Seven
years ago, while I was working in a village, I used to go for a walk every
morning and evening beside the agricultural fields; it was the season for
sugarcane crop. One fine morning, I saw that sugarcane was ready for harvest
and everyone’s face was filled with happiness; that same day evening I noticed
a huge fire in the sugarcane field. When I went near to that place, I saw the
entire field was scorched and became black. I was so sad and annoyed
about the fire in the field, but later I came to know that it was the usual
process after harvesting sugarcane. Five days later, when I was walking beside
that field, I saw one green sprout, a sapling, coming out from the scorched field.
This gave me a sense of joy and happiness. I realized that the sprout
symbolizes the hope which appears amidst pain, agony and gloomy situations.
For
the last two months, we have been witnessing and hearing about many issues such
as wars at Gaza, Iraq, Syria, communal violence and sexual violence in the
state and the nation. We could notice how innocent people became the victims of
war, violence and abuse. At the same time, the perpetrators are justified by
some ideologies. Wars are justified in the name of national security, which is
also based upon the ideology of survival of life, not fullness of life for all.
Similarly, the global market regime has penetrated every corner of the world
causing injustice, impoverishment of people and destruction of life on earth.
These realities disturb the peace of the common people. Because of such
situations the innocent victims lose their hope; everything seems dark and
gloomy for them.
In
such a time as this, how do we respond to these catastrophes as Christian
ministers? We tend to limit our response to just prayers. We are reluctant to
confront these issues in reality and act to bring hope and peace in the lives
of the innocent victims. The question here is, why as Christians, should we
confront these issues? The answer can be found in the Bible, our Holy
Scripture. All through the Bible, the promise of hope and peace is reflected in
various forms and is expected to be carried forward to the people, especially
to those who lost their hope in life.
The
read pericope, John 14:27-31, is considered as one of the units of the final
discourse of Jesus (Jn.14-16). Jesus explains about his relationship with God
and his disciples in V.28, gives the caution of the ruler of this world in V.30,
and tells about the disciples’ future which will help them to stand firm in
their call and commitment. Here, Jesus not only talks about the strife and
adversity, but also speaks, with confidence and knowledge, about the events of
the future. Jesus promises to his disciples, the gift of peace, that he
experienced in his life which was filled with rejection, humiliation and
opposition. The gift of peace is also extended to us through the reconciliation
act, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and thus drawing us near to God
who is our peace (Jud.6:24). As Christians we are experiencing the reconciling
act of God through Christ which gives peace and hope in our life. We are called
and ought to be committed to build hope in the lives of innocent victims who
are longing for peace in their struggles. We have the responsibility to share
the blessings that we received from God.
In
the following two points I wish to appropriate this to our contemporary
situation:
Gift of Peace: A call for
Building Peace in the World
The
concept of peace is complex and difficult to define; scholars opine “when we
search for peace we may not find it but only get a sense of peace”. So,
building peace in the world is not a result oriented one, which will stop at a
time of achieving it, but it is a continuous process; it needs lot of courage
and strength. In Jn. 14:27, Jesus’ leaving peace and giving his peace to the
disciples has a significant meaning in the process of building peace in this
world. The next sentence is the climax of these two promises; that the peace
which he offers is not like the peace this world offers. The worldly
understanding of peace can be the absence of war or hostilities, but the peace
which Jesus speaks about has nothing to do with such, but he promises his ever
abiding presence with them even in the midst of their troubled heart and points
them toward the life that they will lead after his hour. Jesus’ understanding
of peace is based on the Hebrew word ‘shalom’
which means wholeness, completeness, health, security, sense of wellbeing, even
blessing in the best sense which we see in the climax of the Aaronic
Benediction in Num. 6:26. Shalom also
includes everything given by God in all areas of life. The gift of peace also rests at the center of Israel’s eschatological
hope which is mentioned in the prophetic books (Isa.9:6-7; 52:7; 57:19;
Eze.37:26) and is now available in Jesus.
In the New Testament, the word εἰρήνη connotes wholeness and the sense of well-being, the source and
giver of which is YHWH alone. But the basic meaning slightly differs from
‘Shalom’ especially through restoring relationships between God and humans and among humans,
individually and corporately. The stressing of John’s Gospel on Christ’s gift
of peace to his disciples and Christ’s missionary discourse, makes the point
that his commissioned followers have to pass this gift of peace to others.
In this process one might have
to face many difficulties, because of the prevalence of oppressive regimes that
possess power and authority, both in church and in society which use varied
strategies to silence the peacemakers by the acts of annihilation and some
subtle methods. Being ministers in church and society, we are prone to this,
sometimes we are expected or required to keep silent while the unjust acts shatter
the peace of the marginalized and the innocent victims. In the words of the
Brazilian Archbishop Dom Helder Camera – “when I feed the hungry, they call me a saint. When I ask why they
are poor, they call me a Communist.”
Bishop Duleep De Chickera,
former Bishop of the Diocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka, says that historically
oppressive regimes give birth to peacemakers who are faithful to their task.
Jesus is the ideal example for this statement; Jesus, the messiah, was the hope,
who was expected as a prince of peace in the time of exilic and post exilic
period, when the oppressive regimes ruled over Israel and Judah as mentioned in
the prophetic books. He lived in the time of Roman imperialism which also was
an oppressive regime. Jesus came as a messiah, bringing peace to the humanity,
especially to the oppressed, the suffering and the marginalized. He stood
against the oppressive regime which exploited the poor and the needy.
We are also living in a different
kind of imperialism and oppressive regime, called globalization, which pushes
more people to the margins. There are innocent victims of war
and disaster, hunger and poverty, political oppression and injustice, social
violence and suppression, cultural desertification, communal riots in the name
of religion and caste and the abuse of women and children. The charity the church does
among the suffering and the innocent victims may not be enough. This
situation challenges us to become peacemakers, to stand against the unjust
dominant structures of the society and to bring about lasting peace. With the promise of Christ, we
must find ways to achieve true peace, over against the global hegemonic
military order and other sorts of violence in the society. When we start to
work for building peace in the society, it automatically brings hope to the
world. This is our divine responsibility which requires self-denial, towards
servant leadership, in order to bring peace, justice and hope to the society.
Global Stewardship: A Counter
Task to the Oppressive Regime
In
Jn.14:31d, Jesus says to the disciples “Rise,
let us be on our way.” This phrase is one of the most controversial among
the fourth gospel scholarship because of the continuation of farewell discourse
that continues till 17th chapter. Scholars opine that 14:31 was the
original conclusion to the discourse and chapters 15-17 are later additions.
Hoskyns and Dodd also see in the words a pause in the discourse rather than a
change of scene. But the author of John’s Gospel has his own standards and he
arranges his work to produce effects in his own way.
However,
departing is a marking stage in the teaching; Jesus invites his disciples to
arise and act along with Him. Jesus is the ideal model for global stewardship
and he was faithful in his calling, so he fulfills the task which is given by
God. He traversed the structural boundaries whenever it was required and did
not limit himself. And we are also expected to get ourselves out of our comfort
zones and move to the places where people need voices for their basic rights in
this world, as Jesus did in his days of ministry.
The
prevailing oppressive system is the root cause for all the injustice and unjust
wars in this world. The counter task to the oppressive regime is global
stewardship. The community of dignity and justice requires a voluntary
abandonment of power and privilege, towards servant leadership from within the
people. Self-denial is one of the basic qualifications for serving the
humanity, especially in peace making. One not only has to deny him/herself, but
he/she has to bear the cross.
In
the process of peace building, Jesus is our role model; he never was convinced
of or confirmed himself with the unjust social and religious structures of his
time. As Disciples of Christ we have to stand as non-conformists who, at any
cost, do not compromise ourselves in the process of peace building. In John 20:19-23, we see the risen Jesus appearing
to the disciples who were afraid of the consequences of being the disciples of
Jesus. So they tried to find peace and protection within a locked room. But
Jesus tells them "Peace be with you." Then he says to them, "As
the father has sent me, even so I send you." That means peace is not something
that we experience within a locked room, keeping away from the violent world; rather
peace is that which happens in our journey into the violent world, risking our
life.
If
we confirm ourselves within our rigid boundaries we cannot reach the margins
where the peace of God is very much needed. The assurance of peace given by
Jesus is not meant for enjoying the peace within ourselves or within our
community. It should be carried beyond our own comfort zones. In the present
scenario of the world, once again we are reminded to move out of our comfort
zones, to the places where people need our voices, the good news of new hope
and peace. When we work towards building peace in chaotic situations and in the
lives of the victims, and witness their wellbeing, we can also realize and experience
the gift of peace in our life, which was assured by our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
May
the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen us and give us courage to be non-
conformists in the process of peace building, to sprout up peace in the
scorched gloomy lives of innocent victims.
C.
P. Caroline
BD
IV
