For the first time, I have to preach to a North Indian community on Good Friday.
But it is only the locus, the community of 100 odd sisters, is predominantly Malayalee. There are some staff members belonging to the North and North East of India.
The past few decades of Catholic Christian presence in North India, I feel, had been one of a comfort zone living. Are we there? Yes, we are.
But are we there? We are hardly there. Our being there, in spite of the well-attended educational institutions (schools), I am afraid, hardly matters. It is high time that we scientifically assessed our impact on society and reviewed the expected or intended outcomes of our presence, ministry and preaching.
All three, I feel, mean the same - it is all about proclamation - of the reign of God, which is the proclamation of Jesus Christ, after whom is the entire 'enterprise' of Christianity, in its innumerable formats. And the reign of God is just about justice, peace and joy (in the Holy Spirit) as St. Paul would say (Rom. 14:17). While we also tried to bring them about, I am afraid, for a great amount of time since Christianity began to be presented to other cultures, the preoccupation had been about 'converting' others to 'Christian' religion, with the 'reign of God' taking a back seat. And with conversions hardly occurring and the possibilities for the same dwindling, the missionary spirit seems to have fizzled out. At least, that was my experience when I spent about a decade (1980 to 1990) with some break in between in the so-called mission region of UP, in North India. The very nomenclature of 'mission regions' itself reveals the lack of missionary nature and God's reign perspective (more easily said as 'kingdom' though that might sound anachronistic and undemocratic today) of the Christian presence in India, especially, in the pockets where it is rather well established. While not questioning the bona fides of those zealous missionaries, I sensed a contagious dissipation consequent of a total lack of direction, and the life did not energize me, though they all lived a very frugal, and without being very purposeful about it, a very austere, life. (Later on, as I stuck on to the 'discipleship track', I have always asserted myself to be a missionary, while being a teaching faculty at a PG institute and later on, as the principal of an Arts and Science Autonomous College. I was convinced that I was there to continue the mission of Jesus which he proclaimed as 'Kingdom of God' or as that of 'liberations' Lk 4:18).
So what is my reflection and/or challenge on this Good Friday which in Hindi we term as 'Holy Friday' (Pavitra Shukravar)?
Good Friday, we find Jesus whom we adore as God incarnate, God's son, fully human - that he suffers, dies! Reaffirming the human nature on this earth, not denying, and confirming that this life involves suffering, death and decay, or decay and death. About five centuries before Jesus, a young king of India, Siddhartha (lit. one who has realised the meaning), found meaning by discovering almost the same - dukha satya! Suffering is real! Or in reality, there is suffering! And he proposed an eightfold path, and the foundation was to get rid of 'desires', human attachments! A very rational way to deal with sufferings stoically, and get rid of all sorts of desires! And in the process, he spreads the message of 'karuna' and 'maitri'. It became a very powerful movement converting and transforming violent and ambitious powermongers to apostles of peace! However, in India, it gradually disappeared, or the core elements of the teachings were perhaps, absorbed or coopted by the mainstream Hindu culture.
While Buddha took a very rationalist position on the reality of 'suffering', Jesus realized a solution in a caring interpersonal relationship, with the Ultimate Truth being experienced as the most caring, considerate, forgiving Father, who guides our destinies for the best, even while we are experiencing suffering. Our ability to tune ourselves or surrender ourselves to the will of the Father is our redemption! The joy which is 'not as the world gives' and 'which no one can take away'. It also implies growing to be as perfect as the father, whose quality is described in terms of 'compassion' towards the good and the evil alike. It also implies growth into that realm, which is beyond the typical human categories of 'this, that, mine, their...' which is that of laghuchetasaam, where as, for 'udaara caritaanam' it is 'vasudhaiva kutumbakam'.
But what is Jesus' suffering all about?
According to the faith articulated, we understand Jesus' suffering and death as the sacrificial offering to expiate our sins. That is a beautiful and consoling faith vision. While we confess this faith vision, we have arrived at that faith vision from the very real suffering, and subsequent death of Jesus on what we now call 'cross' (Presently, more of an ornament and a pious article, than a symbol of our faith).
Jesus was killed through a conspiracy where religion and politics colluded because those in power felt threatened by the challenging ways in which He spread goodness around.
He went about doing good.
He questioned existing practices and conventions and boldly set them aside and said what was more important was 'human well being'
He radically challenged the very exclusivist world vision - my nation, my clan, my family to the wider vision of God's children, God's family, where Jew and Samaritan, the High and the Low could be treated equally and well. He showed the so-called scum of the society could rise to Godlikeness through the acts of goodness towards others.
He recognized women as coworkers, companions and supporters in his mission, a very radical position for those times, when women were mere possessions of men.
He
denounced hypocrisy. He challenged the status quo by upholding the
ideals of justice and equality. He defended the woman who was caught doing
wrong, pointing out the hypocrisy in our own behaviour. He was able to touch
the heart of a Samaritan woman and make her a witness to his goodness.
He presented self-sacrifice as a means of overcoming evil rather than physically overcoming
the evildoer. Philippians 2:1-8 in presenting the human Jesus, assures that humans created in the image
of God and can attain godliness.
Good Friday teaches us how to cultivate divinity
within ourselves?
(a) By deliberately choosing, doing good - Start with your family, neighbourhood,
and workplace. This can be in any situation.
I read about Sarah Marie Loesch in the New York Times. She died at the age of 23 during
skydiving training in July 2005. In her 5-year career with Freefall Adventures
in Williamstown, New Jersey, she had already completed 1300 jumps.
These were the entries in her diary: Among her favourites
- Jesus Christ came first, the second was Bible study. Her career goal - to
serve God in everything she did. She was a "born-again Christian."
Upon her death, her mother said that religion gave her the strength to face it.
She said: She was doing what she wanted to do. Now she's flying with the
angels.
Are we able to keep Jesus Christ and his lifestyle as
our top priority in our homes, families, neighbourhoods, and workplaces?
Are we willing to take extra steps, extra
minutes/hours/days, extra effort to help at our workplace and family?
(a) By not doing wrong
– Recently a Christian was found to be instrumental in a corrupt
manipulation of the mayoral election in Chandigarh. His name was something
like 'Masih'. What a pity! What a counter-witness by a Christian for the
nation!
· b) By surrendering to God's will – as Jesus did. When confronted by the ununderstandable sufferings
in our lives or around us, while trying to avoid them, or mitigate them, attuning
ourselves to the wisdom of God.
· c) By suffering for our beliefs, for the good
· In the past few months, many Christians have
faced severe resistance and hardship while fulfilling their duties - as
teachers, as ministers. Father Babu Francis (Allahabad), Father Anil Mathew
(Bhopal), Sister Mercy (Chhattisgarh), Father Dominic (Lucknow) - all were
arrested, imprisoned for varying periods, and eventually released. Christians appear to be much disturbed at this development. But Good Friday is posing this very same challenge: Are we ready to face this consequence for being a Christ disciple - honest, truthful, just and helpful - always in service to others?
· Hebrews 1-4 is worth listening. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of
witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so
easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out
for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning
its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him
who endured such opposition
from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
·
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
·
In the 2000-odd years, perhaps there had been hundreds of thousands of Christians who might
have lived in this manner and inspired their families and neighbourhoods. Do we
belong there? But the Church has been able to recognize just about 10000 of
them, proven to have lived the Jesus life in an extraordinary manner. That means on an average just about 5 people per annum. Can you and I aspire to be counted among them?
·
Holy Father, Pope Francis, whom we in faith we trust as God-given guide for the faithful in this world,
challenges the Christians to have a deeper understanding of their life on the planet that is worthy of a true Christian life. He wants all of us, individually, as families and organizations, to re-examine our lifestyle as Christians, as it affects the lives of all - humans and other creatures living on the planet. He is talking about the things we use, the things we discard, the waste we generate, and the water, air and earth that we pollute with our indiscriminate consumption.
He challenges each Christian to carry a small cross to minimize their impact on the earth. This means living a simpler life, generating less carbon from cooking or travelling, or using electricity or burning things or dumping unmanageable trash on the planet.
·
Can a Christian home be identified as a carbon neutral home next year? Can a Christian institution be a carbon neutral institution? Can a Christian claim to be a zero waste person? Can our fasting and abstinence have a bearing on the impact we have on the planet?
·
He has written two letters in this regard - Laudato Si and Laudate Deum.
· I hope that Good Friday will inspire us to go beyond just interpersonal relationship among the humans, but rather live on the planet in a responsible fashion that our lives don’t harm the planet systems on which all life forms depend. This is the challenge of the cross in the climate change scenario of the modern life.
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