In one of his later interviews, Camus made the somewhat irritated comment that Meursault is the “only Christ we deserve.” While this seem to be a pithy, witty comment, we need to figure out how Meursault is like Christ. Christ taught his disciples and had them go and teach others, yet Meursault has no disciples and chooses to say little. Meursault murders while Christ brings a man back from the dead. Most drastically, Christ ”died for our sins” in order to make all those who follow free from original sin. Meursault just dies.

So it is hard to see the link. If, however, we are to take Camus seriously, we need to push hard on this comparison. Christ lived his life along an orchestrated plan. At the garden of Gethsimede, Christ looks to heaven and asks that “this cup be taken from me.” Later, he recants and continues along his preordained path to crucifixion. Meursault never gets that chance. Instead of the hand of God or Fate pushing him inexorably forward, he chooses Chance. Chance put him on the floor with Raymond, Chance put the Arab on the beach, and Chance put the gun in his pocket. For Christ, his death has come at the long road ordained by God. For Meursault, his death comes randomly.

When the penultimate moment comes, and both men are asked by their judges to say something on their own behalf. Both men refuse. Pontius Pilate puts the question to Jesus, trying to get him to say anything to save himself. Through it all, Jesus keeps his mouth shut and insures his crucifixion. This silence is unusual for Jesus; he starts talking as an infant, teaching the teachers and keeps rapping for his entire life. His eloquent silence in the end tells more about his desire for death than anything he could say. Meursault’s moment comes at the end of his trial, when the judge asks if he has anything to say. Faced with the guillotine at the end of a sham trial, Meursault could have railed at the system or begged for forgiveness. Instead he chooses to say nothing. Saying anything at that point would have been banal; there was nothing relevant he could say. Nothing would change his fate. So that is what he chose to say. Christ chooses silence for his eloquence, using his silence to choose his death. Meursault chooses silence because there is nothing for him to say.

The ultimate difference between the two is illustrated by their respective deaths. In dying, Christ alleviates the entire population of the earth and the populations to come of sin. As a result of his death, everyone has a shot at heaven. On the other hand, Meursault’s death is a repudiation of the afterlife. Before his death, in his interview with the priest, Meursault claims that there is no afterlife and that everyone alive is “privileged.” If you are alive, you are privileged with life. The sun keeps shining, people keep sinning, and the world continues to spin. While Meursault is privileged with that life, he will enjoy every last moment of it, even the steps up to the guillotine.

If Meursault is a Christ, the “Word” that he spreads is opposite to that of the New Testament. Where the Bible promises an afterlife where good deeds go rewarded and bad deeds are punished, “The Stranger“ shows a world without an afterlife, where both good and bad deeds are equally without meaning. To Christ, this world and this life are only valuable as precursors to the next one. This life can be wasted and painful in order to assure pleasure in the next. To Meursault, this world is all that exists; therefore every moment must be savored. If Meursault is this “anti-Christ,” then, can you say that his world is really all that bad?