Monday, December 21, 2020

Christmas! He did! Why not me!?



 He did then!!  Why not me, now?

I do enjoy watching Judge Caprio Francesco in the court rooms of Rhode Island, USA.  He is 84 and his way of delivering Justice is far different from that of the usual court rooms where Justice is impartial, objective and blind folded!

Francesco not only looks at the violations but compassionately understands the life and situation of the individual (in common language), the accused!  He treats every person as a human and not as a case to be judged!  He looks at persons with hope not just past incidents alone!

In Francesco, a judge became human!

Farmers from Punjab and other states are in Delhi capital demanding the withdrawal of laws against the peasants of the country.   Police lathi-charged and tear-gased them.    Many wounded were profusely bleeding.  But that very day, these very farmers were serving food to the policemen who had wounded them, saying, "after all, they are our children and the government unfortunately had put them against us!"

Farmers are very humane!

Sister Rani Maria was stabbed to death in Nachambore hills, M.P. by one Samandar Singh. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment.  Her nun sister Salomi and her mother visited Singh in the jail and kissed his hand and forgave him.  Later they personally went to the governor of the sate pleading his release.

Sr. Salomi and her mother from their sisterhood and motherhood moved forward to become human to Samandar singh through their forgiveness.

God also became Human.

Christmas was the beginning of God becoming human! 

If there was a will of God being enacted in the biological birth of Jesus, then that itself is telling!  For instance, His choice of a family to be born was poor!  His choice of a spot where he should be born was a manger! His choice of a race in which he should be born was one, that was going through a twofold suppression; the Jewish leadership and the Roman hegemony!  I thank God for being partial, partial to the poor!! That is why Mary said, "He exalts the humble and brings down the mighty"

If they were all attributed to the  will of God, I say, "Thank you God!".  But I am more interested in and admire of the grownup Jesus!

He saved a woman in the temple premises from being stoned!  He entered into the "shell" of Zachaeus and made him socially acceptable!  He openly admired the poor widow who dropped her two coins! He eulogised the repenting tax collector in the prayer hall!  He healed the sick not minding whether it is Sabbath or not!   He felt closeness with the poor, He sided with the oppressed, His philosophy is pro poor!  He attempted to destabilize the established religion that promoted guilt and distanced God!

It is easy and comfortable to celebrated the Jesus of Bethlehem!

But the grown up Jesus was comforting, compassionate, controversial, rebellious and a challenging one!  We need to admire, understand and imbibe him!

Both the biological birth of Jesus and the evolving of Jesus the Christ have now become history. It is because of the latter the farmer becomes important.  The Latter is the paradigm.  The farmer is an event.

The paradigm involves you and me. It has a compelling invitation.  It is not a dead past!  The paradigm is alive and related to the present!

That is how many say, "Jesus is alive"!  But you can easily put an end to him if you stop with the crib and the carols, mass and churches, food and celebration!

Move, to become a human!

I am a woman, I am rich, I am a politician, I am a communist, I am a teacher, I am a priest, I am a religious! I am a policeman! I am aggressive! I am God!

Get moving from where you are! Become human!

Teresa was a nun!  When she walked around the streets of Kolkotta, she encountered the sick and the dying, she became human!

There was a priest, Levite and a Samaritan!  They all walked on the same lane!  All the three saw a wounded man on the way!  Two continued to be a priest and a sacristan!  The Samaritan became human!

When Dr Kalam met with crippled persons he was moved and was disturbed. As a result, from defence laboratories, weightless callipers were made.  The nose cone of Agni missile was made of  glass filled with polypropylene.  At the initiative of Dr. Kalam the weight of a Calliper was reduced from 4 kg to 300 grams. He sees this as one of the greatest achievements.  A scientist who worked for defence materials became human!

The basic call of every person is to become human!

Police, Lawyer, Scientist, Priest, Teacher, Sweeper, gods and goddesses  are all functional and temporal!  For societal existence and continuance they are important and necessary.  

Imagine; you are a nun and inhuman!  What is the use?  Police and inhuman, hit and kill people!  Officer and inhuman; bribe and loot!

Fr. George Zebelka was a chaplain in the 509th composite group, the atomic bomb group in USA during the II world war.  He was the one who blessed both the aircrafts that carried the atom bombs that erased huge number of human lives in a few seconds! Of course, later he got converted to the side of non violence.

Your profession is incidental!  Excellence in profession is development!  But excellence minus humanness is barbarism!  You see it in business today, politics today, medicine today, governance today, religion today!

Incarnation is all about becoming human!  God did it in Jesus!  and Jesus accomplished it!!  God did it in you and me too!  will I accomplish it?  

Happy Christmas!  Also for all those who want to celebrate it on 25th December as well

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