For Christians, Jesus Christ is the messiah.
The notion of messiah comes from a Hebrew word and is very common in religion . Written with an initial capital letter ( Messiah ), it allows reference to the Son of God , descendant of David , whose advent to the world was promised by the prophets to the Jewish people.
The Messiah, therefore, is the Anointed One , a man with the spirit of God . The concept is also used to name a being sent by God himself who brings peace to the world and who seeks to restore the Kingdom of God on Earth .
The existence of a messiah appears in different religions. For Jews , the arrival of the Messiah is anticipated as a revelation from God made through the Torah . Christians understand that the Messiah will come as king, restorer, and servant of God, and they believe that Christ is the Messiah.
Messiah for Judaism
It was through God's revelation that belief in the Messiah was founded for the Jews. A large number of messianic prophecies appear recorded in Genesis, thanks to which it would be possible to distinguish him from the rest of men once he arrived on Earth. It is worth mentioning that for Judaism the doctrine of the Messiah does not occupy a central position, as it does with Christianity, but this does not mean that it is not significant at certain moments in its history.
Beginning in 607 BC, the Jewish people were forced to leave Israel and Judea for the capital of the empire of Nebuchadnezzar II, during a period known as the Captivity or Babylonian Captivity , which ended when The Persians conquered Babylon in 537 BC. Throughout this difficult period , the figure of the Messiah gained special importance, since he represented the figure of the savior.
The Jewish theologian Maimonides, who lived in the Middle Ages, left in his writings essential material to understand the concept of Messiah according to the vision of the Jewish people, and was one of the scholars who was most interested in this topic. He claimed to firmly believe in the arrival of the Messiah and promised to wait for him no matter how long it took.
The one who is key to achieving a goal or resolving a difficulty is often referred to colloquially as a messiah.
The concept in Christianity
In the Bible, the figure of the Messiah is shown from very different perspectives, since throughout its pages we see him in such antagonistic roles as absolute king and servant, which profoundly influenced the perception that Christians have of him. .
A substantial difference between Judaism and Christianity's conception of the Messiah lies in the fact that Judaism, through the Torah, promises his coming to Earth to save all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, from the twelve tribes. of Israel, while Christianity understands the promise as a gift to all humanity, as a guarantee of redemption for all men.
Messiah in popular language
Beyond the precise scope of religion, a messiah is considered to be the person (real or imaginary) in whom people place excessive trust to achieve an objective or solve a problem. Whoever actually achieves a very important and unexpected objective also usually receives the title of messiah.
For example: “Diego Maradona was Argentina's messiah in Mexico '86” , “We have to understand that the new Minister of Economy will not be a messiah who will get us out of the crisis with magic” , “There is no messiah on this team, but we are about twenty colleagues who work towards the same goal” , “Michael Jordan dressed as a messiah to give a new title to the Chicago Bulls” .