According to Osho, Jesus did not self-advertise as messiah; his claim was his very being. John the Baptist’s initiation and mysterious departure signaled the Messiah’s arrival. When questioned, Jesus simply affirmed he was the awaited one—‘before Abraham’—indicating an everlasting presence rather than a title. Thus, his truth was recognized and, only when asked, verbally acknowledged.
He didn’t brag about being special; his life showed it, and when people asked, he honestly said he was the long-awaited one who existed before Abraham.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Questioner: why did jesus claim?
Jesus did not. He did not claim that he was the messiah. His claims were quite different. In fact, his claims don't come in the form of statements; he claimed through his being. People recognized that he was the messiah. As I mentioned earlier, john the Baptist, a rare sage, had declared that the messiah was coming and he was his messenger. He also said that the day the messiah would arrive he, the messenger, would depart from the world. He lived on the banks of the River Jordan and initiated people in the water of that river. Thousands of people were initiated by him. Jesus too, had his initiation from John the Baptist. When Jesus was standing in water up to his neck, John initiated him and then said, "Now, you should begin your work and I go." The news of this event in the River Jordan spread like…
Osho, in Krishna’s time there was the great war of the Mahabharata, and Krishna held a central place in it. He could have stopped the war if he had wanted to—but he did not. A vast devastation followed, and much of the responsibility for that devastation seems to fall on Krishna. Can Krishna be blamed for that war?
This race resembles the one that began some three centuries ago when ships from Europe rushed toward Asia—Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, German. Then, expansion and development demanded possession of Asian lands. Now that has become meaningless. Asians think their independence movements freed them; that is only half true. The other half is that there is no longer any point in holding Asian territory. That era is over. Now the struggle is to possess other ground—celestial ground. Eyes and energies have turned there. Life is an adventure of power. Those who embrace lifelessness are gradually destroyed. We are such a people—being destroyed. All the more reason why Krishna’s message is meaningful—not only for us. I would say the West too stands at a point where it may have to fight one more decisive war—surely not on earth. Even if rivals on earth must fight one another, they will likely do it…
Beloved Osho, are you a messiah?
I know poor people, utterly poor, who have nothing; it is so difficult for them to even manage one meal a day. Sometimes they have to just drink water and sleep -- water to fill their empty belly so they can feel that something is there. But they are in a certain way satisfied, they have accepted it as their fate, they don't think that things can be better than this. You can provoke them. You can put the fire in their minds very easily -- just give them hope. But then sooner or later they are going to hold you by your neck: "Where are the hopes?" And that was the situation after forty years when Moses left them. The excuse was, "I'm going to find the people who have got lost somewhere." He never came back -- he died in India. I have been to his grave. You…
Question: Second question: Osho, are you a messiah? What do you take yourself to be? But those footprints were very clear. The astrologer grew anxious—was his scripture wrong? He followed the tracks. In the direction the prints seemed to go, he walked, for it had become necessary to see this man. Walking along, he reached the tree under which Buddha sat—and then he was in deeper trouble. Seeing Buddha’s face, it seemed indeed the face of a chakravarti—his very presence had the aura a world emperor should have: the same halo, the same circle of light, the same fragrance, the same majesty. Yet the man looked like a beggar. A begging bowl lay beside him; not even a mat to sit upon. He was seated on a rock under a bush.
Question: BELOVED OSHO, ARE YOU A MESSIAH, A PROPHET, OR A REINCARNATION OF GOD? I have never expected that one of my sannyasins would ask such a bullshit question! I am simply myself. I am not a messiah, because there is no God to send messengers to the world. Moreover, I don't want to be crucified. To prove that you are a messiah of God, crucifixion is absolutely necessary. Not that I am afraid of death, but I would like a comfortable, luxurious death. Not carrying the cross on my own shoulders, not even on your shoulders -- the cross will be carried on a Rolls Royce limousine. I am not a prophet either. I don't know what is going to happen in the next moment. I don't know even what I am going to say in the next moment. The future does not exist for me.