‘The Jews expected a messiah, and perhaps they had hopes of Jesus. But they were soon disappointed. Jesus talked a strange language of revolt against existing conditions and the social order. In particular he was against the rich and the hypocrites who made religion a matter of certain observances and ceremonial. Instead of promising wealth and glory, he asked people to give up even what they had for a vague and mythical Kingdom of Heaven. He talked in stories and parables, but it is clear that he was a born rebel who could not tolerate existing conditions and was out to change them. This was not what the Jews wanted, and so most of them turned against him and handed him over to the Roman authorities.”
- Jawaharlal Nehru (1949, 85)
“Christ took pity on people and came to their aid, whether they were spiritually ill as a result of sin or physically sick. His attention was given to the sick person with whom he frequently talked, showing his preference for the poor but without excluding anyone in need who appealed to him.
Jesus considered suffering and sickness as forming part of the ‘less human’ situation and we are asked to endeavour to make these ‘more human’.”
Jesus considered suffering and sickness as forming part of the ‘less human’ situation and we are asked to endeavour to make these ‘more human’.”
“Since Christians are the leaven, we must reach out towards the masses by providing simple, accessible and promotional health care according to our own possibilities, modest as they are, or in conjunction with the public services, where this is allowed.”
- cf populorum progression, 20
“And because the life of Jesus has the significance and transcendence to which I have alluded, I believe that He belongs not solely to Christianity, but to the entire world; to all races and people, it matters little under what flag, name or doctrine they may work, profess a faith, or worship a God inherited from their ancestors.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
