Rose Mary

Rose Mary

He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
-Mathew 5:45

Every now and then, we come across incidents that fill us with fear and misgivings about what the future holds for us. We watch hopelessly as the oppressors triumphantly lay siege on their helpless victims who have no recourse to any kind of justice. Man continues in his ceaseless task of creating great divisive structures against his own family, his neighbor, his countrymen, and against other countries, in the name of gender, race, religion, caste, skin color or economic worth. What make life worthwhile in the midst of this squalor, are the sporadic acts of goodness that fill the air with their fragrance and once again reassure us that all is not lost, and that eventually, good will prevail.

Two such incidents from the recent past fit the bill here.

The first was the sad plight of the group of nuns and postulants who were travelling to Odisha and were forcibly asked to disembark at Jhansi by a group of religious extremists and railway police, on the false pretext that the ladies were breaking the anti-conversion law recently passed by the UP government. The incident caught a great deal of national attention. Taking advantage of the last vestiges of democracy and freedom of speech the country clings to, print and social media platforms spoke out vociferously against the atrocity. But, as expected, the institutions of law that supposedly uphold the constitution of the country, lay weak and ineffective in the hands of the oppressor.

Just as all hope seemed to be lost for an India that has, for years, built itself around democratic and ethical values, another incident occurred. This time it was a local news item which basked for a short while in limited publicity, but which nevertheless brought new hope for us. This was about a lottery ticket seller, Smija who had sold a ticket online to one of her regular customers on credit. The ticket won the bumper prize of six crores. Without batting an eyelid, she informed her client and handed him over his ticket. The local media were generous with their praises for her honesty. As for her, she had no doubts whatsoever about her decision. Technically, she could have justified herself in many ways, had she opted to pocket the ticket for her own gain. Afterall, the client had not yet paid for it. Smija’s example breathes new life into our faith in humanity. She exercised her freedom of choice to build God’s kingdom, while the oppressors in the first incident used it to destroy and deny this freedom to others.
What do we make of this motley mix of people that inhabit our world, God’s very own creation? We praise the goodness of some, even as we condemn those whose acts are evil. We feel an uncontrollable anger against those who destroy the lives of the helpless, and we swear revenge against the perpetrators of crimes, especially when our near and dear ones are victimized.

But the Bible directs us differently.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in his book ‘God Believes in Us’, gives us an explanation as to why we as Christians are called to forgive our enemies, not once but every single time people act against us. When God created us, He gave us complete freedom of choice. While enjoying His freedom, we are not supposed to infringe on the rights and freedom of others. So, wherever there is exploitation, we can be sure that this can only last for a limited period of time. Freedom is God’s gift and, in the fullness of time He will restore it to His faithful.

In the light of this, we are called to forgive, and pray for those who use their freedom wrongly. We have great Christian examples to guide us in this. Gladys Staines, wife of the Australian missionary whose husband and children were burnt alive at the hands of extremists, was able to find the courage and grace from God to forgive the assassin. Sister Rani Maria’s family followed suit. While we are not to stand in the way of the law as it takes its course to punish wrongdoers, it is not for us to harbor any animosity against God’s people to whom He has given unconditional freedom of choice.
God restores justice to His faithful through unorthodox choices. He chose His own Son to be crucified in order to save mankind. He chose St Paul from among a group of radicals who had vowed to annihilate Christianity— to became His strongest evangelist. Our petty acts of revenge and hatred only weaken our claim to a place in God’s kingdom. Positioned as we are between the Lord’s glorious Resurrection and the miraculous gift of the Pentecost, let us pray that the Holy Spirit anoints us with new understanding and true faith in His power to protect us.