The fundamental statement of Christian theology is that Christ is the God-Man–he is simultaneously both fully man, and fully God.  The clarification and maintaining of this doctrine are something many Church fathers gave their lives for the sake of because it is of central and supreme importance to Christianity.  With this most central clarification we must remember that as we say this we are not saying merely that Jesus of Nazareth was fully a man and a god at once, we are proclaiming that he is THE Man and THE God always and forever.  His existence within one being does not give him mere membership within both classes but supremacy within them.  Christ contains all the sub-categories of man and god within himself.  

As Man, he is both teacher and trickster, he is warrior and he is healer.  He is at the same time humble servant-washer of feet and yet also the king of kings.  He is a builder and an explorer, both philosopher and rebel.  Each one of these archetypes is so deeply and fundamentally true to the extent that they individually have and should inspire millenia of praise and devotion; and yet, he is not any one of these but each, at once and always.  Jesus contains the full spectrum of what man can be as men and yet surpasses it, he is all that men can be and yet more.  

It is in this way that we see all goodness as a sort of Christ-ness.  Christ is a measuring stick by which we can understand and view men.   Christians should not be afraid of the men who contain aspects of Christ in the times either before or after his.  

Odysseus- the builder, trickster, suffering warrior who descends and returns from the underworld is a pagan type of Christ.  Why should we be surprised? If good and wise people exalt a hero as great, should we not be surprised if they deduce a good yet quite incomplete Christ of their own?  Be it Superman, Neo, Socrates or Frodo, intentionally or unintentionally, all good heroes are in fact good to the extent that they emulate the true hero Christ.  

We should not be surprised by these parallels because they are not copying but are noticing and participating in reality.  Just as an ignorant reader may read Lord of The Rings and think it just a collection of fantasy tropes or reads Hamlet and thinks it a collection of quotes—so too, we should not be surprised that all heroes or and good men are reflections (albeit blurred and incomplete) of the true Christ.  

In parallel to his manhood, Jesus is not just a god but THE GOD.  Throughout history there are a multitude of “gods” who partially mirror, emulate, and anticipate Christ to some extent.  The Greek God of Dionysius is born of a mortal mother and is killed then reassembled.  The Egyptian God Osiris dies and comes back to save his people.  The Norse god Odin voluntarily dies, and on a tree for his people.  Many note that each of these contains elements of the Christian story and evolved before Christ enters history.  This of course does not disprove Christianity but bolster its claim!

If Christ is the rock of our reality, and the Christian story the true foundation of our universe, anything with any truth in it must NECCESARILY echo Christ.  Therefore it is not that these stories contain bits of Christ, but that the story of Christ that contains the rest… AND MORE.  All goodness is found within Christ and even good things seeming outside of Christ are in fact just echoes of him!

The great vastness and unspecificity of our Holy Bible and of Christ are not a challenge but a gift.  Because of this vastness we may taste Christ differently each day and glean hope and joy that is distinct yet continuous with that of the day before.  We have no singular film, painting, or picture of Christ but many.  

Each Christian is called on his own distinct and personal path of becoming, but because of the vastness of Christ’s character, all may grow towards him together in difference!  How blessed is it that as Christians grow, as they become more uniquely themselves, they may all grow towards the same Christ!