The description of Jesus as “the Saviour” is so universal, that it would be most unwise to seek to change it. Yet the idea of Evolution suggests that change is continuous; and one is bound to ask whether Jesus was the final totality, or was his Ministry simply another stage on the journey of Man having to deepen his relationship with his Creator, to live and find peace? I think it was both! Jesus introduced, not only the idea of Incarnation, but the reality of Incarnation. In that sense, what Jesus did was the final totality. It is not possible to introduce anything more fundamental than that. But with its introduction, the possibility of creating a new heaven and a new earth at once becomes a viable endeavour. I saw this from the start, it was my solution to the Romeo & Juliet dilemma. That I mismanaged the adventure, is neither here nor there. Others can try again. I am expendable. And that emphasises at least one thing, Jesus was and is the final totality, in one sense anyway.
Indeed when you consider the historical Jesus, with no organisation behind him, and only a few devoted followers with him, he could not have done more than he did. Or to use more guarded language, it is difficult to conceive how he could have done more. He could not have expelled Roman rule from Palestine, without either having an atomic bomb, or twelve legions of angels, at his disposal. And though I accept that the Greeks could have started an industrial revolution if they had wanted to, because they had all the basic knowledge necessary; they lacked any motive for doing so. They had slavery, so there was no need to invent machinery. So there was no atomic bomb, nor did Jesus know any science. And calling on twelve legions of angels, would have involved the Creator agreeing to break His own Rules, which the supreme Artist would never have done. No artist breaks his own rules!
So Jesus was limited in his day, in the same way that men are limited in our day. Jesus was helped by the expectation in his day that the end of the world was round the corner; and people were expecting him or someone very like him. Today too, we expect the end of the world, we expect to be volatilized in an atomic war; but no-one has the faintest idea who is to save us from it. The Church with its fairy-stories clearly isn’t. Besides, when she had supreme power in the Middle Ages, she misused it so abominably by burning dissidents at the stake, and allowing the Inquisition to inflict its unspeakable tortures, that no-one in his senses would trust her with power again.
So Jesus could not have done more. He showed the power given him by God, because I firmly believe that most of the stories of his healings are true. In that way he showed us his relationship with God. In other words, he showed us the Father. And he was true to his vocation to the absolute end, despite the appalling consequences to himself. But then there is nothing to prevent us doing the same, provided we have the courage and initiative to overcome our natural sloth and laziness. All we need is the willingness to explore the mental and spiritual worlds, to discover what healing is possible and what is not, provided that we have the gift of healing, which I have not. Then it might be possible for the Church to become a society, which men and women were thrilled to join, instead of being one generally despised. But a society having no power, beyond that of influencing public opinion. That would be a good beginning!
So if the Incarnation is to be more than an anodyne comforting us with the thought that Jesus did it all, and we need not do anything very much as we are all miserable sinners together, then it is simply a question of carrying on from where he left off. But what do we do, how do we carry on? No-one is going to tell you. You will just have to make up, what you are pleased to call, your mind. No-one is going to make up your mind for you. No-one is going to tell you what needs to be done, or how to set about doing it. You must decide! And if you reply that you have not the initiative to make such decisions, then I am sorry to have to tell you that you have the mentality of a slave, not that of a responsible person. Better to be a slave in the kingdom of heaven, than a slave to sin. But better to be an adult person, capable of shouldering responsibility.