Valson Thampu

Jesus tells the parable of a man delivered of an unclean spirit. The now-homeless spirit roams around searching for an alternate accommodation. Finds none. Returns. Finds the former house empty, to which it returns with a vengeance. It brings in seven additional spirits. The state of the man becomes worse than it was before. Clearly it is a warning against complacency.
Christians are more vulnerable to complacency than others. ‘The problem with your faith,’ Swami Agnivesh told me a few years ago, ‘is that the Christian God is forever forgiving. Do what you feel like. Say ‘sorry.’ You are now ready for the next spell of adventures.’ He was exaggerating. But he was exaggerating a fact. ‘We Hindus,’ he added ‘have no such luxury. We pay for our sins. The law of karma is inexorable.’ Christians are complacent most about freedom. We take it for granted. We are free in Christ. Christ is the Liberator par excellence. We are a new creation in Christ. Pure freedom is the insignia of the new creation. So, we are free and shall say so. Or, so we assume.
In the metaphor of the parable cited at the outset, the evil spirit of unfreedom was cast out. The house is swept and clean. But there is a problem. It is invitingly empty. Freedom gets equated with emptiness. Not so, in Jesus’ view of the matter. The proof of spiritual freedom is fruitfulness, which denotes anything but emptiness. So, we need to be careful. It is not enough that the house is now clean. Its emptiness could invite new and fiercer tenants. What started as an adventure of freedom could result in oppressive un-freedom. As a rule, freedom, when abused or neglected annuls itself and breeds unfreedom. So, we need to address this Christian emptiness. What makes us complacent about our inner emptiness is that the house of our life is cleaned up. The unclean spirit is departed. But, he could return. And when he returns, it could be fireworks indeed.
Jesus associates freedom with two things in particular. First, doing. Freedom becomes real by doing. Till we begin to do as we should, freedom remains abstract. Air, for instance, is abstract. Breath involves doing. We breath. Breath incarnates air. Breath is associated with doing. Jesus insisted that we act on our faith, as in the parable of the builders, on which the Sermon on the Mount concludes. Listening too involves freedom; but it is only potential freedom. Freedom finds its due expression when hearing leads to doing. It is a matter of concern as to what extent what we hear by way of the teachings of Jesus becomes doings in our life.
The second major association with freedom is seeking. To hear, without the courage to seek on the basis of, and beyond, what is heard is to be slavish. It accommodates, at best, the freedom to conform. A person is the sum total of what he seeks and why. Thieves and wolves also seek. Their seeking eventuates into attacks on the freedom of others. Those who undermine the freedom of others are, in effect, thieves and wolves. In such a mentality one claims freedom for oneself, but denies it to others. We call it fascism.
It needs to be wondered if the culture that prevails in our midst is promotive of human freedom. Church culture, irrespective of denominational differences, is far from the democratic. Whether God is democratic or not may be a matter of opinion. Whether or not God respects human freedom, is anything but a matter of opinion. The evidence? Well, when God chose to enter history, he abjured power. Power is inimical to, and inhibitive of, freedom.
Going by available biblical evidence, it is safe to assert that Jesus was closer to the spirit of democracy than to authoritarianism. His teachings expressly prohibit control-orientation. He required of his disciples that they be unlike those who lord over others, which is the way of the world. He upheld the spirit of self-less service as the guarantee against the degradation of leadership into tyranny. He instituted a sacramental de-recognition of the hierarchical principle by incorporating feet-washing into the last meal he celebrated with his disciples.
Authoritarianism inheres in worldly structures. When this is reinforced by a divine basis for authority, authoritarianism tends to absolutize itself. The subtlety of this needs be noted. The relationship between the shepherd and his sheep, as Plato points out, is absolute. The shepherd can treat the flock as he wills. But Jesus is no ordinary shepherd. He is the ‘good’ shepherd. The word ‘good’, as Jesus insisted, should be applied only to God. So, this model of shepherding the people is not worldly but godly.
Fascism is a Frankenstein. In Mary Shelley’s novel of that title, Victor, a scientist, creates an intelligent creature through a scientific experiment based on a technique evolved by him to impart life to non-living matter. He intends the humanoid to be beautiful, but it turns out to be hideous. Victor’s own brother becomes one of the earliest victims of the monster. No one wants to create a monster. What one creates, turns out to be monstrous. That is how it is in politics and religion. The original intention is good, even noble. But good intensions are never enough in themselves.
Good intentions are, for the most part, a matter of presumption. What is truly ‘good’ has to be so, long-term. What is less, implies an infantile idea of good. It is childish to overlook the witness of history, and perpetuate practices and institutional cultures that have, in the past, bred Frankensteins. To assume that in our case the same would, somehow, produce only beneficial results is not only infantile but also criminally irresponsible.
The spirituality of Jesus, with its unequivocal commitment, to the liberation of humankind, emphasizes the duty to seek, rather than conform to existing patterns. It critiques leadership models. Makes the interrogation of customs and traditions a spiritual duty. The authenticity of the individual in the sight of God is a far greater value than unreserved self-submission to any authority. Jesus goes to the extent of insisting that a believer is not to recognize anyone in this world as his ‘father’; for he has a Father in heaven (Mt.23:9). The fool-proof safeguard against the eruption of fascism is living the Lord’s Prayer. If God is indeed our Father in Heaven, we shall have no tyrants breathing down our necks. If the Son makes you free, as Jesus said, you shall be free indeed.