Christological Reflections based on Kappan by Xavier James L S

IS JESUS RELEVANT TODAY?

XAVIER JAMES L.

INTRODUCTION

In his book JESUS AND FREEDOM, Dr. Sebastian Kappan has illustrated how Jesus can be relevant to India and to our time. He searches for relevance of faith for the liberation of the human. Kappan interprets the relevance along the lines of Justice. It is felt in our time to be witnesses to the Gospel are to stand for justice. I enjoyed reading this book because it brings out the problems of our time and tries to project a vision for the Indian society.  Theology is a systematic reflection on a religious experience, on an encounter between God and Man. It is a reflection to build up New Humanity. It is striking that there is contradiction existing between liberation and religion. Religion is supposed to liberate each man and woman. But in reality we see that it is so institutionalized and binding. It is high time to re-read the Gospel in the light of the challenges raised by today’s oppressed people. So that we can make it relevant to today’s context. The author goes further to explain, using the recent knowledge of social theories and analysis, how to approach the Gospel reality. Fidelity to Christ demands an option in favour of the poor and the oppressed. In this, sensitivity and openness to their point of view is required. This will help us in our struggle for New Humanity and exemplary community. This Jesus community will enable us to sow the seeds of the values of the Kingdom of God.

CHALLENGE OF LIBERATION

It is said that India lives in the village. The majority of the Indians live in the rural area.  Among them 40% are landless and live at the mercy of others, who hold a larger property. The rich tend to exploit the landless. Work is a process of humanization of nature and of the environment. We have seen and have experienced that the workers are ill treated in their working places. Thus we experience the degradation of the working class in contemporary Indian society. The human beings are essentially workers. In a sense we are our work. Work is not something that is added on to our essence. It is already complete when we are created. In our country, we notice that one out of ten Indians is unemployed. And population is so high that poverty strikes many families. In the case of those employed, they have no freedom of choice in their work. They are often exploited.  To eradicate this evil, we need to bring about some changes in the attitude of the people.

THE PROPHET OF THE NEW HUMANITY

As a prophet Jesus’ mission was to confront his contemporaries with the will of God as revealed in history. The prophet has to call upon the people to respond to its demands through a personal decision. If there is any dehumanizing act done in the area of human life and work, we Christians, are called to commit ourselves to fight against it, so that we can witness the kingdom of God in our daily lives and the values of the kingdom may be rooted in the hearts of everyone. All our experiences with regard to Kingdom of God are at once negative and positive. The author says, they are negative because they limit our knowledge about the kingdom. They are positive because it contains elements of truth, beauty and goodness. Kingdom of God therefore, is on the one hand the liberation of man from every alienation; on the other, it is the full flowering of the human on our planet. This freedom is not only freedom from but also freedom for creativity, community and love. And so, we may also rejoice in the consoling words of the scripture. “God will wipe away every tear form their eyes; there will be an end to death, and to mourning and crying and pain; for the old order has passed away”(Rev: 21:3-4). The proclamation of Jesus meant that God was going to intervene definitively in history to sum up and bring it to fulfillment (Mark.1:15). This is very vivid in his words and deeds especially in healing and exorcisms (Luke. 11:20, 7:22-23).

To understand the deeper meaning of the gift character of the Kingdom an analogy from an ordinary human experience may help. A young boy meets a girl. He eventually develops a liking for her. And in course of time liking grows into love. He expresses his newborn love in many ways – through looks, words, gifts and so on. Yet he knows fully well that none of his initiatives can necessarily make her love him in return. If she does reciprocate it is not a necessary outcome of his attentions but a free self-giving. It is a free gift, on her part can transform their relationship into a true communion, into the nucleus of a community. Similarly, humankind cannot merit or take possession of God through its own efforts. If every love is a gift, such is God’s love for man.  Coming of a new age presupposes not only the initiative of God but also the obedient and creative participation of the human person. It is God’s self-giving embodied in things, events, persons and experiences that lies at the root of human response, individual and collective. This is very clear in the manifesto of Jesus (Luke. 4:16-21).

COSMIC FREEDOM

Illness and natural calamities are cosmic evils. They have demonic dimension. Jesus saw them as an organized force under the supreme command of their leader, satan (Lk. 13:17).  God commanded men and women to fill the earth and subdue it (Gen. 1:28). But we see that men and women are reduced to the condition of slaves. They are slaves to illness of several kinds -physical, psychological and moral. We need to be free to exercise the command of the creator who gave us the authority to be free and free others. 

SETTING THE OPPRESSED FREE

The response of Jesus to human cosmic bondage may be summed up in the words of Peter as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles: “God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him”(Acts:10:38). His prophetic ‘no’ to the bondages, took the form of miracles. It is important to note in this context that Jesus does not put himself in the centre of things. He does not claim the miracles to be manifestations of his own power. He attributed them to the power of God. By saying, “your faith has cured you” (Matthew. 9:29), he underlines that he or she is reborn from slavery to freedom. One is restored to inner harmony and at peace within himself. By his very nature man is able to bring harmony and peace. Jesus was so taken hold of by the power of God that he could work miracles. We cannot rule out the possibility that even today God so takes hold of the spirit of men and women that he or she becomes capable of healing the souls and bodies of fellowmen by a mere word or gesture. One becomes free only in the measure in which one becomes natural. Cosmic Freedom is the humanization of nature.  Freedom has to be in response to the God who is to come and is already ‘becoming’ in history.

JESUS AND THE OPPRESSED OF TODAY

The question regarding the relevance of Jesus for social liberation today could be raised in two stand points. Some people, who are not the believers, but have certain appreciation of Jesus’ person and message. Others being a disciple of Jesus they have encountered him and identified themselves with their faith and commitment.

In Jesus’ community, no disciple is an island, but related to other disciples in time and space. Roots of discipleship go back to the past. The simple Galilean fishermen who had communion with Jesus are the eye openers to us. The distinguishing factor is being centered upon Jesus, in sharing of hope and faith. That is, the God of Jesus is one who is at work in the world fashioning the new humanity by giving himself to all. Jesus Community believes in the new humanity. This Community is not a sect, opposed to other sects nor does it represent a religion, which opposes others, which is arrogant with others and thinks itself as self-righteous. It accepts the fact that others are being saved.

KEEPING HOPE ALIVE

First of all we quicken and sustain human hope in the new humanity as the ultimate point of arrival of all struggles for liberation. Hope is not just a virtue but climax of the human spirit. To lose hope is to die. When a boy and a girl decide to marry, they do so in the hope that they will be true to each other and will be able to meet the demands of life together. Similarly, when a people opt for new model of society, they do so in the hope that they will be able to create and maintain it. Hope in the new humanity should not be regarded as alien to the people of India. It is implicit in the very longing of the oppressed masses for better days ahead. Even their hopelessness today presupposes that hope.

It is the centuries of foreign domination and colonialism that made us materially and mentally slaves. Our economy is still, to a considerable extent, geared to the benefit of foreign capitalism or Soviet socialism. We are likewise subjected to a steady and powerful cultural invasion from the west to which we all too easily succumb.

It would be wrong to think of human welfare solely in terms of production and consumption. When people have no control on production and consumption it is more dehumanizing. In a truly socialist society there cannot be any dichotomy between economy and politics. Still we hope and work for a better world.

PROPHETIC PROTEST

Jesus community does not look at the past. But it is always future looking. The present was also the central concern of Jesus. What distinguished him from of prophets that went before him was his message that the reign of God was already germinating in the present. Jesus, for the first time, invited his contemporaries to turn away from the excessive pre-occupation with the future or the past and listen to the call of the present. He demands the same attitude from his community today i.e. from us.

READING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The signs are not just any event or situation but only those that carry significance for the ultimate future of man. Whatever contributes to the fullness of man is to be understood. Whatever fosters freedom, love, equality, co-operation and solidarity are positive signs of the times. Whatever does not are negative signs. For instance putting up hostels for the harijans is a good act for the welfare of the underprivileged. But it perpetuates the caste inequality in our Indian society. We often turn our deaf ear to this social evil, which destroys the harmony of our society. The people are also not made aware of it.

FOSTERING THE ENERGIES OF THE NEW AGE

Community reads the signs of the times in order to act upon them. Action will have to be two fold: One is fostering the energies of the new age to come and the other is fighting the forces of dehumanization. The role of the community in the society is to be a two-edged sword. The prophet is called to cut and heel, to pull down and to uproot, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant (Jer.1:10).

NOT PEACE BUT SWORD

The community has to protest not only against the existing social system but also against the failure of its own leaders. When the leaders do protest, they are very selective. For instance, they raise their voice while minority right is tampered but are silent when the rights of the under privileged are brutally violated. For sexual immorality they make a big noise but close their eyes to inhumanity of the social system that forces thousands of innocent girls to take to prostitution in order to make their living. In recent times they have come out with radical pronouncements on Social Justice. But practically they do nothing. If we have such leaders how can our social system improve or progress? As Jesus community, what is our response? Is it only celebrating the Eucharist and not living it out?

FREEDOM THROUGH REVOLUTION

By virtue of faith and hope the community shares freedom and life with Jesus. It is in conscience, we are bound to work for the liberation of the downtrodden and the marginalized of India through a revolution. But does not revolution necessarily involve the use of violence, which goes counter to the teachings of Jesus?  Are we aware of the existing institutionalized violence against the under privileged?  Seen from this angle the teaching of Jesus on nonviolence is today as valid as ever. Evil can be overcome not by countering it with evil but by releasing the powers of love dormant in the hearts of men. What we need today is not the organization of violence or the mobilization of collective hatred but the dissemination of love and concern for others, of a love and concern extending even to the oppressors. For oppressors too are in their own way alienated. They are alienated from their true social essence. They are as much subject to existential bondage as the oppressed themselves. The community has to uphold the universal love of Jesus, which he taught as a greatest potential for the liberation of the human beings.

CONCLUTION

In order to make Jesus’ message relevant to the exploited masses of India, the community must take every effort to humanize itself, and to fight against all that binds men and women. If our religion is institutionalized, then it is bound. It is similar to Jesus’ time. Jesus had to liberate from tradition bound Judaism in order to be radically honest to God and his kingdom. Price of radical humanity will be death. But it is necessary for someone to lay down their lives that others may have life and have it in all its fullness (John. 10:10).

As I was reading through the book, I have found that the author has really put a lot of effort into his great work. Theologizing in India is not easy, as we are in a pluralistic society. While theologizing, we need to be faithful to the church and bring transformation in it. Dr. Kappan’s life was a message as he lived with the poor, worked with poor and died among poor in Chennai slums. Such people are an inspiration to me as I do my theological studies. There is a constant question to myself: How can I make Jesus relevant to the people whom I serve?