that demanded His substitutionary death for the salvation of mankind (John 18:11).
Christ also proved His authority when He assured faithful seekers: “Your sins are forgiven.” Christ up till today says to every repentant sinner: “God loves you; I have reconciled you to Him. The door to Him is wide open for you.”
God did not send Christ to declare another unbearable law to humans. Christ was the incarnate Mercy of God. In Him was revealed the love of the Holy One. Therefore, He loved sinners, blessed His enemies and encouraged the despairing. Jesus is the Mercy of the All-Merciful, the Compassionate. He proved Himself to be of the same essence as God. In Christ the Spirit of God became flesh (Sura al-Nisa' 4:171). There is no difference between His mercy and the mercy of God. His atonement is the free offer of God to every lost sinner. Whoever receives His grace and accepts His justification is forever reconciled to God. Those who believe in Him will finally recognize and see the real position of Christ, seated at the right hand of the Almighty. The mercy of Christ will never stop, condemn, or destroy us, since He has justified and redeemed us.
The followers of Christ are not obliged to suffer neither under the Law of Moses nor under the Sharia of Muhammad. They abide in the grace of God as revealed in the Gospel of Christ. Even the Qur'an confirms this unique privilege to the followers of Christ:
“So, let the people of the Gospel judge according to what Allah has sent down in it (i.e. the Gospel). Whoever judges not according to what God has sent down -- these are the ungodly.” (Sura al-Ma'ida 5:47)
وَلْيَحْكُم أَهْل الإِنْجِيل بِمَا أَنْزَل اللَّه فِيه وَمَن لَم يَحْكُم بِمَا أَنْزَل اللَّه فَأُولَئِك هُم الْفَاسِقُون (سُورَة الْمَائِدَة ٥ : ٤٧)
The Qur'an legally frees Christians from the Sharia and confirms them in the grace of the Gospel. The mercy of Christ grants them perfect peace in heart and mind. Their spiritual vigor from the assurance of salvation leads them to services of love, based on an everlasting hope.
Christ humbled Himself more and glorified His Father in heaven, saying: "Truly, truly, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever things He does, these also the Son does likewise" (John 5:19). "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works" (John 14:10). Thus, Christ denied Himself and gave all homage to God His Father. He even confessed: "The Father is greater than I. … I and the Father are one" (John 14:8, 10:30).
Therefore, anyone desiring to understand Christ should humble himself and ask the question: Who is the most humble? Christ humbled Himself to the point that He made Himself a curse for us that we may become the righteousness of God in Him. He gave Himself as an atonement for every evil man and woman -- even for murderers -- that they shall be set free from the condemnation of God, being transformed into believers filled with His eternal love.