ASIA FOCUS December 2009 No. 30

Had Buddha and Jesus ever met they may have become the best of friends.

Unfortunately Buddha lived more than 500 years before Jesus. For one thing, true Buddhists are seriously religious and often lead excellent lives distinguished by virtue and goodness, seeking peace and enlightenment, giving up the world, 'the lust of the eyes' and the desires of the flesh. They seek detachment from all things tempting and temporal, physical and material. For true Buddhism is noble and idealistic, a seeking after higher goods.

In terms of the Sermon on the Mount and the law of God, Jesus and Buddha would have had much in common, and quite frankly, so would have Jesus and Mohammed. The demonising of other religions is simply not on.

But Jesus would have also felt sorry for Buddha. He would have seen Buddha working hard on his salvation. Buddha believed in the law of cause and effect (karma) as supreme, the law of good and bad deeds shaping our lives and our future and moving us closer to living in either a kind of heaven or hell - even here on earth. For Buddhists this helps to explain the suffering, pain and poverty in the world today. Jesus would have considered it tragic that Buddha didn't know and experience undeserved grace and free forgiveness and the removal of sins for nothing - in short, the Gospel. It would have blown his mind had he heard and believed in it!

Had Buddha accepted it from Jesus he would have been shocked to find that the Gospel - the greatest message in the world - could have got lost so quickly even in the church, under the onslaught of human religion, the preaching of work righteousness and of having to do this or that in order to find a merciful God and to gain peace of heart and mind.

But he would have been relieved to meet or at least read about Dr Martin Luther who rediscovered the Gospel, the message that salvation is purchase and redemption free. He would have come to love the wonderful words, 'By grace, through faith!'

Sadly even today much of Christianity does not fully understand the Gospel in all its power and glory. As a pastor in Thailand confirmed the other day, 'Most mainline churches do not clearly confess that salvation is by Faith alone. That is why I like the Lutheran teaching.' This teaching certainly runs counter to all world religions no matter how lofty and profound their teachings may be. If they only knew of grace and forgiveness for nothing in Jesus' name! Sure, it's against all human instinct and reasoning, yet how sad all the same!

The Gospel of free grace is as compelling and attractive as ever. That's why the 45 Thai and Cambodian Lutheran pastors I taught the Christian Faith to some weeks ago turned to Christ as their only hope, having left the religion of Buddha only recently.

The Reformation Gospel of grace is our treasure, and inspiration number one for world mission, especially Lutheran world mission. It sets us free and makes all things new. Today you and I are called by God himself 'To bring good news to the poor, to comfort the broken hearted and to announce liberty to the captives' [Isaiah 61:1].

Pastor August Fricke