Dr John Mohan Razu
We live in times of fear and uncertainty. World is undergoing enormous challenges and changes. For all the swift transformation coronavirus is the only factor. Everything has changed including visitation to temples, mosques, churches and other holy places of worship. For instance, no one is allowed to go to church for Sunday worships. Gatherings in worship services are strictly forbidden. Easter service throughout the world this time will be communicated with the help of electronic media this time.
Further, this is the first time that the Holy Week will be observed differently. From now on formats are expected to change. Easter Sunday is the culmination of the Holy Week. Palm Sunday is usually being commemorated by the Christians all over the world that marks Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. “Jesus enters into Jerusalem as King” (Matt: 21: 1-12). Those who knew who Jesus was pretended and others who did not know who Jesus was had to listen to the shouting of the crowd: “This is Jesus, the prophet from the Nazareth in Galilee”.
This is the matrix that urges us to make sure our voices are heard. Our pro-active engagement should be to change the world—a better place to live. It coincides with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with the cries of those who wanted to silence him. Those in the crowd who knew him as soon as they saw him shouted as Jesus entered into Jerusalem—“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
The multitudes knew that Jesus was their Savior and shall deliver them from all sorts of domination and humiliation. The reality of the world, the facts and data are twisted and exaggerated; we listen to concocted stories in such ways we are pushed to the extent to believe; usurping power resorting to dubious ways, throttle voices that raises truth; spin facts to defend and to discredit defenseless. Jesus experienced all these and was branded as a criminal.
As the crowed started to shout Hosanna there were some to silence by stifling in their voices. By doing this they thought their hopes would be demolished, dream shattered, joy suppressed and totally be isolated. We are expected to connect the then context and the present one by invoking defiance and resistance. Let us recall the words of Jesus to the Pharisees who wanted to silence His disciplines: “Teacher, rebuke your disciples,” for which Jesus retorted, “I tell you, if they were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Luke 19: 39-40).
It is indeed the most powerful and fully loaded one. Truth shall never be silenced and the words are so powerful should not be allowed to be twisted. Hence, by being silent and allowing fake news and blatant lies to prosper prompts the wicked to prosper and continue to dominate. A powerful metaphor ‘stone’—would cry out, meaning the gravity and enormity of lies and manipulations prevailing in this world, particularly those who are in power should be countered.
Jesus responded to Pharisees that “the very stones would cry out” meaning the truth would come out exposing the lies that said within walls built in stones. He insisted that “Please make that choice before the stones themselves cry out.” It simply means that the youth have no other choice except to speak out and become change agents of the world. If they fail, then the stones would cry out the injustices and oppression that goes on in this world. The biblical context and the present one are the same where lust for power, money and others continues to roost.
Jesus anger was righteous that he expressed at those who turned the Temple into a market place—into a den of robbers. From Palm Sunday thro the Holy Week, Jesus’ words and actions were powerful that amplifies the most astounding meanings that were vitally significant through the centuries culminating to the last junction, the crucifixion that depicts the most powerful and enduring message engulfed with pain and pathos, pain and pathos, hopes and promises.
For centuries we have been observing rituals as part of religious beliefs that exemplifies our faith in the One—the Savior, Sustainer and Liberator. One such gesture was Jesus washing the feet of the disciplines. Truly a genuine act any master could stoop down which Jesus did. Washing the feet of the disciples by Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, Messiah and Redeemer signifies servant hood, humility, service to the last and the least, surrendering and submitting Himself to the one who sent.
On the Cross, Jesus of Nazareth and Christ of the Divine humbled Himself to the lowest levels faced all sorts of humiliation that certainly led to indignation, but Jesus bore them and showed to the world that He was the Messiah of Peace, Love and Righteousness. We keep revisiting The Holy Week conveys a clear message that as followers of Jesus Christ we should be prepared to humble by embracing the servant hood.
Washing the feet of the strangers, sharing the elements at the time of Holy Communion/Eucharist services have become part of Christian “ritual”—probably monthly or yearly affair in which we participate, but increasingly these have become mere exhibits—reduced to mere ritual. These are powerful symbolism that needs to be edified and practiced in our day-to-day Christian life. All the rituals that the Christian calendar prescribes and we follow ought to become part of Christian life in its edification and witness.
Unable to challenge Jesus’ words and works, Pilate without knowing what to do and how to go about with Jesus at last condemned and handed Him over to be crucified so that He would die. Jesus had to face horrendous humiliation and total rejection while on the cross. Cross thus depicts slander, insult and betrayal. It also represents tolerance, temperance, non-violence, forbearance, fortitude, humility, shame, withdrawal and humiliation.
Jesus of Nazareth and Christ of the Divine is a fusion of Humanity and Divinity. Easter means Christ’s victory over death—‘New Beginning’, ‘New Humanity’ and ‘New Covenant’—meaning no human force on this earth shall dictate and impose its will on us because of the fact that we believe in the Messiah became human and lived and gave His life for us to experience total freedom and human dignity. Easter therefore is a radical departure that brought fractured, fragmented and de-humanized humanity and thus elevated humans to the levels of humanization and salvation premised on the proclamation that “… I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10)—Finality.
