PORTRAIT OF JESUS FROM THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: A PERSPECTIVAL UNDERSTANDING

Having read the Gospel, I am inclined to look at the presentation of Jesus by Luke in the following perspectives.

Jesus the ultimate meaning and the restorer of Life: In the very first chapter itself, Luke presents to us the hopelessness of the situation of Zechariah and Elizabeth, who were childless (1:7). God intervenes and they have John the Baptist. Elizabeth is granted a cure for her shame of being barren and praises God. Hence Luke anticipates the in creating a right pre-knowledge of Jesus as one who brings meaning to the lives of people. Jesus the incarnate Son of God becomes the ultimate meaning. This is evident in Zacheus episode (Lk 19:1-10). He was involved with the oppressive class winning the hatred of his own community members. He was considered a sinner, estranged and isolated from the group. This could mean that he could not meet people on a face to face level relationship. He had to put distance between himself and others because of the profession he chose and the means he used to thicken his pocket. In fact he was fed up with his old self and wants to have a new meaning that drives his whole life. Hence once he is invited by Jesus, he finds his meaning in Jesus. His life and perspective towards it changes, he lives in a new relationship with himself, with others and with God. Jesus restores the one who seeks. 

The son of the widow of Nain is restored to life (7:11-17), the woman suffering from a hemorrhage, whom no one had been able to cure is healed (8: 43-48); Jairus’ daughter is raised to life (8:49-56); healed a crippled woman (13:10-13). Hence in almost all the curing miracles Jesus is presented as a restorer of life, restoring men back to wholeness and freedom.

Jesus visits and Redeems:‘God has visited his people’ (7:17). Jesus visits John the Baptist and his visit to him made him leap for joy (1:44). The visit of Jesus always brings joy and salvation. Besides, one is invited to live in awareness of having met the Lord who affirms our identity as redeemed people. He visits the tax collectors and sinners (15:1ff). He visits Zachaeus and tells him, “today salvation has come to this house” (19:9). He forgives the sinful woman and assures her, ‘your sins are forgiven’ and affirms her faith and commands her to go in peace (7:49-50). In a sense He not only visits but stays for a while and takes everyone to the threshold of redemption. He visits the saddened and disappointed disciples on their way to Emmaus. He stays with them opens their eyes beyond their misery to a realized meaningfulness in Jesus, especially in the breaking of the bread (24:30-32).

Jesus: A Hermeneutical Key to Understand a God who Self-explains: In the Emmaus episode, we can identify a Jesus who self explains. In fact, he becomes the hermeneutical key to understand the mysteries of God. The disciples did not understand the enigma of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. He explains to the disciples all that the prophets told about him (24:25), about the necessity of his suffering so as to enter into glory (24:26), and then starting from Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself (24:27). The aspect of ‘journey’ connotes a gradual understanding of Jesus in the life of any disciple. We do not exist in meaningless void but in expression, relationship and existential contexts. Man being a rational animal makes sense of all that surrounds him because he is primarily a relational being. Jesus exploits this capacity of man to explain Himself. Only a God can explain himself. Hence Jesus (Emmanuel – God with us) in being-with-us and our experience of him make his words intelligible. Jesus then is the hermeneutical key to understand our role in the whole plan of salvation.

A Praying Jesus: Luke presents to us a Jesus who is always connected to his father. Jesus’ Baptism took place in the context of prayer (3:21). A prayerful person is always filled with the spirit of God. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit (4:1) and he was able to assert his identity as the Son of God withstanding temptations. The disciples are chosen in the context of spending whole night in prayer (6:12). Jesus is transfigured before his disciples in the context of prayer (9:28). Jesus is an epitome of Abba experience. He experienced the deep love of his father in prayer. Jesus relates to God as ‘Father’ (Lk 10: 21-22). He teaches his disciples to pray (11:1-4). He teaches them about the effectiveness of prayer and promises the disciples that the heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him in prayer (11:13). He teaches through the example of the Pharisee and the tax collector that prayer is not self assertion of what one has done in verbatim but an honest admission of what one is (18:9-14). Jesus teaches that prayer is a relationship with God, giving yourself to the Father in humble surrender. This is manifested in Jesus at Gethsemane - ‘in his anguish he prayed even more earnestly and his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood’ (22:44).

Compassionate and Merciful: Jesus has a preferential option for the marginalized, oppressed, the poor and the outcast. For Jesus compassion is changing the situation. This is evident in the event where Jesus restores to life the son the widow of Nain (7:11-17). In Biblical understanding, the widow is a person who is left without a husband or a son. In the case of the widow of Nain, she is without any support if her son dies. Hence Jesus changes the situation by restoring him to life. Jesus himself teaches his disciples to ‘be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate’ (6:36). In compassion there is no judgment of the past or present action of the individual but acceptance of the whole person. Jesus allowed the sinful woman to anoint his feet and wipe his feet with her hair, though the Pharisees condemned her (7:36ff). The parable of the prodigal son (15:11-32) gives us the crux of the aspects of compassion. It is out of his compassion that he brings wholeness to all the people suffering from all infirmities. It was his compassion for the sinners that he dines with them and accepts the scorn of his adversaries.

A Teacher Par-excellence: Jesus makes use of the parables to teach a truth. Among his parables the most striking one is the parable of the prodigal son (chap.15). This is the best example of conversion (leaving the old rut of being and running towards the father: restoration of relationship). The parable of the Good Samaritan emphasizes the principle that hearing of the word should accompany action (10:29-37). A rabbi was not allowed to associate with women according to the accepted tradition of Jesus’ time but he went out this and associated with women. He made them his disciples. We have Martha and Mary (10:38-42). Women are made harbingers of his resurrection (24:10-11). A teacher leads his pupils out of the misunderstood concepts and attitudes to a given phenomena to a deeper clarity and living. There are many more aspects of Jesus which I could pen in these pages, but the above portraits that I painted would suffice my gradual understanding of the figure and mystery of JESUS OF NAZARETH.

THE RIDDLE OF PAIN

The following reflections are the outcome of reading the book The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis.

There are two fundamental human experiences in life: pleasure and pain.

An apt example for demonstrating this would be a conjugal union between a man and a woman. They do experience the pleasure of the sexual act (here one cannot but point out the working of lust in every physical sexual union), but in bringing forth the fruit of their union, she has to undergo the pangs of giving birth (procreation) – the purpose of marriage.

There is a kind of pain in knowing. Knowledge is suffering because the demand it makes on a life of seeking truth is great. The Greek philosophers would say that a life of wisdom is a practice of death. 

For example I know that it is good to be without ‘stomach ache’. This is being well. But when you are under pain, you know that you are not given the state of being not in pain. When my brother beat me, I cried. Upon hearing my cry my mother came and consoled me. I cried even more because I did not have her presence when my brother beat me. You know what you are deprived of that which you should have had. 

An example from a familial circle would also reveal the experiential, often untold sufferings of the voiceless and silent. It is enough to take the case of an abusive or a drunken husband. He can either subject his wife to physical or sexual abuse. A wife pinned in by the circumstances of her life sobs within without making any fuss about it. She does not sue him because she has a growing girl child, her future, her education, etc. A phenomenological look into most of the Indian families would reveal the silent sobs of many. This is a reality that goes on in many average Indian families (esp. in a patriarchal society). The husband is licensed to do anything to his wife as he likes. If the wives in Indian families behave like those in the west, I am sure that the number of divorces and broken families could be even more in India than anywhere else. In this situation many a woman silently suffer the injustices done to them with no fault of their own. Many of them show a sense of meaning, because they live for their children without giving into depression or meaninglessness. According to the recent census on depression conducted by WHO reveals that depression with suicidal tendencies is high among Indians especially more among women than in men (The Times of India, 10/10/2012). The girls especially in Kerala are raised in view of preparing her to be a good house-wife in another home. Once she is given in marriage, the house where she goes as a daughter-in-law might perhaps hear: you are only an added member to this family, never born in it (nee ivide kerivannavalanu) – a guest who does not belong to anywhere. Can you see the pain of being homeless, being objectified, being in a home where you do not belong? This is the feeling of the homelessness of the home. What a strange world! Yet with pain we must move on and this pain reveals a great lesson in life – if we do not belong to this world, we belong somewhere, we are beloveds of someone and that someone is the UNCEASING LOVE INCARNATED IN THE FLESH – JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. He would not perhaps undergo the pain of being betrayed, misunderstood, rejected, disowned, and finally a death of a criminal, if not to make a declaration of love: I own you even at the cost of my death.

In understanding the riddle of pain, we must consider it as an existent reality that always insists upon being attended to. We can avoid pleasure but not pain. When you get a burn on your finger, the first natural reaction is to ease the pain of the burn by wetting it with saliva. Similarly when there is an accident, the very first thing is first aid, attending to the injured. This is with the aspect of physical pain. Now what about mental or emotional pain? They are intrinsically calling out to be attended to at the earliest. C. S. Lewis in his book, The Problem of Pain says “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” According to Lewis, this pain can give rise to two possible responses: one can rebel with the possibility of a deeper repentance at some later stage or else one can make some attempt at an adjustment, which if one follows, will eventually lead one to religion.

We also find the aspect of pain in the animal kingdom. It is mostly characterized by ‘preying upon another’ for the will to survive. But one might ask, how can animals feel pain since they have no consciousness like ours? The characteristic of ‘preying upon another’ is well depicted by Schopenhauer in his book the World as Will and Representation in the following manner:

He speaks of an European explorer. He sees an immense field entirely covered with skeletons, and took it to be a battlefield. However they were nothing but skeletons of large turtles, five feet long, three feet broad, and of equal height. These turtles come this way from the sea, in order to lay their eggs, and are then seized by wild dogs; with their united strength, these dogs lay them on their backs, tear open their lower armour, the small scales of the belly, and devour them alive. But then a tiger often pounces on the dogs. Now all this misery is repeated thousands of times, year in, year out. The explorer asks, for this then, are these turtles born? For what offence must they suffer this agony? [Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, trans., E. F. Payne, vol.2 (New York: Dover Publications, 1966), 354.]

If pain is a preying upon another in the animal kingdom with the will to survive, in the world of humans pain is caused by the unwilling will to surrender the self-will to its creator. The solution to pain lies in this fact. Lewis would say that the highest good of a creature is to surrender its self-will to the creator. God is great because He took great risk in creating a creature that would turn away from him.  

Finally to end: We must always understand two things: Man can be understood only in relation to God and animals in relation to man…

An Attempt at an Indian Theo Dance Drama

                                                              (Light background music)

Narrator: God always desired to create a community of persons. In fact He did create a community not only of persons but in the right sense of the cosmic unity of all that God created. Soon the created reality became corrupt. Devilish men and women were born, who sowed the seeds of disharmony, jealousy, hatred and anger. They considered independence over interdependence to promote the ideas of ‘my soil, my country’. 

(The wise men laments)

Man 1:  O God of heaven and earth!

Man 2:  We owe nothing as our own, because you have created us for yourself.

Man 3: The land, the space we inhabit and the air we breathe can never have any claimants.

Man 4: Yet in claiming much blood is shed, innocence is betrayed, egos have swollen, man and nature signed a certificate of divorce, air polluted, anonymity in human relationships increased…

Man 1: Where are you God of the earthly and heavenly bodies? How long shall we put up with this perennial ignorance, a loveless life?

Man 2: It is better to have a horrific end than to have an endless horror…..

Narrator: When dharma declines adharma takes ascendency. Now God, the creator directly intervenes to win back the fallen men from the clutches of evil. He comes to protect the good, to destroy the wicked and to establish righteousness…

            (Naradha comes in chanting)

Paritranaya sadhunam

Vinasaya ca duskrtam

Dharma-samsthapanarthaya

Sambhavami  yuge yuge (BG 4:8)

He recreates the entire creation. He speaks. His Speech has power(the earth quakes and the waters of a great Tsunami rises (mimicry artists enact the act of creation…… (since the dogs can easily sense the impending earthquake, they cry.. man who misunderstands the sign throws a stone at the dog, the dog cries.. the puppies sensing a threat to their existence cry for a long time……. Now the sound of Tsunami, wind….. and all the possible noise of chaos…..)

God Shiva destroys to create

A great calm…..Order (rta) is restored to creation. (Since it is an act of creation, Life is again blessed with fun, laughter. It is always a dancing to the tunes of Divine music)

God rejoices over the new creation in a great dance together with the animal kingdom….

The cosmic dance….. (The dwarfs and the monkeys, men).

The Unspoken Experience Behind Ashalayam: Experience Of Homelessness

Ashalayam, juvenile homes and shelter homes are realities that establish the importance of a home. But what necessitates a home? Homelessness is not only a presupposition but an existent reality. This techno-scientific world with its limitless work pace does increasingly create a world of anonymity. What you consider normal today is the world of hyper individualism, indifference and anonymity. This is a reality. Here I do not want to disregard the fact of the existence of good people. But the existential reality works in polarity. Opposites do exist. The experience of a home is juxtaposed with the experience of homelessness, similarly hope and hopelessness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness. One might hear of expressions like:

            “I am a foreigner in my own country,”

            “Homelessness of the home,”

            “Familiar strangers”

These suggest the need for a home, a much needed experience of being at home, need for recognition and a sense of belief that someone is there for you. A father and a mother is that someone who gives you ‘assurance;’ that you can learn to walk without stumbling. 

Just think of the old age homes throughout our country – what is the logistics behind the establishment of an old age home? Though there are good reasons, in the view of many who prefer old age homes consider their parents as troublesome, useless and a burden. So put them in a place where you need not care but see only your convenience (apart from providing for their material needs). Parents who brought up their children love to be loved and cared for by their own children. What would be their experience if they are neglected? They are compelled to feel in their senses the homelessness of the home.

Now what if the inexperienced children feel the same? One can easily notice a pattern in the children who are in Ashalayam, Snehalaya, Juvenile homes or Shelter homes:

Run away: this is the first response they give to a situation which is unasked for. In a home where the parent is abusive, the child is threatened. He/ she begin to plan an escape: run away. Where to? To an unfamiliar and unknown terrain. This is homelessness of the home - running after security in an insecure situation. Having done this, they land up in even more barren situation of hopelessness and ignorance. They are caught up in a situation of a fly in a spider’s web (hopeless) with the accompanying dangers. We have instances of young girls landing up in flesh trade, young lads who are sexually abused, etc. If they believe in their destiny, some of them do find themselves as an ant on a leaf in the running water (hope) with the firm faith that they are on the road to safety. Most of the boys who come to stay in Ashalayam are in the second category. Those in the first category, though they come to Ashalayam soon find themselves to be a frog in hot water. Hence, the natural response is to get out of the thrownness of the situation. They leave soon (run away).

Struggle for survival: The next naturally evoked response to the situation is a struggle for survival. The children who land up in working for the wealthy to fill their stomach will work any amount, ready to suffer any amount of injustices. One thing they definitely would not like to happen in those experiences is - they pray that they may not be deprived of their meal. One of the boys whom I met told me that he wants to go back to the railway station. The reason why he wanted to go to the railway station was that he could do some work, get some money and with that eat, watch movies and sleep. They do not think of anything else. In their struggle for survival, they learn to steal, begin to tell lies, begin to pretend, in begging they tell stories to evoke empathy and sympathy to meet their needs, sweep the trains, develop skills (massaging, singing, etc.). Those who are clever and intelligent develop a pattern of ‘stay and say’. This is an optimistic stance. Viktor Frankl would say that the external situations cannot condition you but you can condition the external situation. No one can take away your freedom to choose your attitude towards a given situation (though apparently you are pinned in by the situation). 

Stay and Say: The boys who stay in Ashalayam want to say that they are someone and prove that they are also one among the many great human beings who walk this planet earth. They teach the basic lesson that we are dependent on each other. The boys are helpless and always at the generosity of others. They tell of the stories of human brokenness. This is manifested in their life narrative – a child is born as a result of prostitution (you come into the world as the result of human lust, desire for pleasure and really unwanted), children do not want to be at home because parents go in different directions seeking for sexual satisfaction (the children feel that they are caught up in between wondering as how to understand their lot). They tell of the responsibility of parents (through their silence), tell of the reality of an unjust world through their experience of the world they encounter, tell of the divide between rich and poor, remind us of the potential becoming of a child (both positive and negative), tell us of basic human emotions of love, hate, fear, anger, rejection, etc.,

My Questions To Some Children And Their Answers

In general I asked what according to you is life? To this question they began narrating their experiences. It is  Viktor Frankl who said, “experiences are life’s gift to you.” In fact life is not tied up to a single thing, it is mingled and coloured with experiences.  The children view their life in the immediate context of their experiences (both positive and negative). The following are two examples of their life vision:

Bolkumar: he narrates his life this way – My father is a thief, mother a beggar. My brother died when I was small. My father taught me how to steal though my mother objected. He beats up my mother and I. Then he put a question – how should live my life with these people? So I ran away. The rest of the narration was centred on his experiences of being chased by people and he being afraid of police.

I asked him – what would you become in the future? “ I want to become an engineer, if not a bijliwala (they cut power every now and then, in my case I will never do that). I will build a small vehicle which cannot kill people and if at all there is an accident, people will be saved. (He directs our attention to the numerous road accidents that costs the loss of many lives) 

If you have one lakh rupees with you, what will you do? His immediate reply was – if I have money, I have trouble because there are many people who are ready to snatch it from you. ‘Looto math mai khudhi dunka’ said he in Hindi. (he definitely realised that stealing is not a good thing, he experienced loss of his own dear brother, being chased after, physically abused and a great sense of fear – yet in ashalayam he is hopeful that God  has something decent invested for him in the future.)

What do you think about the rich people? Actually there are no rich or poor. Material wealth and its absence makes one rich or poor. The thoughts in the mind are different. The rich do not think the way the poor think. Yet how would you distinguish the rich and the poor? One boy with his penetrating thought said few things:

If on the way you beg to a rich man, he would say that he does not have anything, they are unwilling to give but if you ask the poor, they give fully of what they have without any reservation. Money increases your wants. There are very less people who share with love. In sharing it really becomes big.

Is it sinful to steal? If you steal for stealing sake, it is definitely an intrinsic evil, but when you work for the rich only to fill your stomack and then you are denied of your meal, the situation definitely make you steal. Hence out of dire need (majboori se) one is in a situation to steal. It is not a sin.