The Necessity of Gospel Proclamation (Contd):
True Liberation: The necessity of Gospel Proclamation becomes all the more urgent as it is meant for the true welfare of the people. It is an invitation to complete liberation from all shackles of slavery imposed by various agencies operating in the world. It is a call for true humanity that cannot be achieved without submitting ourselves to the Word of God and His Will. The option before us is either to be a slave of God thereby becoming completely free or to be a slave of the world enslaved for life by the snares prepared by Satan himself. While nature calls for self-preservation of everything by using any and every means at its disposal, the call for self-sacrifice seems to go against the very law of life itself. Here what one has to remember is that life may be defined very narrowly encompassing only the natural world or it may be defined broadly to include the true self of the humans governed also by the supernatural. In the former case, one will be restricted to the concerns of this world that is ephemeral and passing, while the latter touches upon the permanent and eternal without which we cannot find our true self. We must take in the same spirit the words of Jesus to deny our self, i.e., the worldly one for the sake of developing the full human life. "Whoever cares for his own safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake, he will find his true self" (Matthew, 16: 25).
True Humanity: What is the true self of the humans? In what does true humanity consist? This question cannot be answered theoretically as any theory is sustained by one or other ideology that is but the result of a particular world-view. It has to be answered practically by looking into the lives of those who were able to achieve humanity to a high degree and learn from their lives what is implied by true humanity. In this context, we may not be able to find a better specimen than the life of Jesus Christ who identified totally with humanity by his birth, throughout his life and ministry, by his death on the cross and the subsequent glorification by his resurrection from the dead and ascension to the place from where he had come. The importance of Gospel Proclamation placing Jesus Christ at the center is evident from the fact that our own true self depends on him. It is another matter that some of the sections in the Church have misinterpreted the reality of Jesus Christ monopolizing him, while he is the common property of all humanity (See the Posts in our next Section on 'A Christology for the 21st Century).
True Self: The necessity and importance of Gospel Proclamation become all the more evident as it is meant to promote the true self of the humans. It is another question again whether it has actually promoted the true self of the humans always and everywhere. Surely the Church deserves both bouquets and brickbats in its accomplishments of the mission of Gospel Proclamation. In order to correct its past mistakes, the Church has to go back to its origins, especially to Jesus Christ himself, and humbly revise and re-learn its lessons. For, however earnestly we try to be human in its genuine sense, we are trapped by our own limited and selfish notions of humanity besides being engulfed by the snares of the world and Satan. In other words, the reality of genuine humanity is under threat from various quarters of which our own self plays no small part. Thus we need a strong protector and guarantor to keep safe our own humanity without being vandalized by forces beyond our control. It is like the need of a parent for the child to grow without whom the child's growth will be stunted if not altogether destroyed. Here we see the advice of Jesus as most opportune when he asked us to be like children before God. "At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?' He called a child, set him in front of them, and said, 'I tell you this: unless you turn round and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Let a man humble himself till he is like this child, and he will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven' " (Matthew, 18, 1-14). Therefore, to be genuinely human, a grown-up person has to become like a child.
The Kingdom Of God: The Kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God was the theme of the mission of Jesus to establish which he was born into the world. To keep our humanity safe and sound, it has to be subject to the overarching reality of the Kingdom of God. Jesus has shown us this reality more by what he did with his life than what he said about it. There is complete correspondence between what he said about the Kingdom and what he did with his life to establish it. True humanity emerges as a result of being a member of the Kingdom of God that transcends any of its manifestations in this world. The closest realization of the Kingdom of God was achieved in Jesus Christ, a union with whom cannot but produce a completely genuine human being. The most practical and genuine way of being united with Jesus is to follow his command to love another irrespective of caste, creed, religion, etc. "This is my commandment: love one another , as I have loved you" (John, 15: 12). The first requirement is to learn how he loved us for which our own discipleship should show us the way (See the First Section for our Posts on 'Discipleship'). The love of Jesus is completely selfless, without any ulterior motive to enhance his own position or authority nor is it used to manipulate people in order to exploit them. The result is complete joy which Jesus wants to share with those who follow his example of selfless loving. With this kind of capacity to love, we become really human.
True Compassion: Being genuinely compassionate is another mark of true humanity. All the miracles of Jesus were performed out of compassion for the people and never for his own glory or for any show of power. In fact his hidden divinity occasionally burst forth into performing miracles for the sake of the people, although it was necessary to keep his divinity in check in order to truly develop into a human being. Our situation is just the opposite whereby we are called to grow into the divine nature for which our humanity in its base qualities should be kept in check. Occasionally our base human nature bursts forth into committing sins, which is the only contribution we are able to make on our own without the grace of God. Our aim should be to develop the finer features of our humanity suppressing its base character by self-denial so that the divine and the human in us blend into a fine human being.
A Genuine human being: Such a fine human being does not discriminate between fiends and enemies, insiders and outsiders as he or she is open to all without any selfish motive. Such a human being is ever ready to forgive and forget without setting any limit, although that readiness should not be allowed to be taken for condoning injustice, greed and selfishness from those who want to take advantage of goodness! A fine balance and harmony is the hallmark of a genuine human being who is a completely free person and is not bound by anything except the obligation to love everyone. Don't we see that we have in Jesus Christ a perfect model for a genuine and wholesome human being soaked in the spirit of Joy? (See John, 15: 11). Thus we see the point of view of God on Gospel proclamation that is the same as its theology. (Next we shall proceed with our Last Section on 'A Christology for the 21st Century').
True Liberation: The necessity of Gospel Proclamation becomes all the more urgent as it is meant for the true welfare of the people. It is an invitation to complete liberation from all shackles of slavery imposed by various agencies operating in the world. It is a call for true humanity that cannot be achieved without submitting ourselves to the Word of God and His Will. The option before us is either to be a slave of God thereby becoming completely free or to be a slave of the world enslaved for life by the snares prepared by Satan himself. While nature calls for self-preservation of everything by using any and every means at its disposal, the call for self-sacrifice seems to go against the very law of life itself. Here what one has to remember is that life may be defined very narrowly encompassing only the natural world or it may be defined broadly to include the true self of the humans governed also by the supernatural. In the former case, one will be restricted to the concerns of this world that is ephemeral and passing, while the latter touches upon the permanent and eternal without which we cannot find our true self. We must take in the same spirit the words of Jesus to deny our self, i.e., the worldly one for the sake of developing the full human life. "Whoever cares for his own safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost for my sake, he will find his true self" (Matthew, 16: 25).
True Humanity: What is the true self of the humans? In what does true humanity consist? This question cannot be answered theoretically as any theory is sustained by one or other ideology that is but the result of a particular world-view. It has to be answered practically by looking into the lives of those who were able to achieve humanity to a high degree and learn from their lives what is implied by true humanity. In this context, we may not be able to find a better specimen than the life of Jesus Christ who identified totally with humanity by his birth, throughout his life and ministry, by his death on the cross and the subsequent glorification by his resurrection from the dead and ascension to the place from where he had come. The importance of Gospel Proclamation placing Jesus Christ at the center is evident from the fact that our own true self depends on him. It is another matter that some of the sections in the Church have misinterpreted the reality of Jesus Christ monopolizing him, while he is the common property of all humanity (See the Posts in our next Section on 'A Christology for the 21st Century).
True Self: The necessity and importance of Gospel Proclamation become all the more evident as it is meant to promote the true self of the humans. It is another question again whether it has actually promoted the true self of the humans always and everywhere. Surely the Church deserves both bouquets and brickbats in its accomplishments of the mission of Gospel Proclamation. In order to correct its past mistakes, the Church has to go back to its origins, especially to Jesus Christ himself, and humbly revise and re-learn its lessons. For, however earnestly we try to be human in its genuine sense, we are trapped by our own limited and selfish notions of humanity besides being engulfed by the snares of the world and Satan. In other words, the reality of genuine humanity is under threat from various quarters of which our own self plays no small part. Thus we need a strong protector and guarantor to keep safe our own humanity without being vandalized by forces beyond our control. It is like the need of a parent for the child to grow without whom the child's growth will be stunted if not altogether destroyed. Here we see the advice of Jesus as most opportune when he asked us to be like children before God. "At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?' He called a child, set him in front of them, and said, 'I tell you this: unless you turn round and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Let a man humble himself till he is like this child, and he will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven' " (Matthew, 18, 1-14). Therefore, to be genuinely human, a grown-up person has to become like a child.
The Kingdom Of God: The Kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God was the theme of the mission of Jesus to establish which he was born into the world. To keep our humanity safe and sound, it has to be subject to the overarching reality of the Kingdom of God. Jesus has shown us this reality more by what he did with his life than what he said about it. There is complete correspondence between what he said about the Kingdom and what he did with his life to establish it. True humanity emerges as a result of being a member of the Kingdom of God that transcends any of its manifestations in this world. The closest realization of the Kingdom of God was achieved in Jesus Christ, a union with whom cannot but produce a completely genuine human being. The most practical and genuine way of being united with Jesus is to follow his command to love another irrespective of caste, creed, religion, etc. "This is my commandment: love one another , as I have loved you" (John, 15: 12). The first requirement is to learn how he loved us for which our own discipleship should show us the way (See the First Section for our Posts on 'Discipleship'). The love of Jesus is completely selfless, without any ulterior motive to enhance his own position or authority nor is it used to manipulate people in order to exploit them. The result is complete joy which Jesus wants to share with those who follow his example of selfless loving. With this kind of capacity to love, we become really human.
True Compassion: Being genuinely compassionate is another mark of true humanity. All the miracles of Jesus were performed out of compassion for the people and never for his own glory or for any show of power. In fact his hidden divinity occasionally burst forth into performing miracles for the sake of the people, although it was necessary to keep his divinity in check in order to truly develop into a human being. Our situation is just the opposite whereby we are called to grow into the divine nature for which our humanity in its base qualities should be kept in check. Occasionally our base human nature bursts forth into committing sins, which is the only contribution we are able to make on our own without the grace of God. Our aim should be to develop the finer features of our humanity suppressing its base character by self-denial so that the divine and the human in us blend into a fine human being.
A Genuine human being: Such a fine human being does not discriminate between fiends and enemies, insiders and outsiders as he or she is open to all without any selfish motive. Such a human being is ever ready to forgive and forget without setting any limit, although that readiness should not be allowed to be taken for condoning injustice, greed and selfishness from those who want to take advantage of goodness! A fine balance and harmony is the hallmark of a genuine human being who is a completely free person and is not bound by anything except the obligation to love everyone. Don't we see that we have in Jesus Christ a perfect model for a genuine and wholesome human being soaked in the spirit of Joy? (See John, 15: 11). Thus we see the point of view of God on Gospel proclamation that is the same as its theology. (Next we shall proceed with our Last Section on 'A Christology for the 21st Century').
No comments:
Post a Comment