Something about Mary (Luke 1:26-38)

My tryst with UTC started in 1997 as a student and I have pleasant memories of my time here. I had never heard of UTC till the time I sent my application for BD. Everything was a new experience for me and every word a new learning. The moulding process was unique but effective and truly made me a different person all together. It also made sure that I would carry a tag all my life. I would be called “Made in UTC.”

I never knew what this meant until the point when I had students and a congregation of my own. The learning, teaching and pastoring experience in Kerala was always very fulfilling. But it was only at the end of my time in the regional seminary and in my former church that I knew that the tag “UTC” had a variety of meanings. It was at the same time confusing and appalling to be told by parish members and seminary students the same thing time and again. “We thought you would never pray and do ministry because you are from UTC. We are glad that we were proven wrong.” The elation of having been praised was also a pain of having been misunderstood with others stepping out of UTC. Whoever said UTC-ians don’t pray, have no ministerial interest and are not sincere. My church fortunately made an about turn with the notion on UTC and to a great extend now sees the college as a place which offers the freedom to think differently but pray fervently.

Ecumenism has not died dear friends. The accusation that we are praying to other Gods is all unsubstantiated humbug. Today’s worship is an effort to say that ecumenism still lives and we need it more than ever before. Misunderstanding of cultures, beliefs and systems are not inter religious problems but inter denominational, ecumenical problems. We need to sort out issues between ourselves inside the church before commenting on other aspects of religion and society.

So what is a Syrian orthodox priest doing in UTC? Can the CSI and CNI come to a common understanding with the Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist and Presbyterian churches? Is there something more than Jesus that we can look up to for a common ground? This Sunday, these are some questions we can try and answer.

Luke 1:26-38 explains the announcement of angel Gabriel to Mary that she is going to give birth to Jesus. Mary is quite astounded and taken aback by the announcement but Gabriel reassures her. The enactment takes a different look at the passage and shows how Mary fears domestication as that which cannot fulfill what Gabriel announces to her. Mary’s status of a virgin is also her curse and she tries to make sense of what is happening.

Something about Mary is an effort to make sense of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary and how she responds to it. It is also an effort to see how Mother Mary offers a chance for unity between churches which can in turn keep the ecumenical flame burning.

Some of the traditional ways of looking at the passage is to point out the obedience of Mary, her virginity and thereby holiness and her special place in the church. While the churches belonging to the Orthodox and Catholic families have given St. Mary the status of ‘Theotokos’, the mother of God, others have questioned her virginity and her status as mother of God and also her status as someone who has to be venerated.

Our present struggles involve looking at other religions and our acceptance of them. My concern is to look within Christianity and identify common grounding through inspired reading of the bible. Why is it that when a seemingly popular preacher preaches it is marketed as the divine tongue and when a UTCian preaches it is blamed as ‘imaginative nonsense?’ Our readings are inspired and lead by the Holy Spirit and one should not doubt that.

The read passage offers us hope that there is something about Mary that could bring us together. It’s not just the procession or the chanting but the inspiration of Mary’s self that offers us life in its fullness.

1. Jo dhar ghaya samjo mar gaya- This is a dialogue in the iconic Hindi movie “Sholay” in which Amjad Khan playing Gabbar Singh delivers the eternally famous dialogue to his accomplices after shooting three of them. It just means that those who get scared or have fear in them will die then and there. Mary is scared of all that could happen by this visit of Gabriel. She is perplexed. One cannot blame her. She must have thought of the stories of spirits visiting people and what came about from these visits. She must have also thought of what was this character Gabriel hanging around for and trying to do by calling her the ‘favoured one’?

What was indeed going to happen? Was her freedom going to end? Would she be cornered into submission? The relationship between churches also borders around fear. Will I become less holy or pure if I mingle with other churches, will my people flock to other churches if I appear cozy with them, are others and their practises non-Christian and non-spiritual? Fear plays an important spoiler in ecumenical relations. Mary was also bordering around fear. The fear of losing familiar ground must have weighed heavily on her mind. Gabriel was telling things strange and unheard of. Would Mary be a victim to non-religious things? Mary being a Jew was doing something sacrilegious. She did what no other person would have the courage to do. She was becoming anti-religious from within the religion she stood in and anti-societal inside the society she was part of. She was scared but she overcame fear.

Mary’s reaction which was similar to “Jo dhar gaya, samjo mar gaya” not only defeats death for her but ensures life and salvation for all people as well. Mother Mary then becomes the symbolism of life by overcoming fear and death. She becomes the bearer of the son of God not by submission but by overcoming fear. This is a good model to follow for ecumenism as well. We don’t just submit to each other but we overcome the fear of one another and favour life through the birth of Christ in each of us.

  

2. Aathi kya Khandala? Virginity is not conformity.

Luke 1: 26-38 is misunderstood in several respects and Mother Mary is made out into a subservient, submissive, conformist by many. Elizabeth Johnson in her book “Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints” makes the observation that several women writers have said that Mary has let down women by being a conformist and allowing Christian writers to make her the correct woman figure over and against Eve, because Mary reflects obedience over Eve’s disobedience. But this is far from the truth. Mary, as pointed out in the skit is not submissive but instead tries to prevent Gabriel from having his say. The biblical writer must have written it in a way to suggest that Mary is showcasing and questioning domestication and using virginity as an anti thesis to submission. It is not submission but questioning. It is not the oppression of women but the expression of women.

The 1998 Hindi movie “Ghulam” starring Aamir Khan and Rani Mukherjee was a runaway hit and had a very popular song “Aathi kya Khandala”. Khandala is a hill station and a place which is popular among the youth. The song has a young man telling the girl that they will go to Khandala and have fun.

Aey, Kya Bolti Tu

Aey, Kya Mein Bolun

Sun, Suna,

Aati Kya Khandala

Kya,Karoon, Aake Mein Khandala,

Arey Ghoomenge Phirenge Nachenge Gaaenge

Aish Karenge Aur Kya

Aey, Kya Bolti Tu

Aey, Kya Mein Bolun

But just because a girl goes there does not mean that she is morally worse than the boy who accompanied her. This pick up line “Aathi kya Khandala” was used and is still used by eve teasers and molestors on the road. An sms which went around much after the release of the movie was about a girl who had covered her face while entering the bus. An elderly man asks her “Aathi kya Khandala?” She replies “Papa, ye mein hoo” meaning father this is me your daughter.

Angel Gabriel is of course not asking Mary to go to Khandala with him. But Mary must have been petrified of having someone like him next to her, suggesting she is going to give birth to a child. Her reply that she is a virgin or that she is domesticated should be seen in two ways. One is to suggest that the angel should leave her alone and that she has nothing to do with men but is rather independent. Two is to suggest that how can a domesticated woman like her give birth to the son of the most high when she is domesticated by a patriarchal, male centric society? How can such good come out of her when she is part of the corrupt structure?

The church sees both in bits and pieces- Mary’s independence more than her virginity was at one point of time looked at as independence from the system. So the church identified with such independence. Many women leaning academics call Mary as a domesticated saint. This means that she has been accepted, elevated and used by a patriarchal church leadership and this essentially means that she is of no use to women. But on the other hand Mary is also questioning domestication and the skewed connotation of virginity. Mary refuses to get into the patriarchal “Aathi kya Khandala” enquiry and instead deals with the angel, writer and the church on her own terms. Joseph’s role even though small is very significant. He acts as the perfect decoy in the story, making people look at him and in the process Mary gets her space and freedom.

Non-Catholic and non- Orthodox churches need not write off Mother Mary as a domesticated saint. The church may have domesticated Mary to an extend but Mary has not allowed herself to be domesticated. Taking Mariology seriously can bring churches closer to tackle the problems posed by patriarchy and kierarchy, which is power centred. Having various church festivals in an ecumenical setting helps us to realize that we are not domesticated virgins but rather children of God, inspired by the life of saints like Mother Mary.

In my church the eight day lent from Sep 1-8 is commemorated to celebrate the nativity of St. Mary. But this is not an official church lent. Yet hundreds of thousands of people, especially women observe this lent and identify with Mother Mary and intercede to her. They talk, cry, spent time with and completely immerse themselves with Mother Mary. This is not church induced but people induced. Understanding such traditions and observances gives a much needed fillip and energy for sagging ecumenical relations between churches.

3. Mere Paas Maa hai- The MOM mission

 The assurance of angel Gabriel to Mary is that she will be filled with the Holy Spirit and bear a child who will be holy. It also suggests that the child bearer will be holy. In the 1975 Hindi movie Deewar, the character Vijay played by Amitabh Bachan tell his brother Ravi played by Shashi Kapoor, “Aaj mere paas paisa hai, bangla hai, gaadi hai, naukar hai, bank balance hai. Aur tumhare paas kya hai?” His brother replies “Mere paas Maa hai.” To the statement that one brother has money, a house, a car, a domestic help and a bank balance the other says that he has his mother with him!

The importance of a mother is well said and it reflects popular culture as well. The church believes that Mother Mary has the freedom and the proximity to intercede to her son Jesus. This is the special freedom of a mother. Ecumenical relations between churches are partly suffering because of an Americanised, homogenized, media style spirituality which leaves no space for the expression of local culture in our prayer and relationship with God. The neglect of the East and its spirituality is a cause of concern and a thorn in the flesh of ecumenical understanding between churches.

A New York Times cartoon reflects this refusal to accept India’s growth. The Mangalyan Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has been hailed as a success for a country like India. It has been cost effective and speedy and has used local elements in its research and design. Yet the cartoon shows a person with a cow knocking at the door of the Elite Space Club. It also reflects this coat and tie spirituality from the U.S. exported and marketed by a section of people there. This uni-directional, anti-culture spirituality which is against local culture and traditions pose a grave danger to Christian traditions in India and their relationship with each other.

The Mary Orbiter Mission can give us the opportunity to taste success in relationships between churches. This is a mutually respecting, learning and growing experience which has to be encouraged more in our context. To sum up, we must overcome fear, be non-conformists to wrong approaches and try to widen our belief system so that our prayers and spirituality become more effective. UTC becomes an apt space for us. It is a place to love, embrace and learn from each other. It is a vibrant ground of acceptance and respect. May God through the intercession of Mother Mary give us the opportunity to be good and better followers of Christ. Amen.

Jerry Kurian

Faculty, Department of Communication

Kuknalim: “…. the other Side of our Silence” (Rom 12:9-13.16-18)

Kuknalim denotes the aspiration and the struggle of the Naga people to live under one territorial homeland that is the greater lim (land). It also means victory and glory to our land. Kuknalim emerged in the usage of the early Naga nationalist movement when the people said goodbye before leaving the Naga in-habitat area to China and East Pakistan for training and for arms and ammunition to fight against the Indian army. As a remembrance for those who died in the jungles of Burma and on the way back from China and East Pakistan and whose grave still lies only in the unmarked grave in the jungles the word Kuknalim was coined to honour and to say to them that we have not yet forgotten your sacrifices.

Having experienced the aspiration of the Naga people to live under one territorial land and the struggle that we encounter to be accepted within the mainstream and spirit of the Pan-India-ness, I invite you to voyage towards a relationship of love, honour and acceptance without hypocrisy. The text Romans 12:9-13 and 16-18 calls for accepting one another based on the love of a neighbour and love as a norm for social relationship.

Let Love be without Hypocrisy

The word agape in this text transcends beyond the accepted notion of the Divine love of God towards the new understanding of establishing human relationship and love. Paul’s message to the Romans posited the call for extending the love of family to the members of the society. The organic imagery of the inter-relatedness of the body requires to be supplemented by the emotional bond of family affection, the feelings of deep affection for another and others. Showing respect to one another in love underlines the sense of honour and respect not in terms of status and intrinsic quality but in terms of membership of the same body.

Paul’s message for love without hypocrisy reinforces the notion that love should provide structure for the Christians to relate with fellow human beings in the community on the path to build trust in the day today life and endeavour a lifestyle of accepting human relationship in each other’s lives. The absolute primacy of genuine love is that love must not be disguised for ulterior motives rather true love should be free from all pretense and hypocrisy. To love genuinely is to accept and regard others with honour. Anything that is not love and resembles evil is the enemy in the human relationship as it prevents the establishment of genuine relationship and hampers individuals to accept fellow human beings. To honour the other fellow person is one way of holding in check the innate human tendency to honour oneself unduly. Affectionate relationship would outdo one another in showing honour to each other.

Guts to Be In Comradeship

In the passage, Paul called out the Romans to live in agreement and harmony, in accordance with acceptance and honour. The attempt to live in a whole-hearted relationship is a lifestyle rather than a grudging or calculating act. The caution of not being wise in one’s own self-estimate prevents the possibility of a corporate act of superiority complex over other person’s culture and identity. The courage to live in a comradeship relationship calls for the need to be sensitive to the view and ways of life of the other people.

The task of the individuals as the community of human race is to embody love and grace to the other people, where the treatment and care for the other and enemies is intended to turn them from enmity to friendship. This calls for an endeavour to live in a society with different values and goals without any corruption of thoughts and action. If there arises corruption and evil in the society it does not mean that everything within it -its values and actions- are totally evil and without good. Rather the problem lies with the people’s inability to discern the ideals of grace, love and evil. Pride sows the seed of discord. The tendency to regard oneself as worthy of preferential treatment is universal in scope. The entire range of personal conflict, which reaches all the way from the minor squabbles to international wars, is based on the misguided notion that we are better than they are or that they have done something against our interest.

The effort to arrive at mutual understanding of living in harmony admits oneself to a humble situation of life not aspiring to be imminent but open towards humble situations. Humility detests the ambition to be autocrats and a high superiority complex rather it calls for an association with the humble and nameless section of people in the society. The natural impulse is to return injury for an injury. Paul’s message for the Romans was that for those who declare acceptance to the grace and love of God it becomes imperative for them to repay good for evil and right what is wrong. Instead of allowing evil to get the better of the situation, it was imperative to hold onto something that is good and humble, as friendship becomes a better antidote for hatred and enmity.

“… the other Side of our Silence”

There arises no notion of love lost between the ‘India’ and the Naga people even though it has been almost 67 years that no solution has been concluded even though Nagaland was added to the statehood of Indian Union on 1^st December 1961. By the year 1929, the Nagas through a memorandum to the Simeon Commission expressed their desire of continual path of self-determination to the British Crown as separate identity and nation state, distinct from India. As such, the Naga National Council declared independence on 14^th August 1947 and this was reaffirmed again by the Naga national voluntary Plebiscite in May 1951, where 99.9% of Naga people voted to remain a sovereign independent country as in ancient time. Rejection by the Naga national leaders to accept and assimilate into the free independent India was considered as revolt and dissent by the newly formed Indian union. Military intervention was sanctioned to ‘neutralise’ the Nagas’ aspiration for self-determination. Violence and bloodshed emerged from the Indo-Naga imbroglio as armed conflict was considered the resort by both the sides to achieve its ends. Casualties were inflicted on both sides where hundreds and thousands of lives were lost and shattered.

Today Nagas and people from the North Eastern region are often ascribed as part of Chinese people or other Mongolian nations in South East Asia. An ascription that clearly declares ‘you are not an Indian and you are not welcome here’. The very existence of the AFSPA (passed in the Indian Parliament to be implemented in Naga Hills) in the Naga inhabit at areas (parts of the North Eastern States and Kashmir) betrays the very notion of the fundamental right to life and freedom that is sanctioned in the Indian constitution. The government at Delhi follows the path of planting discord within the Naga families and tribes as a strategic tool and weapon to sever the spirit and aspiration of the Nagas to live under one territorial homeland.

The government at Delhi quotes the presence of infighting among the Nagas as hurdle for bringing out a solution to the Indo-Naga imbroglio. However, without negating the presence of schism within the Naga family the question that is being raised today is can the government at Delhi have the sincerity to solve the issue of the Indo-Naga imbroglio. For instance the stand of Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, to the President of NNC A. Z. Phizo on 11^th March 1952 “that whether heaven falls, or India goes to pieces and blood runs red all over the country” there would be no discussion on the Naga issue does not help the cause for a dialogue of sorting things for a solution. Rather the declaration of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then prime minister of India, in 1997 that “Naga history is unique” and in whose government the ceasefire agreement was signed with the Naga nationalist forces, that cease the firing till dawn, could provide impetus for finding an honourable and acceptable solution.

Paul’s message to the Romans was to let love exist without hypocrisy so that one could achieve esteem from the concord of the community as a warning against false esteem. When love and acceptance is sincere, genuine relationship would be established without any hypocrisy, biased feelings, and attitude. The epitaph on the World War II cemetery in Kohima, Nagaland reads “when you go home tell them of us and say that for your tomorrow we gave our today”. However, today I affirm to tell the message of the words that are found on the epitaph of a woman, a victim of the AFSPA, that reads, “go and tell the world what you have heard from the other side of silence”. Somewhere down the line in various parts of India and the world, you might come across the issue of conflict and violence happening in the valleys and hills of Nagalim, at such time re-member us to tell the world of our struggles and the aspiration to live as Nagas. Not a blind supporter to our struggles of everyday life that we encounter under the peril of an automatic rifle but as citizens of the free world, fellow human beings and for the love of freedom tell for us to the world that freedom is not free until everyone is endowed with the right to life and liberty to reside freely.

The Naga call for acceptance into the ‘mainstream’ Indian union maintains the stand that acceptance should be based on genuine respect and honour to an extent that there exists no place for hierarchy and no place of one being the source of provision for the other. Nagas want to be accepted just the way we are and who we are: nothing more and nothing less than a mere member of the human community. Acceptance to the mainstream Indian union should not be based on the notion that it is the Nagas who benefit from such conglomeration. Rather it should be based on the stand that accepting each other is beneficial for both the Indian union and for the Nagas as they could gain more in harmony rather than being antagonistic to each other.

            KUKNALIM!

 

CHENIJAN PATTON 
BD IV

“GOD’S OWN COUNTRY (KINGDOM)”: A CON/INTER-TEXTUAL READING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD FROM KERALA (ROMANS.14:17-19)

Good Morning.
Greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, who became the Maha-bali (great sacrifice) for our sake! As Indians we are proud of our unity in diversity. The rich cultural heritages in India are widely celebrated and each culture has its own uniqueness. Every culture brings before us new Texts to read and thus opens the possibility of polyvalent layers of meaning. Engaging with those cultural traditions would give us new terrains of liberative and transformative ideals for our theological understanding and articulations. As an ecumenical community, here at UTC, such intercultural interactions, engagement and celebrations would help us to create not a cacophony but a symphony of cultures. If so, Onam, the national and cultural festival of Kerala is indeed a part of such a symphony of intercultural celebrations and a new landscape for theological articulations.
Today I would like to reflect on God’s own country (kingdom): A contextual reading of the Kingdom of God.


The phrase God’s Own Country, is used to refer to several places such as Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Kerala. In recent years the phrase has been adopted as a slogan by the tourism department of the Kerala state government.


According to Hindu mythology, Kerala was created by Lord Parasurama, an avatara of Lord Vishnu by throwing his axe across the sea to create new land for his devotees to live peacefully. So, Kerala is God's own creation, hence it is called God's own country. With a mixture of varied ethnic communities and their sub-divisions living in harmony and peace in a predominantly agrarian set up, decorated with its panoramic and capacious greeneries, beautiful hills of high elevation and its intense network of rivers and lagoons, thick forests, exotic wildlife and backwaters, it was indeed a replica of God’s own kingdom. This is the portrayal we get from the poets, at least in the ideal portrayals of the folk songs and traditions. These traditions and folk songs are our texts to interrogate with, in recalling the ideal past and proleptic envisioning of the ideal future.

The term 'kingdom of God' signifies the rule of God, not as a general and abstract idea, but as a concrete idea rooted in the political social, economic and environmental dimensions of the human society.The kingdom of God is a term loaded with Jewish and Hellenistic ideas. The question arises, how to interpret the kingdom of God as taught by Jesus in a different context? Could there be also analogous ideals, which could be relevantly used to express Jesus' teaching of the kingdom of God? The Onam tradition from Kerala is such an analogous idea. Here we are using two texts side by side to see the vision of the kingdom of God or God’s own country: the folk tradition of Onam and the Biblical texts about the kingdom of God. Hence I title my reflection as God’s own country (kingdom): An Inter/contextual reading of the kingdom of God.

 

1. Text as Reflection of the community: Retrieval of Tradition

Any con/inter-textual reading presupposes the availability of text. In the literary criticism the text has often been seen as a Window to and Mirror of the Community. Stretching this for our purpose, the Biblical texts and the cultural traditions reflect a community for and by whom these texts were produced. The text that we have heard read to us from Romans reflects the Sitz-im-Leben of the community dynamics. Throughout Romans, Paul’s appeal is to have the mutual acceptance between Jewish Christians and gentiles. In Romans 14:1-15:1 Paul is dealing with the particular problem of food laws and holy days. Paul is redefining the people of God in the context of cultural deviances and conflict between Jews and gentiles. For Jews the boundary markers were the dietary rules and festivals.

When the Jewish Christians of Roman congregation who had been expelled in 49 were returning in ones and twos to pick up the threads of their old life, the temptation was for the majority gentile Christians to act in condescending/patronizing fashion to them. The term παραλαμβανομαι means to accept or receive into one’s society, home or circle of acquaintance. What is in view is the everyday recognition and practice of brotherhood not an official act of reception. The overarching concern of Paul here is that a church should be able to sustain a diversity of opinion and lifestyle as an integral aspect of its common life. God’s kingdom is therefore beyond any human imagination or cultural limitation. As Marcus J Borg says of the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom too is a boundary shattering experience. Paul is encouraging the community to think beyond such boundary markers.


Secondly the text of the Onam tradition and its folk songs also reflect a community and its aspirations. Onam is the national festival of Kerala, a harvest festival that falls during the Malayalam month of Chingam usually in August or September. For Keralites, Onam is the celebration of the return of their mythical King Mahabali. This legendary king known by the name Mahabali was very wise and greatly loved by the people. According to the mythology, he was the son of Virocana, son of Prahlada, son of Hiranyakasyapa. Onam is reminiscent of Kerala's agrarian past.


There are two main versions about the legendary king Bali.


According to the Orthodox Brahmanical version, Mahabali was a wicked demon (asura) king who was yet good enough to become a yogi by virtue of his tapas. He controlled earth and heaven; the gods felt threatened by Bali. So they sent Vishnu to get rid of this danger. Vishnu assumed the form of a holy beggar, the dwarf Vamana, and asked for a gift of as much land as he could cover in three steps. Mahabali was benevolent to give the request. Vamana grows into cosmic size and in three strides encompassed the whole earth and heaven and Bali was forced to retire to the only space left, the Pathalam (in accordance with a tripartite structure of cosmos, similar to Biblical cosmology).

This has been in a sense a colonized version of a folk/popular story, brahminised and religiously legitimized. It shows an interpolation in the folk tradition by the colonizing elite Brahminical hegemony. Thus the aspiration of the people for such ideal rules were demonized, and such people were dethroned, which was religiously legitimized.


In the Kerala version/popular version, Mahabali was a benevolent ruler who aroused the jealousy and envy of gods. He gave up his kingdom not just because he was the victim of a trick but because he was too generous not to refuse a request and too honorable not to fulfill a promise. It was a symbol of standing for integrity and honesty in words and deeds. He asked Vamana to place the third stride on his head. Vamana Vishnu kicked him down to the Pathalam. Mahabali, however, was given his wish to visit his people once a year. Onam is that day.


It is very much understood that these two versions of the Mahabali legend represent the conquest of the non-Aryan Keralite by the Aryans on the battle field and in the field of religion. The Aryans and their gods triumphed over the local Keralite gods, even demonizing their local god, Mahabali. Keralites, on the other hand, would not consider their god Bali, a demon, but rather a vanquished god, as a result of their experience of coloniality.


According to the mythology, Mahabali’s kingdom was a very virtuous and prosperous kingdom. During his ruling time it is said that people didn’t even lock their houses in the night because, there were no thieves, no corruption and no betrayal. And all the people lived united without the difference of rich and poor. In memory of those happy days, the glory of those ancient time is recaptured in a popular folk song, which is sung all over Kerala; “Maveli nadu vanidum Kalam, Manusherallarum onnu pole”.


Maveli nadu vanidum Kalam, manusherellarum onnu pole
Amodathode Vasikkum kalam, Apatangarkkumottilla thanum
Kallavummilla chathivumilla, Ellolamilla polivachanam
Kallapparayum cherunazhiyum, kallatharangal mattonnumilla
Maveli nadu vanidum kala, manusherallarum onnu pole


The Keralite still gladly remembers Mahabali; his kingdom is still a longing of the people. Mahabali is the once and future king, Mahabali will return in glory and the defeated Kerala culture and religion will rise in glory like the phoenix from the ashes.


Just like the texts of Onam myth were hijacked and colonial versions were legitimised with interpolations into this folk narrative, the biblical texts and its vision of the kingdom were hijacked by the colonisers and interpreters with vested interests. Just like Kerala, forgetting the mythology of divine creation of their state, used the phrase as a caption for their business interests and enhancement of tourism, the kingdom concept of the Bible had been a multinational business for many, making ‘God’ in that phrase as a mere ornament.


At the pretext of God’s kingdom what has been grown are their individual kingdoms. The kingdom of God, God’s own country can be imagined and realised only by retrieving the original texts without such interpolative interpretations.

2. The ideals of the Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Mahabali

We can draw out many ideals that are parallel in both of these. They are:

a. The Concept of Justice/Righteousness: Paul says Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Spirit. Romans 14:17 with the occurrence of the term δικαιοσυνη could be the theological center of Chapters 12-15. The term βασιλεια occurs only 14 times in Paul (105 in synoptics), whereas δικαιοσυνη occurs 57 times (7 Synoptics), and πνευμα 110 times. (13 in Synoptics). Jesus’ emphasis on Kingdom has been effectively replaced by Paul’s emphasis of righteousness and Spirit. Used thus, Kingdom of God is a way of describing “ What Christianity is all about” or the essence of Christianity. In fact justice or righteousness is the hallmark of kingdom of God in biblical text. We see a similar emphasis in the Kingdom of Mahabali. It is a kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy.

b. The concept of Equality
Equality is an inherent value in both these concepts. In Jesus’ concept of kingdom, there is no inequality, no discrimination based upon any disparities. Kingdom of Mahabali also represents such an ideal as seen in the folk song related with the Onam festival.


c. Life without Exploitation
Jesus’ teaching of the kingdom of God idealized the reversal of values where exploitation and oppression has no place in the socio-religious and political and economic structures. The hallmark of the concept of the kingdom of Mahabali is a kingdom without exploitation, falsehood, wrong parameters and manipulations.


d. Life in Fullness
Jesus’ kingdom ideals gave hope to people to aspire for a life in its fullness. Mahabali’s kingdom ideals also give the dream of a society where life can be lived in happiness and bliss.


e. Vegetarianism
The practice of vegetarianism for religious or philosophical reasons was quiet well known in ancient times. Some of the priests imprisoned in Rome according to Josephus lived on figs and nuts, avoiding all meat with the fear of eating food offered to idols. We have the Old Testament traditions of Holy men like Daniel who opted for vegetarian food or who opted for pulses. In the Isianic vision of the future kingdom there is a mention of the Lion eating grass along with the Ox. This is total transformation: non-vegetarian becoming vegetarian. According to Christian traditions, James the brother of Jesus and Ebionites practiced vegetarianism. The Lenten days of the Christian calendar give such an emphasis. One of the specialities of Onam tradition is its emphasis on vegetarianism. It is argued that vegetarianism actually was non-brahmanical, which was taken over by the Brahmins in a later stage.


f. Jesus the Messiah and Jesus the Mahabali
Jesus was the long expected Messiah who was killed because of his kingdom ideals, which is a supreme sacrifice that can be compared with the sacrifice of Mahabali who also was killed for his virtuous rule. Messiah is term loaded with Jewish contextual meanings, whereas Mahabali could be the easiest term to be appropriated in the Kerala context. The term “Mahabali” means the “great sacrifice” which can serve as an analogous concept of Jesus as the paschal lamb. Of course, there is an element of jealousy on the part of “gods” (Devas) in the death of Mahabali (Mahabali for them was Asura/ or the local non-Aryan god). But in the case of Jesus, Biblical texts affirm that “Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many”(Mark.10:45).


g. Vision of a Casteless Society
Kingdom of God is beyond caste considerations. The measuring rod is “in Christ”. In Mahabali’s kingdom all the people form one casteless race. Casteism is a threat to our community ideals. Kingdom of God and Mahabali envision a casteless society.


3. The Counter Empire of God and Mahabali: The Anticipation of the coming Kingdom
Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world (John.19:18). It is a counter empire and imagination in contrast to Pilate’s colonial Rome and its exertion of authority and subjugation of people with a military might. Mahabali is the once and the future king who will come in glory and Jesus is also expected as the coming king. Both the kingdoms have an ideal of universality, breaking the boundary markers. At the same time there is great amount of preparation for the coming of the king.
The key motive of this counter empire is love. The pattern for this love is Christ, who gave himself to death for us when we were weak (5:8). Thus the counter empire of God is guided by sacrificial love. Mahabali’s kingdom and its traditions invoke the ideals of such a counter empire.


Over against the political leaders, who ask their followers to risk their lives for the sake of the leader, in this counter empire, the leader himself gives the life for the sake of the people and ideals of this kingdom. Empires of this world stand for life-negations. In a cry-for-life situation like in India and many other nations, Onam celebrations and its texts along with the biblical texts invite us to imagine counter empires which stand for life affirmation and values of the ideals of the kingdom of God.


As Amos prophesied: May justice roll down like rivers and justice like a never ending stream. May God help us to retrieve our traditions, evaluate the interpolations and reimagine counter empires of love and sacrifice in the context of such a time as this, resisting the hegemony and commercialization of religion and culture! Let us retrieve those analogous concepts from our own traditions, that we may truly build a God’s own country. I wish you all a very happy Onam.
 
Biju C.
DTh