My Journey on the Road to Peace

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This is a Very Personal Sharing… Actually speaking, this my Journey to Peace should be described in Two sections. The first, a milestone in itself, was when I experienced Peace In the midst of Extreme Turmoil in a Most Astonishing way! And the second, which was like the reaching the End of a Journey. This post speaks of the First part of that Voyage!

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This article is the third in the series on Bible Study.

1. On Bible study
2. The Problem of Suffering
3. My Journey on the Road to Peace
4. The Answer to the Problem of Suffering!
5. Understanding the Bible
6. Ezekiel’s vision of God
7. The Bible and History

The last three pertain to Bible Study, per se. The Others deal with the Use and the Advantages of Studying the Bible.

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The End of the Journey, as I called it above, brought me Tranquillity, as opposed to Peace, (which can be transitory). This came Only after I Experienced the Answer to the Problem of Suffering. And by Dhyaan. I shall share this second part with You in a separate post.

The Extreme Turmoil that I alluded to in the first paragraph happened in the Third year after my Ordination.

From my Seminary days, I had been a Charismatic Preacher, much in demand. It is more than 30 years since my Ordination, and yet there must be a few who would remember this poor old Yesudas in the dioceses of Hazaribagh, Bihar and as having served in the Divine Retreat Centre in Kerala. The Lord had worked great things, and I had the satisfaction of noting Peace and Well being come into the lives of Many people.

But I had been Overworking. Once I gave Three 10-day retreats, consecutively. On top of this, that was also the time of my ‘Mid life Crisis,’ of which I had not known in those days. Add to that some personal issues. Result, Yesudas Crashed.

There You have it! For posterity, Mark du Toit has captured my pulling out my hair in frustration! Haha!

Jokes aside, here are the salient points. While working in the Railways, after a Deep Experience, I decided to become a Priest. I got the Grace of Ordination after a fairly long wait, at the age of 35, and crashed within 3 years!

And Crash is a Good word for it. What I was experiencing within me was a Dissatisfaction. I was feeling Unloved and Unwanted. And with some reason. Consider. I have been, and still am, quite a ‘Religious’ kind of person. And to me Religion cannot go without Social Justice. But during the Final days of my Seminary, there were Three Distinct groups in my Diocese. One wanted, practically, Social Work Alone. One, with ‘me’ as the sole member, wanted a lot of Religiosity as well. And the Third group, as numerous as the first, Wanted Just to Fish! Their philosophy seemed to be: Down with Spirituality and Social Work.

The members of Both the groups Very Kindly looked down upon me with Disdain. 😦

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The catholic church has two kinds of priest, the so called ‘religious’ ones and the diocesan, (Down with the idea of first class and second class priests). When I was thinking of joining the seminary, I asked many priests about the difference between the two, and clearest answer I got from one was: ‘The religious are called to live a ‘perfect’ life.’ Wonderful, is it not? Provided You understand it. I did not. What did impress me was that the training for the diocesan ones was just about 7 years, compared to the other group, which had 4 to 10 years of Extra training! At the time of my deciding to join the seminary I was some 28 years old, and did not want super duper long trainings.

So I went in for the Diocesan Priesthood. These are supposed to live their lives without the support of Community! The ‘religious’ ones are always posted in groups of two’s or three’s at a minimum, whereas the diocesan priest, with less training, is supposed to go it alone! Frankly, No Training is given as to how to face Loneliness, etc. One should not wonder at the messes that diocesan priests land up in.

When I came back from giving my Retreats, my Mind used to be filled with the Sad and Horrible stories I had listened to. (That many don’t bother to Listen to the Sad state of their Brothers and Sisters is their business).

Not taking a Vacation, Not even taking Enough Rest, and all this Negativity, fed on my Doubts on the Existence of God Himself!

• Was Not God Concerned about the Sufferings of His Children?
• Or, horror of horrors, Was He Not Powerful Enough to put an end to Suffering?
• And the worst scenario, Did God Exist at all?

All the above refer to the Problem of Suffering. To see that, please click here.

They say that one suffers from Depression if one’s Ability of Think is affected. I must have been Depressed. As I see it today, my thinking at that time had not been satisfactory at all. But whatever the Reasons, At That Time I came to the (Foolish) conclusion that God did not Exist. (A conclusion I have since revised, as You will accept!)

Yet, at that time, at least the next few points of thinking were Logical enough. Namely, I decided that:

• If there is No God, there can be No Religion.
• If there is No Religion, there is No Priesthood.
• If the Priesthood was Not Valid, it would be Absolutely Dishonest of me to keep receiving the monthly stipend, as it is called, …the money the diocese paid us for our expenses.

And so, I wrote all these things down, along with a letter of Resignation from the Priesthood, and went and presented it to my late Venerable Bishop, Dr. G.V. Saupin, a Most Lovely and Wonderful Man.

He was shocked, and tried his Best to stop me from going ahead with my ‘resignation.’ But I was too broken to listen even to that Dear and Excellent man.

I had about 6000 rupees. I used it to lease a small, road-side hotel that caters to truckers. I got another ‘kick’ from my priest companions even for this. Now, their question was, ‘WHY did You open that hostelry in the diocese itself, so near to where You had been posted?’ The thing is, these kinds of points do not enter my mind. The accusation was that I was planting seeds of Doubt in the minds of the ‘faithful’ by being in that place. …There I was, with those few thousands, which included 10 thousand (or was it 5?, I do not remember now), that the diocese had given me in ‘parting!’ I was supposed to travel to some far away spot even to earn my living. …

The hotel was not a success, though. I believe I spent more money on buying blankets for my workers than I was ‘making.’ More Importantly, I found that I had further lost my Peace!

According to Christianity, everybody is ‘Called’ to a particular Service, a state of life, etc. Evidently, God did not like my trying to give up the Priesthood. For which I Thank God.

During those days, I have heard that my Bishop had Tears in his eyes when he spoke about me. That is one of the Most Important, and Treasured Memories of my Entire Life.

So, after just about two months of this, if I may call it, my Adventure, I went to my Bishop and said to him that I wanted to ‘Come Back’ to the Priesthood. He was quite Happy about it! …I myself requested him to allow me to go for Counselling, to which he consented, and I went to that Wonderful man, Dr. Trevor D’Netto in Pune. After 2 months of Intense counselling, he said to me: “Father, Your Mind is healed now. But You have to take care of Your ‘spirit’ by Yourself. In a Three cylinder engine, two of them are working well now. Unless and Until You see to the ‘third’ cylinder, the ‘engine’ will not work well.”

During those day, I used to walk around the Pune Race Course. One such evening, I realized that the new philosophies I was developing seemed quite Logical, But they were Not Bringing me Peace! That was an Experience! I stopped in my tracks. And this is what I said to God that day:

“I do not like the Way You are Running things. But I Surrender to You. Run the World Any way You Want.”

A Very Poor Surrender. But-it-brought-me-Peace. I could feel waves of it washing over me. That is what I call that Most Astonishing way. Surrendering (to God) brought me Peace.

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A SAGA OF REJECTION

When I went back to my diocesan headquarters, I found that my Bishop had been transferred. The diocese was under an administrator, who, though he carried a small copy of the New Testament in his hands at all times, has a heart harder than flint. He said: ‘Since You wrote and gave that You do not want to remain a Priest, that is how it shall be. Do not even put Your bags on the floor. Just Go!’ or words to that effect. And that started another Journey of Heart Ache for me, which You can read here (under preparation, please. And sorry, I have not yet got around to it.).

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In all this, Since those days, I have Successfully Lived my Decision to Come back to the Priesthood. I have Not been ‘De-frocked.’ But Am Absolutely Unwanted (even now!), and Totally Unsupported by my Diocese.  Most of the Clergy and Many of the Good Nuns look Down upon me! But I Continue to live Happily as a Priest. To me, that is Peace, and Happiness.

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The Problem of Suffering

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The words ‘The Problem of Suffering’ do Not allude to Suffering itself. It is the name given to an Age old question in Philosophy, as to Why Suffering Exists and Persists at all. This question occurs in various forms, the main of them being:

• Does not God …Care Enough to put an End to Suffering?
• Or is God …Not Powerful Enough to put an End to it?

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This article is the second in the series on Bible Study.

1. On Bible study
2. The Problem of Suffering
3. My Journey on the Road to Peace
4. The Answer to the Problem of Suffering!
5. Understanding the Bible
6. Ezekiel’s vision of God
7. The Bible and History

The last three pertain to Bible Study, per se. The Others deal with the Use and the Advantages of Studying the Bible.

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By What Stretch of Justification or even Imagination can the death of these Children be called a Casualty of War? They were not blown up by stray shells. They have been Systematically and Brutally Murdered.

These are images of what are called the Lankan Atrocities. But How many Armies or Governments do Not do this? What about Child Abuse in Homes?

The Problem of Suffering is a Problem for Philosophers. It eats their Minds. I had gone Half Mad over this, and had lost my Peace. 

Sufferings have not Ended, and as such, the Problem of Suffering still Exists! But, Having been through that Hell, I found my Peace.

[By God’s Grace, right from my Childhood I lacked for Nothing good. My Father was a Supervisor in the Indian Railways. He had plenty of friends, and had No bad habits. Our Parents Loved us, and knew How to Show that Love, for which Thank God! As such, the question of the Problem of Suffering does not rise from my Family background.

This was after my Second Sister, Marlene’s First Holy Communion. She is the one Third from the Right. My Mom is the First one on the Left, and Dad is standing at Second from the Right.]

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Some Experiences

Years ago, when I was a youth and had to run about to get my ‘posting’ for my job, while travelling by train, I had two significant experiences.

Some people brought in A young man whose legs were Palsied. There was a little space on the racks above, and they seated him there by lifting him by his arm pits. And there he sat, with his legs swinging away, and getting annoyed looks from those seated under him as his legs were dangling right in front of their faces, and sometimes even hitting their faces, though he could not help it.

This image shows us People sitting on Luggage racks. Actually, this train is not really so crowded. In crowded ones, You cannot take such pictures!

The other point during those journeys was the fact that the district through which the train was passing was under water due to heavy rains. The people had left their Cattle tied to the high ground near the railway tracks, but for miles and miles, not a single human being could be seen. And just the tops of the roofs of their huts were above the water. When the people returned after the Floods lifted, they would find very little of their possessions in their houses undamaged, if there at all.

Image courtesy: revolutionizingawareness.com …Not a picture of the scene I have described.

[The picture above is a quite recent one, from the Assam situation. This is a Regular affair there. And in this day and age of Helicopters and such, Just a little help will be dropped to these poor people, enough photographs would be taken, and the politician would have gained a few more crores. The Problem of evil persists.]

The questions I raised to God at that point of time were: “Why did You create this Young Man like this – a Helpless man who can’t even control his legs?” I also questioned God over the Floods; I Asked Him who was feeding the Cattle. Where the People were and What they were Eating. Where they were Sleeping. And things like that.

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• Why do the INNOCENT Suffer?
• Why do CHILDREN Suffer? If Adults suffer, We could say that it has happened due to their way of life or something. But Children?
• Why do INJUSTICE AND CRIME seem to flourish?
• Why do the evil (people) lead such a Jolly life?

And a Million questions like those constitute the Problem of Suffering.

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Some systems propose that what We go through in this life are the result of what We had done in Our Last one. I have Questions on that. To peruse them, please click here (under preparation, please).

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At least Some of Us can be affected by the Problem of Suffering to such an extent that We can become Sick, become Absolutely Restless, losing Peace itself. As happened to me.

It is Important to note that I did not achieve this Peace by removing myself from the Situation. My Sannyas consists in Not being Attached to Anything. Christ Incarnated Himself into this our Human Condition, and Acted In and Through it. I received Answers to this Question of the Problem of Suffering, and Very Good ones too; Such that they brought me Tranquillity.  I got my Peace by following the Teachings of Christ Jesus, and through the Bible.

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On Bible Study

For Long Years, I had been A man Without Peace. It was His Grace and Bible Study that brought me Tranquillity. The Turmoil in my mind had been due to the Philosophical Issue of The Problem of Suffering. I had grappled with it roughly from the age of 22 to 43, for about 21 Years!

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With this post I begin a Series on the subject of Bible Study.

1. On Bible study
2. The Problem of Suffering
3. My Journey on the Road to Peace
4. The Answer to the Problem of Suffering!
5. Understanding the Bible
6. Ezekiel’s vision of God
7. The Bible and History

The first three deal with the Use and the Advantages of Studying the Bible. The last three pertain to Bible Study, per se.

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The Dear, Saintly and Wise man Kabir Das had said:

His words mean: People studied and studied, and Not just their lives, but the Very world seemed to End! (But they did not become Experts). The one who learnt Just One letter of Love becomes the Expert.

So, the Bible cannot be ‘read’ like the newspaper. We read it, and discard not just the paper, but also the material We had gone through in that!

Those interested in Bible Study should make the Bible their Companion. The Bible cannot be Studied without referring it Constantly, whenever We come across references.

Those who want to Study the Bible cannot do it without Prayer, without being in Conversation with God.

Studying the Bible brings a Difference to our Lives. I share with You just How that happened in my life in my posts: ‘The Problem of Suffering,‘ and its sequels. And I wish You Happy and Fruitful times with Bible Study.

To go to the next in the series, You may click here.

The Power of ONE 01

Under the Title of ‘The Power of One,’ I want to begin a little series that would show just How ONE person can, and Does make a Difference, Even to History! And for this, I shall be taking People who Never Enter our minds as such!

Practically Everybody would accept that Jesus Christ, Ram, Krishna, Muhammad, Guru Nanak, Buddha and Mahaveer, and later on Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, — would You allow me to stop here? 🙂  — Effected changes in the Minds of Millions, and thus changed the course of History.

But Leaving out the Greats, can A Simple, Unknown Individual, an Ordinary person like any of us, have the Power to make Meaningful changes?

Do We know that An Absolutely Unknown, Unnamed and Nameless Woman had the Wits and the Guts to place her new born child in a basket of reeds, and courageously placed that on the river, most probably the mighty Nile, and thus Created History?

Image courtesy: ngabo.org

The background is like this: The Hebrews, though they had become Slaves to the Egyptians, were becoming Numerous and as such a strong race. The pharaoh did not want this. So he gave orders that all male Hebrew-newborns be killed. That was when the above happened. (Exodus 2:1-10).

To this day Nobody except the Good Lord knows the name of that little boy’s Mother. But, by her Courageous act, she made a Way for the child to Live, and… We have Moses, who Led the Israelites out of Slavery, and Brought the World the Ten Commandments!

In the cases of Jesus Christ, Ram, Krishna, Muhammad, Guru Nanak, Buddha and Mahaveer, and later on Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, etc, …People did not/do not follow them because of their High birth or something, but because of their Great Lives and Great Deeds. Moses’ Mother is An Excellent Example for the Power of One. If She could do it, it should be possible for Us too!

What is Good Friday? 2020.

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Am Reposting this with the addition of the following 3 tiny paragraphs. Wish You a Blessed Good Friday.

Jesus died, once and for all, (Romans 6:10, Hebrews 10:12). YET He dies daily, because He lives in Us.

For altogether too many Christians, Good Friday has come to mean a little Fasting, and attending services.

Not Enough. If We do not Reach out to Him in The Living (1 John 4:20), We know Nothing of Christ.

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In India, even among Hindus and Muslims, Good Friday is Better known than Easter. But Most probably, Most do not know what exactly Good Friday is. This article will help understand that question.

Broadly, this post speaks about:

1. What Good Friday is, or, What is its Meaning?
2. The Historicity of Good Friday, or, Did Jesus Really Die on that day,
3. Was Good Friday Necessary? Was Such a Cruel Death Needed?
4. What happened on Good Friday, or, What was Special about Christ Dying on the Cross?
5. WHY is it called GOOD Friday?
6. And, What should We Do on this day?

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1. What is Good Friday, or, What is its Meaning?

As to what Good Friday is, it is the day when, nearly 2000 years ago, Our Lord Jesus Christ gave up His Life for Our sake.

2. The Historicity of Good Friday, or, Did Jesus Really Die on that day?

It is generally accepted that Jesus gave His Life up in 33 AD. There are questions raised by and among experts as to the exact Day and the Year, etc. But It is Historically accepted that Christ was Crucified by the Roman authorities. Two historians of That time, …who were NOT followers of Jesus, attest to this.

1. TACITUS, a Roman, who lived between 55-115 C.E., wrote in his ‘Annals, XV: 44,’ as follows:

“Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus…”

[A few words about the so-called abominations above. Christ Jesus Himself had established what We call the Communion or the Eucharist, which We partake as Christ’s Very Body and Blood. This is being called an abomination by the author above. (For more on the Eucharist, please click here)].

2. Flavius JOSEPHUS, born 37 C.E., wrote thus in his ‘Antiquities 17.3.3. (81-96 C.E.).’

“There lived Jesus, …The Christ.  Pilate sentenced him to die on the cross, having been urged to do so by the noblest of our citizens; but those who loved him at the first did not give up their affection for him. And the tribe of the Christians, who are named after him, have not disappeared to this day.”

Needless to say, the statements above are Contested, but are also Replied well.

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3. Was Good Friday Necessary? Was Such a Cruel Death Needed?

The description of the Tortures meted out to Jesus, are found in All the Four Gospels. In the Next section, I shall further show the Extent of those Agonies. For Now, Was Good Friday Necessary?

The Modern Trend Seems to Suggest that Punishment is Not Needed, or that it is something to be Avoided, to be meted out Only in Extreme circumstances, etc. For example, while some schools go to extreme Chastisements like making the Children Kneel down in the Hot sun for being Late, etc, in Most Other schools, especially those in the West, Penalties seem to be frowned upon.

Above, A Prisoner’s cell in Sweden. But it seems Prisoners want and Try to escape from these too.

It would seem that Gone are the days when it used to be said: Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child. …Yet, Jails exist. Even in Scandinavia, it should not be forgotten that Isolating prisoners from Society is itself a Punishment. Ergo, Mankind believes in Retribution.

As they speak about the Special cases in the West, there Are people who Exceed limits of Decency, and Indulge and Rejoice in Harming others. Examples are: hitler, Pol Pot, Politicians, Judges, Officials by the Thousands! They do it with a Straight Face, of course. They would even Claim that they are doing the right thing.

Given all that, Crime and Sin Demand Punishment.

We might, of course, ask what all this has to do with Us. The Problem is, that We ALL Sin. And Deserve Punishment.

(To Reiterate), Sin is Wilfully Harming, Injuring., even Hurting Another.

Let us take Examples:

A. Both scenes above are from India, but More often it is like that at Right. The point is that Most of the time, Indian (Bus) Conductors, who are in charge of passengers boarding and alighting, as well as the dispensation of the tickets, would easily Stop the Bus to let a passenger Get In.

But when it comes to people Getting Down, You will find these Conductors in Such an Almighty Hurry, veritably shouting ‘Get off, get off,’ that Many Elderly and Infirm passengers Fall down. The Bus Driver Helps in this by Putting the Bus in Motion before people have fully alighted. Unless the passenger is accompanied by enough people, the conductor will just abuse the fallen passenger for falling down, and the bus will keep moving on.

The other kind of problem is that the conductors Will Not Stop where Passengers sometimes Request stops, but put them down at supposedly acknowledged/recognized ‘points’. What happens is that the Old, the Infirm, and many poor people with young children get to walk long distances in the Hot Sun, Unnecessarily. But the Bus Will stop whenever the Driver wants a cup of tea; or for him to pick up his lunch from his house.

Most of Us do not Protest against these things, do not Speak out. Oh, We might, If they were happening to Us. By Not Speaking Up for the Weak, the Have-Nots and the Downtrodden, We Sin. MOST of Us are Guilty of the Sin of Apathy.

Where, and How Often, have We spoken out against Injustice?

B. Take Old Age Pensions. The government announces schemes. People applaud, and say, ‘Oh, aren’t things being done for the Poor?’

[Forgive me for Inserting this picture of a Widow and her Children, when I had started to talk of Old people. …Widows are supposed to receive government help too. The picture shows How Well they get it].

To go back to the Old people, On the ground level…

• Most of the Time, they have to find out about these things By Themselves. I speak of these things from Experience.
• Those who approach the Village Heads, etc, may be told to Deposit Rs. 150, for Expenses!
• Half of those who applied May get the pension, for 6 months or so! For Most, it gets stopped somehow, automatically! Oh, sure, there are a ‘lucky’ few who keep getting it, and the government ‘show-cases’ them.
• Pensions are delivered about 20 days Late. This allows the local authorities to put the sums, (in a village it would work out to Quite a few thousands, at least, after all), in Short Term Fix Deposits. Money is Earned for just the trouble of going to the bank!

Much, Much more can be said about such things.

These sorts of things Do Not happen to the Well to do. I mean You. You arrive at an Office or the Bank, and the Clerks Smile at You and You get Your work done, maybe Even without paying a bribe. That is because the office fellows Know that You would create a ruckus otherwise.

Who Cares for the Feeble Shoutings of a Poor Man? We Don’t. It would be right Childish of Us to think that people in offices do.

We Applaud Mother Teresa for saying that She saw Christ in Every Poor Person. We Profess to do that too. But I can Very Well Repeat my earlier question: Where, and How Often, have We spoken out against Injustice?

As I said, we create a ruckus, and even get ourselves heard, when things happen to us. But that is Not Speaking Up for Christ in the Downtrodden.

Thus, We All Sin. I have sinned much by my Anger. As a Matter of Fact, the Years I spent in Anxiety were years of Sin. Because it is a Lack of Trust in God. We All Sin, and We have All Sinned. Romans 3:23.

So, Was Good Friday Necessary? Was Such a Cruel Death Needed? …By the Time We even come to Realize Our Sinfulness, Our Burdens of Sins must be Too Great for Reparation. That was Why Good Friday became Necessary. Our BIG bundle of sins needed Big Atonement.

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4. What happened on Good Friday, What was Special about Christ Dying on the Cross?

Movies like the ‘Passion of the Christ’ are Easily available, and in Many languages. These moving pictures show How things must Really have happened. Critics say that these depictions are not True. Just shows How Mankind Prefers to Keep Reality Under shades, Under the Carpet. Here are two still from the movie, The Passion.

Mary Wiping Jesus’ Blood after the Scourging is another, Most moving moments of the movie. Before seeing it, even I had not thought about it. But, How Else could it have been? The Blood, even bits of Flesh, Splattering, even on the soldiers who were doing the Scourging, is Very Realistically shown. My salutations to the Director.

There is an event, if We can call it that, that of Disrobing Christ before these things happened. We all take off our clothes. But let Us think How We Feel if and when somebody Else removes them. A teacher of a professor having his pants removed by his students, grown up children doing the same to their parents with malice, etc, could make one’s heart cry. And here is One Who was called ‘Master,’ Not a light word, and stripped naked, (We cannot be sure they had even left a loin cloth on Him). This was Another, Severe Torture, rendered to Jesus. For a little more on this, please click here.

Below, a depiction from the same movie, of the famous ‘Ecce Homo,’ namely Behold the Man, as Pilate had said to the crowd, (John 19:5). What he had meant was, ‘See the Man; the Beating itself has done this to Him. Do you still want Him Crucified?’

This is How Jesus must have looked after the Scourging. Not like the ‘Artistically’ applied strokes we see on our Crucifixes in our churches.

Regarding Jesus’ Blood, see: ‘The Blessed Eucharist‘ in What is Maundy Thursday.

Christ’s Agonies began on the Night of Maundy Thursday, say about 9 PM, and lasted till about 3 PM on Good Friday.

Over and above the Scourging, Christ’s Hanging on the Cross was a veritable Horror. His Cross had not been smoothened and varnished. It must have been Extremely Rough.

The Nails would not have been the ‘smooth’ affairs of today. They were of Centuries old workmanship. Even 4 inch nails of today could not have held a body on a cross. One could have got rid of them by sacrificing the tearing of one’s flesh, and pulling. So, Long, Finger thick, Rough nails. Forced in by heavy hammers.

People died on the Cross because of Suffocation. Try this. Extend Your hands, and let Your body Sag. Along with this, You would have Exhaled. You will notice that, To Straighten the body, which will be Needed to Inhale again, You will have to use Your Stomach and Back muscles. IF Our hands are fixed on the cross, our Body will use the Arms also to Raise the Chest.

We can use the Stomach and Back muscles to raise up the chest Only If We are Sitting or Standing. If We were hanging on the Cross, the Whole job of lifting up the body would fall on the Arms! Using the Arms to keep lifting the body tired the Arms in quite a short while, after which they did not have the Strength to keep lifting it. This would happen Even if the Arms are merely Tied to the Cross, instead of being Nailed to it.

That was Why they Provided a Block of Wood for the Feet, whereby now the legs assisted the body in lifting the chest for breathing. It was Not an Act of Kindness. First of all, the block must have been as rough as the cross, Full of Slivers. But Worse, The Block Prolonged the Agony, Allowing the person to keep breathing longer, Not letting him die! Which was what they wanted, of course. [The feet were Tied to the Block, but in Christ’s case, they were Nailed].

Thus, altogether, it was a Most Brutal treatment. YET. If We look Only at the Physical side, it is Possible that people have suffered Worse, and More Prolonged agonies. Acid attack and Gang Rape Victims could be a case in point.

What made Jesus’ Suffering Exclusive and Most Terrible was this:

• Jesus Must have Healed the people, or the relatives of the people, who were in the Crowd demanding His Death, and Laughing at Him. He would have realized this, and this should have Pained Him.
• More than that, According to Christian Belief, He was Carrying the Sins and the Punishment of the Whole of Mankind upon Himself. That was His Greater Burden, one that made Him cry out, in His Humanity, “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34).

But it Cannot, and Should Not be said that Jesus had Despaired. Firstly, the words I have quoted above are themselves a Direct Quote from Psalm 22:1. It is the Prayer of a Deeply Distressed person. But, after beginning thus, this person declares his Trust in God in the second part of the Psalm, using a goodly 10 verses for this. The psalmist ends by Proclaiming: “People Not Yet born will be told: ‘The Lord Saved His people.'”

Jesus, that Supreme Man, would not have Wasted His time on the Cross. (We are speaking Only of His Humanity here). Psalms make Excellent prayer. So, Psalm 22 must have been one of the many He had used. And We see How that ends. In Triumphant Trust in God. And Luke specifically says that Jesus offered up His Soul to the Father, thereby showing His Trust in Him, as we see in the words: “Father, In Your Hands I place my Spirit.” (23:46).

So, that is what is So different about Christ’s Death on the Cross. He suffered the Consequences of the sins of the Whole of Mankind.

All that as a Mere Man. God cannot Die, on the cross or otherwise. And Christ manifested His Godhead by Rising on the Third day.

And, now,

5. WHY is it called GOOD Friday?

I came across a little comic strip that speaks in this regard. From the Very Famous series: BC.

Logically, the strip proceeds very well indeed. But one can raise questions on the statement in the second panel, about one being hung on the cross. The question comes, ‘What have I done to deserve being Hung?’

Just leave One room in Your house undusted, unused and unopened, for, let us say Ten years. Can You imagine the Amount of Dirt that would accumulate? Particularly in Indian conditions? Have We Any Idea? ANY Idea as to How firmly the grime would be sticking, particularly to the floor? And How Hard it would be, and How Long it would take to clean that up? …And What Is there? Just Dust. Just Particles of Dust.

Even If We say I am not guilty of Big sins, WE have counted the Moments when We have been Ignored. From Childhood. It has gone into our Sub-Conscious. It has affected our lives. …And We have done that Same to Others. Sins of Commission and Omission.

We should have Got it in the Neck. After all, We are ALL God’s children. When one brother hurts another, we might Ignore that. But the ‘Hurt Brother’s’ Tears, and sometimes his Blood, Cry Out. Have We not cried out?

When somebody gobbles up our hard earned money that we had paid for an Apartment, We Cry Foul. But We want to Pass over the Years and Years that We have been Apathetic.

The Idea of Punishment is Ancient. Called Hell, Gehenna in Hebrew, Jahannum in Urdu of our Islamic brothers, and Nurk in India, We can Try to Wish it Away, but it Exists. That is Why, in Every Country, We have a ‘Justice Department,’ however foul that may be.

Christ took upon Himself Our Punishment, and Paid Off Our Debt. That is Why We Call it GOOD Friday. It has to be Claimed, but that, elsewhere.

6. What should We DO on this day?

There are Many things We do, like Arriving Late for Church Service, (Not to say the Office!), Not paying Attention to the Readings of the Reflections (the Sermon), Fidgeting, and Forgetting about the Day or the Thought of the Day as soon as We come out of Church.

We have to consider whether We would do these same things at Our Work Environment, or Allow our Staff to be so!

It is Not only Our Time In the Church. Our Life lived at Home, in the Office, Our Service to Others, and all that could Always do with a Freshening Up.

Given all this, Good Friday is the Best Day to Reflect on Our Life and to Make Decisions to Change. We should not Forget to Live according to these New Decisions! …I Wish You All a Holy and Fruitful Good Friday.

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