Jesus and Krishna: Incarnations of the Divine

Jesus and Krishna are each, in their respective faiths of Christianity and Hinduism, an incarnation of a divine being. Jesus, as portrayed in the Gospel according to Matthew and Krishna, as portrayed in the Bhagavad-Gita have many similarities as well as many differences. Jesus and Krishna are considered to embody the divine in different ways. They each have particular missions to the world. Each divine being requires different virtues and practices of his devotees, and each has a different view of life after death. Even with all of these differences, Jesus and Krishna are alike in many ways and their messages contain some very similar ideas when they are looked at a little closer. 

In the Gospel According to Matthew, Jesus is portrayed as G-d’s genealogical son. Matthew 1:1-17 shows the “genealogy of Jesus the Messiah,” (Matthew 1:1). It goes on to describe the way in which Jesus was conceived and born to Mary, who was at the time engaged to Joseph. When Mary became pregnant, Joseph, planning to dismiss her because of the perceived infidelity, had a dream in which an angel appeared to him and explained that the child was from the Holy Spirit: “‘…for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins,’” (Matthew 1:21). This reveals that according to this gospel, Jesus is considered to be the genealogical son of G-d. Another interesting aspect of Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew is that Jesus never says that he is G-d’s genealogical son or that he is the Messiah. Even when being questioned and beaten by the High Priest before he is sentenced to death, when asked if he is the son of G-d, Jesus responds, “You have said so,” (Matthew 26:64). He, himself, never confirms that he is the Messiah or that he is the son of G-d.