Making the Right Choice

Jesus' question in Mark 10:51 "What do you want me to do for you?" is baffling. Jesus knows everything, moreover the man who is crying to him is obviously blind and needs healing. Why then this question; Jesus cannot be that dumb!

The blind beggar in Jericho (Mark 10:46-52) was engaged in something demeaning. His name is mentioned in the Bible as Bartimaeus, which means son of honor. Though "a son of honor" he was doing the most dishonorable profession of begging in the city of Jericho. When Jesus met him he was begging. His style of begging (like all beggars do) is to catch people's attention by crying loud "have mercy on me" so that they can throw a coin in to his bowl.

He did the same thing when Jesus passed by in the company of a large crowd. This time he did not just cry "have mercy on me" but was more specific because his plea was aimed at Jesus and not the crowd. He cries, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

However, it is the plea of a beggar. That is how the crowd who rebuked him to keep quiet took it. He should not nag Jesus for a coin! No beggar should bother Jesus, he has greater things to attend to! However, Jesus stopped, knowing that in that plea there is something more than a beggar's longing for a coin.

The crowd (who earlier tried to stop him) now encouraged him to walk towards Jesus saying "cheer up! On your feet! He is calling you." Probably, they might have thought that Jesus is going to give him a considerable amount.

The possibilities were limited: a donation to a beggar and nothing more. That's all that we can think at the moment. Even Bartimaeus cry was ambiguous. That's what makes Jesus ask him specifically: "what do you want me to do for you?" That is to ask, "Do you want a coin, another donation?" or something else. The beggar's answer was specific: "Rabbi, I want to see". Jesus can do both, he can toss a coin into the beggar's bowl. Any one who has coin to give away can do that. However, Jesus can also do something else; that is to deal with his problem at its root.

Jesus demands us always to make that choice. Do we want Jesus to deal with our immediate, felt needs alone, or work at the root of our problems. A coin or two that Jesus could toss in to his bowl may make him happy for a day. However, dealing with his blindness, the reason for being a beggar will change his stigma of a beggar and bring the honor back to him. Bartimaues made the wise choice and challenges us to make a wise choice in our lives too. Jesus poses the question to us because we are the ones who should make that choice.

Understanding Christian Persecution in India

Tolerance is allowing different viewpoints to exist and thrive without
causing them any harm. It comes from respect and love for the
different views. Tolerance is possible even if the opposite point of
view may hurt our views and may threaten the existence of ours. Often
times we mistake accommodation for tolerance ignoring the subtle
difference between the two. Accommodating is an outcome of tolerance
but need not always be. Usually we can accommodate what we can put up
with but it is difficult to accommodate anything that is not congenial.
The other day while watching the National Geographic channel I came
across a leopard and a young gazelle. The gazelle was just born and
has just been able to stand on its feet. The leopard had it between
its front legs; the young gazelle looked fearless, the leopard was
unconcerned and was looking elsewhere as if he was not interested in
the tender prey. It presented the picture of the peace that prophet
Isaiah had prophesied about when the lion and lamb will graze together.
However, the scenario changed as the young gazelle took to its feet
and ran! The leopard caught the gazelle after short chase and killed
it. As long as the gazelle was not challenging it and was submissive
the leopard was willing to accommodate it. The leopard is not willing
to tolerate a gazelle that will challenge it.
Persecution against Christians in India has to be understood within
this framework. Majority Hindus are tolerant, however, there was a few
were willing to accommodate it and still another smaller group who
were not willing to tolerate or even to accommodate it. Thus two
sections have now turned against Christians in India: those who were
willing to accommodate it have realized that Christian faith is
something to be wiped out and persecution is the best means to wipe it
out. The third group has always been against anything other than their
faith and opposed to it and Christians as a vibrant religious group
was always at the receiving end of their wrath.
Christian persecution has reached a new high these days since those
who were just accommodating Christian faith (the world thought they
were tolerant) and those who were eternally opposed to it has joined
forces against Christian faith. This new scenario makes all those
believe in the peaceful existence of different religious faiths worried.

Faithfulness of God and of Us

She was young, beautiful, and healthy and she had a loving husband.
The car accident changed all that. She was in hospital for many months
fighting for her life. She survived finally but as an invalid,
paralysed waste down and limited to her wheelchair. That was the end
of her marriage too as her husband walked away from her life. The
marriage covenant that they made to stick to each other "until death
part us" was broken. It was a test of her husband's faithfulness to
the marriage promise. Marriage is most evidently the area where
faithfulness is tested. Relationship outside marriage where
faithfulness is divided is common these days. However, faithfulness is
indivisible, it is exclusive, whether it is faithfulness in marriage
or in any other areas.

If we search for a perfect example of faithfulness we will arrive at
the biblical image of God as the faithful God. In the Bible, God is
given as the model of faithfulness. God's faithfulness is what we are
expected to follow.
First of all God's faithfulness is not time bound. The Book of
Deuteronomy calls God "the faithful God" and describes him as faithful
to a thousand generations (Deut 7:9). The writer who knew Israel's
history well has already either witnessed or heard about God's
faithfulness for generations beginning with Abraham and all
patriarchs. For that person the history of his people for centuries
has been a history of God's faithfulness that they experienced. He was
sure that this faithfulness would continue.

Secondly, God's faithfulness is not reciprocal; God does not make any
demand from the other party to be faithful. Human faithful is
reciprocal, it operates around the principle, "If you scratch my back,
then I will scratch my back". We cease to be faithful to those who are
unfaithful to us. However, God is different "If we are faithless, He
remains faithful. He can't deny himself" (2 Tim 2:13).

Finally, (though the list is not exhaustive) God is most reliable
(faithful) in the most unreliable circumstances. Saint Peter writing
to the persecuted churches wrote that those who suffer should entrust
their souls to God who is the "faithful creator". God is the only one
a person can trust in the most trying circumstances. The reason for
this trust is that God will never allow us to suffer more than what we
can endure and in every trying circumstances God always made
provisions for exit. Saint Paul says: "No temptation has taken you
except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you
to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation
also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" (1 Cor
10:13). Those who suffer according to the will of God is protected by
a faithful creator.

It may not be possible to follow God's example in all its perfection;
however, it is still the model and inspiration. Faithfulness to
marriage partners need to be undivided and should last until both
partners are alive, not just when they are healthy and prosperous.
Faithfulness to each other (spouses, friends, colleagues, etc) should
survive beyond the difficult times in the life of one person. All of
us need to strive to be faithful, even when faithfulness is not
reciprocated. God will do that, God expects us to do that.

Props-Free Spirituality

One of the remarkable features of the Judeo-Christian religions
including Islam is the ban on idols. The Jewish scriptures prohibit
the making of idols and the worship of any objects representing God.
Biblical Christianity has continued the same tradition. Islam standing
in the same religious traditions has the same emphasis. However, this
never banned art from these religions. Christian church has a great
tradition of promoting sculpture and painting. Islamic art is also rich.

Nevertheless, some Christian churches have gone quite far from its
original ethos of an iconoclastic religion to the veneration of the
cross and praying before the images of saints. Those who use idols or
images in worship argue that these help in focussing their thoughts on
God. The argument is that the worship is not offered to the idols but
to the deity represented by the idols.
Biblical Christianity, however, advocate a spirituality that does not
require crutches. Their object of worship is Jesus Christ. None of the
images of Jesus Christ whether sculpted or painted represent the real
Jesus who walked on the face of this earth 2000 years ago. No one made
a portrait of him while he was alive. We do have a description of
Jesus by an eyewitness historian Josephus, but he does not describe
the features of Jesus in details enough to make a sketch of him.

It was easier for those disciples of Jesus who have seen him to love
and rejoice in him. Love and joy are the two important expressions of
spirituality. However, Christianity continued to spread to nations and
to people who in space and time stand quite far from the historical
Jesus. It is true that there are Christians who would stand before a
crucifix or the icon of Infant Jesus to offer their prayers. At the
same time, there are millions of Christians who relate to Jesus
without any of these props. Icons entered Christianity much late, but
early Christians who lived in the days of Saint Peter, who haven't
seen Jesus nor a picture of him continued their worship of Jesus
without any of these. Peter's commendation of them is remarkable. He
describes Jesus as the one, "… whom not having known you love; in
whom, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly
with joy unspeakable and full of glory— " (1 Pet 1:8). This is the
essence of Christian spirituality: love, faith and joy in the one whom
we worship, though the object of worship is invisible!

I feel icons though may be of some use to focus my thoughts, limits my
adoration of Jesus. It brings down Jesus to the level of a tangible
object; he is much more than that. Icons eclipse the real Jesus my
Lord from me by standing in between. Moreover, I do not need them as
long as I can relate to Jesus by faith and love him, and rejoice in
him. A props-free spirituality, which senses Jesus' present all around
us, able to immerse in his love made manifest in our lives daily is
what we should be heading for.

How far is my neighbour?

"Love your neighbour as yourself" has been a great teaching that no pious Jew ever questioned. However, the range of its meaning was certainly in doubt. That is why a lawyer once stood up in one of the teaching sessions of Jesus and asked, "Who is my neighbour?" (Luke 10:29).

The story that Jesus told him was to illustrate the meaning of neighbor. He told him the story that we now call the Story of the Good Samaritan. There was a man who was attacked by the robbers who left him on the road that leads from Jerusalem to Jericho to die. All sorts of people passed by this man but no one except a Samaritan helped him and saved his life. The priest and the Levite who passed him by without lending him any help were closer to him in every way. They were from the same race (Jews) and belonged to the same religion (Judaism) and most probably lived somewhere around that area. However, as far as Jews are concerned the Samaritan was an outcast and foreigner. He must have lived in the territory of the Samaritans, which was further north of Jerusalem. After concluding his story, Jesus posed this question: "Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?" This question implies that there is a distinction between two realities. One is to have a neighbour, and another is being a neighbor.

Having a neighbour is decided by the physical proximity; however, being a neighbour is being there for a person when he is in need disregarding all sorts of distance. Living in a Jewish neighbourhood, the lawyer could only extend his love only to another Jewish person (or to a lawyer if he lived in the Lawyers Campus) who lived next door or just across the street. For the priest and the Levite the man on the road was not his neighbour though he was a fellow Jew, because they did not live in the same neighborhood.

Jesus redefined love to neighbours by defining what it means to be a neighbour. By extending our love to all those who are in need we become a neighbour to them. They may be living miles away from me in the poorest countries of the world, or the poorest sections of my own country but I have to be a neighbour to them by extending my love and care to them. For Jesus, a person's need is what brings that person to the neighbourhood of my love. It is a challenge to extend our love beyond our own neighbourhoods of religion, caste, nationalities to all those who suffer.

Why Christians are Compelled to Serve

Down through the centuries the followers of Christ have set examples of being kind through their service to humanity all over the world. Numerous hospitals, orphanages, schools and colleges in places where there was no health care and proper education are examples of kindness that is integral to the followers of Christ.

Kindness is love in action. In 1 Corinthians 13:4 Saint Paul wrote, "Love is patient and is kind...." If Christian love is a coin, then patience and kindness are the two sides of that coin. A coin cannot exist unless it has two sides! This also means that the real kindness proceeds from the real love. What type of love would produce kindness?

First of all, there is contemplative love, where love is a feeling. This love, seeks and cherishes all that is lovable. Human beings has the tremendous capacity to love anything even animals of different kinds. Humans are the only creatures who keep pets! It does not move beyond the thoughts or feelings of love to action. Contemplative love is thus impotent. Sudhiir Kakar retells the story of dog-couple in one of his books. One day the bitch was killed and its body was lying on the road. Its partner came along and saw the lifeless body of his partner, sniffed it and then walked away. Later that dog was found in the company of another bitch. Contemplative love is nothing beyond the love this dog showed. The followers of Christ who busied themselves in serving humanity cherished a love that springs in to action.

Secondly, there is the congenial love which is love for the things that a person likes or of the same kind. Congenial love cannot love persons of different likes, looks or class. Though congenial love may be lavished on the persons whom we like, particularly our own people it does not go beyond cross the barrier of race, culture or language. It may also express itself as xenophobia. The disciples of Jesus who travelled across the nations to serve the poor and the needy of people other than their own showed a different type of love.

Thirdly, there is the outgoing love. This love goes beyond feelings to action, is not limited to people of ones like, and looks. God, by loving the entire fallen humanity shows this love. As Jesus puts it, he is a God who "... makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Matt 5:48). God's love is outgoing love, which Jesus exemplifies. Jesus' miracles were not merely displays of his power but acts of kindness, which spring from his outgoing love. Jesus did not just feel sorry for the sick (contemplative love), but he healed the sick (act of kindness). Jesus did not heal only the Jews (his own people) but all sorts of people. It included Samaritans (Luke 17), Syrophoenicians (Mark 7:26), Romans (Matthew 8) and all.

This is the secret of kindness, which is the Fruit of the Spirit; an outgoing love which God's only Son showed by his coming to a people who are not his kind, rendering service which they did not deserve and dying a death which they should have died! This explains acts of kindness followers of Christ showed and should be the model for Christians today.

Masks Modern Christians Wear

The life of and life in modern Christian churches, with all the dissensions, hatred and disunity is certainly shameful. That is not what Christians are called to, they are called to produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Fruit of the Spirit is the natural outcome of a Spirit-led life. It is characterisctic of a Spirit-filled life. The foremost of this is love (Gal 5:22). Though Paul listed love in Galatians 5:22 he best exposits it in his first correspondence to the church in Corinth. Love is the hallmark of Christ-disciples: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Three redherrings of true love are spirituality, charity and self-sacrifice" (John 13:35).
However, Christians tend to wear different masks that look like love which Paul criticizes very caustically in the great poem on love in 1 Corinthians 13. First of these masks is false spirituality. Christians who fail to love each other as Christ loved them tend to wear a mask of spirituality. This comes usually in the form of high spiritual gifts like, speaking in heavenly languages, prophecy, and claims of miracles. Even if these claims are true, they are useless unless they proceed from lives that are saturated with the love of Christ and is able to pour that love out to others. Such lives are lifeless as "sounding brass" or "claning symbols", makes noise but lifeless!
Second mask that they  use to cover their loveless lives is charity. To be at the service of the poor and needy is often considered as acts of love, but may not. I once saw a lady running after a begger to give him an apple from her shopping bag. It is evening, and her religion requires that she should do some good thing each day to earn merits before her gods. It is not really love that drove her but her own selfish spiritual interest. Christians need not be different, most social service need not be out of love, but fund-driven or for a good name in society. I don't intend to look down upon people who sacrifice for the poor out of genuine love.
Third mask is self-sacrifice. Pauls mentions the extreme self-sacrifice of letting oneself to be burnt at the stake (one of the means of persecution in early Christian period). Just because a person denies his body, chastises himself does not mean that s/he is doing it out of love. The Bible insists in this passage (1 Cor 13:3) that giving and even self-molesting for the sake of charity is useless if there is no real love.
Christians are expected to "serve one another in love" (Gal 5:13). For that we need to rip these mask off. Lack of love leads them to behave like animals who "bite and devour" each other (Gal 5:15). These two verses in Galatians which serve as introduction to the discussion on the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Gal 5:22-23 explains why so we face so much of disunity and hatred in modern churches.