Positive Elements in Discipleship (Contd).
Watch and Pray: The overconfidence of Peter and his co-disciples in their own power of perseverance is well brought out in Matthew 26: 33-35. They were unwilling to take seriously the prediction of Jesus about the failure of their faith in him that very night. Against the vehement protestations of Peter's faith and love for Jesus, a prediction was made by Jesus about his disowning him three times before the cock crew that same night. This incident teaches us a lot about discipleship. All of us are governed by presumption in our lives in the form of "it will never happen to me"! It is always a someone else who is trapped under the wheels of a running train while trying to cross the railway tracks as a short-cut avoiding the lengthy and unpleasant process of using an over-bridge!! "Watch and pray so that you do not enter into temptation (vehement test)" is the over-bridge we refuse to take.
Jesus taught us the need of prayer and keeping watch by his own example at the Garden of Gethsemane (See Matthew, 26: 36-46). He felt the need of communion with the Father at the vehement test experienced at Gethsemane when his own disciples slept in spite of being warned. Although the spirit of the disciples was willing their flesh was weak, according to Jesus himself, and therefore he could understand their predicament. The test that was to be overcome by Jesus, as his hour was approaching , was no ordinary test. It was a test marshaled by the evil forces known as powers of darkness in their full force upon the weakness of flesh. No human being can stand this test unaided by powers from above for which watching and prayer are required. All of us will have this hour at the time of our death for which we should be fortified with the Spirit of God. Throughout our life, we should try to fortify ourselves with the Holy Spirit so that at our vehement test unleashed by the powers of darkness, we should be able to successfully face the test.
It is interesting to note the complete opposite reactions of two disciples to the mystery of Jesus with diametrically opposed results. Judas Iscariot pretends to be a true disciple of Jesus and greets him with a kiss , the real significance of which he had explained to the enemies of Jesus, thereby betraying him ( See Matthew, 26: 48-49). The spontaneous and violent reaction of Peter in cutting off the right ear of Malchus (See John 18:10) having misunderstood the significance of the warning of Jesus at the Last Supper to be ready with swords (See Luke, 22:38), did not deter him from being a true disciple of Jesus. How did this come about? Throughout their lives, Judas was secretive, cunning, greedy, insincere and unfaithful, while Peter though impulsive, presumptuous, seeking rewards and positions was at the same time open, childlike, detached, sincere and faithful. The resultant outcome in the two lives were the natural outflows of these two diverse dispositions.
Again, it is important to reflect on the requirements of watching and praying. What should we watch and how should we pray? It is ourselves that we should watch as it is clear that our nature blossoming forth in our character , which permeates all our thoughts, words and actions may have insidious and hidden elements that might tend to torpedo our entire lives. This process is seen in the lives of Judas Iscariot and Peter as noted above. We may sincerely believe that we are on the right path and yet may not be so. The terrorists who attacked the New York World Trade center towers with passenger planes sincerely believed that on completion of their mission they would immediately be admitted to Paradise! Their belief systems and indoctrination of supposedly impeccable ideologies , which were not subjected to thorough scrutiny and reflection , led them to commit acts that could never be accepted by any sane person as worthy of glorification. That is where the importance of watching comes to the fore.
Self-Knowledge: "Know thyself" is the first principle of all knowledge and spirituality both in Indian and Greek Thought. One has to watch oneself to know oneself. To distinguish between the real and the apparent is one of the essential elements in this knowledge. Many of us are under the illusion of knowing ourselves while the reality is quite different. This is the root cause of all tensions and misunderstandings in our lives. To get to the bottom of our real self, we need a lot of unaffected introspection and meditation which are but aspects of the process of watching.
Equally important an aspect of watching is to be free from self-delusion. For, in the very act of introspection or meditation one may be deluded into thinking that one is on the right track of self-knowledge, while in reality it may not be so. That is why we need checks and balances in self-knowledge to discern whether it is genuine or not. How this is to be achieved? Self-knowledge being an internal process we may be tempted to think that only the persons concerned will be able to know whether it is genuine or not and not anyone else. One may argue that it is essentially private and the public has nothing to do with it. The same may be thought of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit or the intention I have in my mind of something or someone. We shall hold the view that in all of these instances what one construes as essentially private and therefore non-communicable is of no value to what is real as against what is apparent. To be more precise, the inner feelings or processes that precede, accompany or thought to constitute self-knowledge, inspiration or intention are irrelevant to the reality of these inner activities. (The next Post shall try to defend this view).
Watch and Pray: The overconfidence of Peter and his co-disciples in their own power of perseverance is well brought out in Matthew 26: 33-35. They were unwilling to take seriously the prediction of Jesus about the failure of their faith in him that very night. Against the vehement protestations of Peter's faith and love for Jesus, a prediction was made by Jesus about his disowning him three times before the cock crew that same night. This incident teaches us a lot about discipleship. All of us are governed by presumption in our lives in the form of "it will never happen to me"! It is always a someone else who is trapped under the wheels of a running train while trying to cross the railway tracks as a short-cut avoiding the lengthy and unpleasant process of using an over-bridge!! "Watch and pray so that you do not enter into temptation (vehement test)" is the over-bridge we refuse to take.
Jesus taught us the need of prayer and keeping watch by his own example at the Garden of Gethsemane (See Matthew, 26: 36-46). He felt the need of communion with the Father at the vehement test experienced at Gethsemane when his own disciples slept in spite of being warned. Although the spirit of the disciples was willing their flesh was weak, according to Jesus himself, and therefore he could understand their predicament. The test that was to be overcome by Jesus, as his hour was approaching , was no ordinary test. It was a test marshaled by the evil forces known as powers of darkness in their full force upon the weakness of flesh. No human being can stand this test unaided by powers from above for which watching and prayer are required. All of us will have this hour at the time of our death for which we should be fortified with the Spirit of God. Throughout our life, we should try to fortify ourselves with the Holy Spirit so that at our vehement test unleashed by the powers of darkness, we should be able to successfully face the test.
It is interesting to note the complete opposite reactions of two disciples to the mystery of Jesus with diametrically opposed results. Judas Iscariot pretends to be a true disciple of Jesus and greets him with a kiss , the real significance of which he had explained to the enemies of Jesus, thereby betraying him ( See Matthew, 26: 48-49). The spontaneous and violent reaction of Peter in cutting off the right ear of Malchus (See John 18:10) having misunderstood the significance of the warning of Jesus at the Last Supper to be ready with swords (See Luke, 22:38), did not deter him from being a true disciple of Jesus. How did this come about? Throughout their lives, Judas was secretive, cunning, greedy, insincere and unfaithful, while Peter though impulsive, presumptuous, seeking rewards and positions was at the same time open, childlike, detached, sincere and faithful. The resultant outcome in the two lives were the natural outflows of these two diverse dispositions.
Again, it is important to reflect on the requirements of watching and praying. What should we watch and how should we pray? It is ourselves that we should watch as it is clear that our nature blossoming forth in our character , which permeates all our thoughts, words and actions may have insidious and hidden elements that might tend to torpedo our entire lives. This process is seen in the lives of Judas Iscariot and Peter as noted above. We may sincerely believe that we are on the right path and yet may not be so. The terrorists who attacked the New York World Trade center towers with passenger planes sincerely believed that on completion of their mission they would immediately be admitted to Paradise! Their belief systems and indoctrination of supposedly impeccable ideologies , which were not subjected to thorough scrutiny and reflection , led them to commit acts that could never be accepted by any sane person as worthy of glorification. That is where the importance of watching comes to the fore.
Self-Knowledge: "Know thyself" is the first principle of all knowledge and spirituality both in Indian and Greek Thought. One has to watch oneself to know oneself. To distinguish between the real and the apparent is one of the essential elements in this knowledge. Many of us are under the illusion of knowing ourselves while the reality is quite different. This is the root cause of all tensions and misunderstandings in our lives. To get to the bottom of our real self, we need a lot of unaffected introspection and meditation which are but aspects of the process of watching.
Equally important an aspect of watching is to be free from self-delusion. For, in the very act of introspection or meditation one may be deluded into thinking that one is on the right track of self-knowledge, while in reality it may not be so. That is why we need checks and balances in self-knowledge to discern whether it is genuine or not. How this is to be achieved? Self-knowledge being an internal process we may be tempted to think that only the persons concerned will be able to know whether it is genuine or not and not anyone else. One may argue that it is essentially private and the public has nothing to do with it. The same may be thought of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit or the intention I have in my mind of something or someone. We shall hold the view that in all of these instances what one construes as essentially private and therefore non-communicable is of no value to what is real as against what is apparent. To be more precise, the inner feelings or processes that precede, accompany or thought to constitute self-knowledge, inspiration or intention are irrelevant to the reality of these inner activities. (The next Post shall try to defend this view).
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