Ponmala
After World War II, most of the world got split into two in ideology, one that embraced democracy and the other that embraced communism. The infamous Berlin Wall (1961) became the physical embodiment of the idealogical divide that ushered in the Cold War era. Democracy, which the communists identified with capitalism, finally came out triumphant when the Wall succumbed to hammer blows in November 1989. The dismantling of the Wall ushered in the Globalisation era. Beyond national boundaries, people began thinking of themselves as global citizens.
In the first baby step towards transcending national boundaries, 28 countries of Europe became the European Union. But, in different parts of the world, a sudden surge of selfish parochialism is bringing an end to it also by raising a new kind of wall – Nationalism. Instead of two blocks of the Cold War era, we now have insular nations of the Nationalism era. Donald Trump’s America deserves full credit for the apparent triumph of nationalism over globalism. Things have come to such a pass that in countries like our own, you get branded as an antinational if you take pride in being a global citizen. Within 3 decades of its fall, the Berlin Wall is rising from its ashes in a new avatar – the Mexican Wall.
The central themes of Jesus’ teaching is that all men are equal in God’s eyes and that we should transcend all divisive boundaries of clan, tribe, race, nation, religion, class etc and relate to all others in brotherly love. They were pioneering concepts he gave to mankind. Of the many parables Jesus taught, the Parable of the Good Samaritan stands out as one of the most appealing. Most think that it is a lesson on charity. But there is more to it than that. Jesus also wanted to convey a revolutionary social message through it. The unfeeling Jewish priest and Levite considered themselves God’s most favoured ones, members of God’s inner circle. Jesus purposely contrasts them with a Samaritan, a foreigner who belonged to a race that the Jews considered the despised of God. He is moved by a purely humanist sentiment to help a man in need, not paying attention to which nation, race or religion he belongs to or what his social status is.
The gospel highlights this point further in the stories of (1) the ten lepers Jesus healed, of whom only a Samaritan returned to thank, (2) of the Samaritan woman, an untouchable, who becomes the first recipient from Jesus of ‘the water that will give eternal life,’ and (3) of the Samaritan woman who gets healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment because of her deep faith. For Jesus, God’s chosen people are those whom we think of as good human beings whose brotherly love transcends all divisive boundaries set by man. And for it, he finds in the lowly Samaritan a standard-bearer.
Diversity needs to be celebrated, but, unfortunately, it often degrades into factionalism, fed by an obsession about differences that set apart a grouping from the rest. This is now especially true of the Indian Church. A painting of different colours and a symphony of different notes get their beauty not so much from the brilliance of each colour or the sweetness of each note, but the unity that is displayed by their splendid combination.
Even as the countries of Europe opened borders in a surge of the human spirit for unity, we were fighting to put up dividing walls in our Pontifical seminaries. Factional interests between two rites led to the division of Kerala’s Mangalapuzha Seminary. A parochial move to divide Bangalore’s St Peter’s seminary on the ground of language led to the ghastly murder of its rector. The shape of the cross and the direction in which the celebrant should face while saying the mass have virtually split the Syro-Malabar Church down the middle. Parochial considerations were behind a section of the Jacobite Church to cut itself away from the Patriarch of Antioch, splitting that Church into two. The internecine war that is going on between the two factions very well qualifies to be called the Christian scandal of the century.
While the global Church works hard to bring Christians of all hues under the banner of one gospel, regional Churches rift apart on territorial claims to preach the same gospel. And while Pope Francis is on a relentless mission to focus on the essential message of the gospel – to bring good news to the poor… to proclaim liberty to the captives… to set free the oppressed – his appointees, the prelates, waste their energy on factional disputes and theological nitty-gritty. All attention is now on the glitter of the gold, not on gold itself, little realising that all that glitters is not gold.
When knowledgeable people all over the world are pulling down ‘narrow domestic walls,’ why are we partitioning seminaries and dividing congregations on the narrow considerations of language and rite? If priests and religious can’t rise above considerations of language, caste and rites, how can we expect it of ordinary people? Why don’t we focus on things that unite us rather than on things that divide us? Is it right to take the celebration of the beauty of diversity to the point where it supersedes or destroys unity? We believe in a triune God, not in three gods in God. For Christ’s sake, have the wisdom to distinguish the essentials of faith from its cosmetics and the resolve to enforce the former while relenting on the latter.
