Didn't Mary pray to God for a place in the inn?
The story of Christmas is something that always brings a warm feeling to many of us and perhaps all over the world even among non-Christians - for the Christmas season is for many filled with carols, gift giving practices like Santa Claus, decorations, sweets and the like. The general sense of bonhomie does create a vibe that is really special and wonderful. So I will not reflect on those aspects of the Christmas story as they are sufficiently reflected upon by most of us.
Instead, I will take up just one small element in that story - namely the story of Mary and Joseph not having a place where they could rest, and that Mary finally gave birth to Jesus in a stall/stable for animals (a manger). This story, of course, is very commonly known by Christians and has been used as a metaphor of Jesus’ life and teachings, - namely that the Jews and many others did not have a place in their hearts for him or his teachings. It has also been used to speak in a devotional way of how poor Jesus was, thus tying in with the theme of how God comes to us through the poor and not through the great and mighty.
Such a story, however, does challenge our notions of what we understand by our commonly held belief that God takes care of his loved ones. Why did God not find a place for Mary and Joseph when they reached Bethlehem? They must have surely prayed for such a place knowing that because of the census the city was likely to be packed.
Most of us respond to the undeniable fact of our human experience that ‘good’ people seem to suffer as much as ‘bad’ people, by convincing ourselves that in the case of ‘good’ people it is a test, but in the case of ‘bad’ people, it is punishment. Isn’t this too simplistic an explanation? Rather, should we perhaps question our notions of how God works in human history and in our lives.
For instance, we know that in both World Wars, there were Christians and other religious people (including priests/pastors) on BOTH sides, praying to the same God to bless them with victory. Again, do we not know of instances where people pray to God to give success in what they are about to do, even when what they are about to do would generally be considered evil, just like others pray to God for success in their efforts to do good? Is there any real evidence that the prayers of either group were/are more effective than the other group’s, or even that either of these prayers are in any way effective in influencing the outcomes? After all, I would suggest that statistically at least, the reality that follows such prayers, does not seem to indicate that the prayers of those intending good are any more successful than the prayers of those intending bad.
So how does God work in our lives? And what use is intercessory prayer? – i.e. prayer interceding with God for something.
My premise, of course, is that ALL our articulations or descriptions of God’s responding favourably to our prayers is not be taken literally, as such a description or belief of God’s intervention in our lives is in the nature of ‘plant language’ (see Blog of June 4, 2023) or analogical language, a phrase propsoed by St. Thomas Aquinas, the great 13th century theologian of the Catholic Church to describe all beliefs about God. And in practice we ourselves do not take literally the notion that God does something because we pray to him for it, because even the more devout of those who believe in God, also believe that despite our prayers, eventually God will only do (if you believe in God of course) what God thinks is right for us. And if God will do that anyway, (whether we pray or not) then of course the obvious question is, Why Pray?
So maybe there is another meaning to “intercessory prayer” or praying to God to solve one’s present problems –since our own experience would confirm that there seems to be no real valid statistical co-relation between the times God does ‘answer’ our prayers, and the times God does not. What then could be the meaning?
Could it be that prayers are all about building a relationship with the Absolute - whichever way one experiences the Ultimate Reality? It is perhaps not about getting favours. In fact in one of Jesus’ teachings he points out that the birds of the air and the lilies of the tree ask nothing of God and yet are taken care of. And so he asks his disciples not to worry about what they need in life “For your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Mathew 6:25-34).
And yet there is the well-known teaching found in two of the Gospels -“Ask, and it will be given you” - that suggests that asking God for favours is what Jesus himself told us to do. But a careful reading of the entire teaching will be helpful, for after saying the above, Jesus ends that teaching with: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13). Mathew’s Gospel also ends in the same way saying “how much more will your Father give good things to those who ask him!” Either of the wordings may invite us to reflect on the fact that Jesus is NOT saying that one will receive whatever one asks for, but that one will receive the Spirit/good things.
So, could prayer and rituals be understood as being a way of seeking this Spirit, this kingdom of heaven; which is another way of saying that they are means to intimately engage with the Ultimate Reality, and in turn, another way to help us grow in our relationship with this Reality? This would be very much along the lines of our engaging with someone we want to build a relationship with – where we share with him or her our desires, our failures, our successes; encourage and praise each other; and so on and so forth. After all in a healthy relationship, we do not build a friendship with someone in order to get some favours – though, of course, in the course of the engagement, one may also communicate one’s needs, as Jesus tells us to do in the Our Father (“Give us this day our daily bread”). But remember that communicating our needs is not the same as focusing on getting what we’ve asked for. It is more just a way of sharing. Jesus too prays for his cup of suffering to be taken away from him in the agony in the garden, but even Jesus did not get what he asked for. In fact, even in the Our Father prayer, we can see that the five other desires/ intercessions made in that prayer are connected not with our needs in this world, but to bringing about the kingdom in our lives and in our world.
Hence, if the meaning of prayers or rituals is somewhere along this line of thinking (we are, after all, using plant/analogical language), then the Biblical statement that ‘for those who love God all things work together for good’, (Romans 8:28) or the Gospel injunction (in Mathew and Luke’s Gospels) to “seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you” or even when we tell someone, “Pray to God and God will take care of you”, or “God will answer your prayers” does NOT perhaps mean that everything will be given to such lovers of God, nor that all theirs prayers will be answered in the literal sense. Perhaps all that these statements could hope to mean is that through this relationship with the Absolute that is gradually built up by such an engagement (prayer), all things will have meaning to the one who prays, and therefore in THAT sense only, all things will work together for their good. Suffering, pain, death...these too can have meaning, and will work towards that person’s good, if that person (either immediately or later) finds meaning in whatever has happened, or eventually happens. And so Jesus asking God to intercede in the Garden does not result in the end of all his suffering, but he eventually learns to find meaning in it, accepts it, and that gives him the strength to go through the suffering that follows. As the famous Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankyl, a Jewish psychiatrist points out, in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, what human beings want most of all is to find meaning in their lives. As both Nietzsche first, and later Frankyl said in slightly different ways: “Those who have a why to live for, can bear with almost any how.” Suffering, then, or the lack of something, are not by themselves the things that we cannot bear; it is the inability to find meaning in that suffering or loss that destroys us within. So prayer, if it is really prayer, i.e. an active engagement with God, and not just rote prayers, or prayers that are used like magic to get favours done, will help us find meaning.
So for Mary and Joseph, there was no question that God was not with them when they could only find a place in a manger. The visit of strangers (the shepherds and the Magi) coming to see Jesus only further entrenched this absolute conviction. And as for finding meaning in these different events, we have a saying about Mary that probably sums it up, for as the lines that come in next Sunday’s Gospel reading tell us: Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. (Lk 2: 19). So Mary searched for meaning in all that happened, in her sufferings and in her joys. And isn’t that what prayer is all about - a loving reflective engagement with God, and not a bartering system (i.e. I will pray and serve you but in return you must do this and this for me)?
One more question: Do these rituals and prayers ever have any practical effects? Here is a parable of mine, The Nine Year ‘Yagna’ (‘ritual sacrifice’), that perhaps we could reflect on:
In a particular region, the people were suffering for many years as there was very little rain. One day, a very wise old person was passing through that area and the villagers told him about their perennial problem. The wise old man then told them that he knew of a particular yagna to the gods of Nature that was known to have great power in bringing rain – but that it was a long and painful yagna.
By this time the villagers had been suffering for many years, and were completely helpless, desperate, and could not see any other way forward – so they told the old man that they would be willing to do anything, make any sacrifice, if they could only get rain on a regular basis. And so finally, after much cajoling he shared with them the details of how that yagna that was meant to ask the Gods to give rain, was to be carried out.
He told them that each of them had to select a small plot of land and plant nine plants that could grow into trees in that small area. But then they told him that they had no water – and so he told them, that was why he had said that this was a very difficult yagna. Because even if they did not have water to drink, each of them had to ensure that each of their respective nine plants would get enough water to survive. And that they would have to do this for nine long years. He also shared with them certain other practices that they would have to follow in carrying out this ritual of looking after those plants for nine years, - practices related to the way they tilled the ground, the way they used their waste, and the way they lived, particularly in their relationship with the animals (including birds and insects) and the environment around them. All this meant that they had to significantly change their life-styles, and sometimes in ways that were quite uncomfortable.
The people thought over this for a long time and finally decided that it was a ‘do-or-die’ situation and so decided to take up this yagna. And so, for nine long years they followed all these requirements religiously. And by the ninth year, a forest had grown in that area and, wonder of wonders, the rains came –and continued to come every year. And by this time the villagers had developed a far greater respect for, and a much more harmonious relationship with Nature. And so they continued to practice this yagna/ritual in all their years.
The question we could ask ourselves now is: Did the yagna/sacrificial ritual really work? Our answer to that question may help us understand how prayer works.
1st Reading – Isaiah 9:1-6
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You have multiplied exultation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you, as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Great will be his authority, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
2nd Reading – Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
Beloved: For the grace of God our Savior has appeared to all men; instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works.
Gospel – Luke 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.
Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,[c] praising God and saying,“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
Comments
Post a Comment