What makes some religions persist over centuries?

July 28, 2024

 Even though today’s Gospel ends with the people, apparently convinced by Jesus’  miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes, coming to make him King, we do know from other parts of the Gospels, that in fact that was just a momentary response.  Because, we read in various Gospel stories, again and again, even after this and other miracles, that Jesus upbraids the crowds and even his disciples about their lack of faith. In fact, at his trial before Pilate, the Jews ask for Barabbas, and not for Jesus, to be set free, which of course clearly shows their real opinion of Jesus.

And while we may perhaps marvel and wonder how the Jews could not recognise Jesus even though he did all these miracles,  we must remember that these kinds of miracles, true or not, were not particularly ‘new’ for the Jews.  Today’s first reading tells us that long before Jesus, the prophet Elisha had worked a similar miracle of multiplying food. The same Elisha also raised a widow’s son from the dead (2 Kings 4:32-37) just like Jesus raised the  son of the widow of Naim  (Luke 7:11–17), and also healed Naman the Syrian from leprosy  (2 Kings 5:1-27), like Jesus often did during his ministry  - and nobody thought of Elisha except as a prophet.   So for the Jews, the miracles that Jesus was reported to have done, or even those they personally witnessed, did not prove to them beyond all doubt that Jesus was someone different from the other prophets in their own religious history.  Also, we must remember that, at that time, there was much that was attributed to the work of the devil, as the many stories of demonic possession, found even in the Gospels, show.  And so the Pharisees tried to push the notion that since Jesus did not follow the commandments strictly (e.g. by breaking the Sabbath) he could not be from God and was perhaps a spawn of Beelzebub (the Devil).  

Then again, Christians point to the Resurrection of Jesus as the final proof of his special status, but there are resurrection stories found in other religions/ cultures (Mesopotamia, Greece, India etc). The story of the virgin birth too, as I have mentioned in an earlier blog, is not singular to Christianity.  Christians like to claim that these other stories of alleged resurrection or virgin birth are stories of mythological characters, whereas Jesus was a historical figure.  While it is true that Jesus was a historical figure, and so that distinction may be valid, the fact is that neither the Resurrection nor the virgin birth can be historically proved, and so are themselves part of mythological stories.

So, down the ages, there were many (including historical figures) who could (or were claimed to have been able to) do miracles including healings;  and many people who claimed to be a saviour, and even the long-awaited Messiah of the Jews. So what was it that made Jesus’ message persist?

When I think of many new-age gurus, I can see the allure of Jesus. A new-age guru who was very popular during his lifetime, but is no more, once responded to a question on why he didn’t believe in God by saying that he did not believe in anything - because belief did not lead to knowledge, and only doubt led to knowledge. So, for  him, belief prevented us from seeking knowledge. This statement and others like these by various new-age spiritual gurus make us sit up and think. It challenges the mysteriousness of religion and spirituality and makes it more accessible and less esoteric, and religion is no more just a set of rules. And for those for whom Religion did not seem to hold any practical value or any real/new insights,  these new-age gurus seem to offer a reformed religion that makes more sense in this day and age, is more insightful and meaningful and less  burdensome. These new insights, new meanings, this kind of revolutionary thought, seems to be at the heart of any new religion, for Jesus too seems to have offered, a less burdensome more insightful religion that changed people’s lives. However, many of these gurus or godmen / godwomen did not survive beyond a small coterie of followers that actually dwindled away after their death, while Jesus' message did.

But, besides Christianity, all of the major religions  have survived the death of their founder or their early proponents.  And each of these have offered some insight, or some meaning or some kind of freedom from the burden of religion. Let me take just a few examples.  So, in early Arabia, where the poor were burdened by the existence of several competing deities and a religion that was filled with decadent celebrations dedicated to several different idols, where the numerous gods seemed to do nothing to help the poor and disadvantaged, - and in fact going to the religious centre sometimes even required a tax that made the rich richer and the poor poorer, - we have Mohammed bringing the message that there was only one God and that prayer and giving to those less fortunate was the way to get closer to God. He also offered a set of rules that were the same for all and therefore seemed fair and made sense, rather than the burdensome rituals that the existing religious groups offered. Similarly, Buddhism offered the insight that we ourselves are in control of our own happiness, so we do not have to depend on rituals or Gods or even money, to keep ourselves from being filled with sorrow.  Hinduism, or at least the schools of Hinduism that became most popular, redeemed its followers from worrying about good and bad and right and wrong and insisted that all you had to do was perform your duty (dharma) without worrying about the fruits.  

Having said that I have often wondered how Jesus’ message survived, considering it was the only religion whose founder seemed to have ‘lost’ miserably to those in power. And his followers were not rich, nor were they warriors, and it was only over three centuries later that it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Shouldn't each of us try to find our own answer to this as it may help us clarify for ourselves WHY we choose to be Jesus’ disciples?

My own thoughts on this is that it seems to me that the teachings of Jesus took away the burdensomeness of religion, by teaching that we need not worry about satisfying, appeasing and worshipping God, but that our focus must be on loving and respecting each and every human being as our neighbour, and that this was enough for God.  This was absolutely revolutionary for his times and for centuries after.  But this insight regarding the absolute value  of each and every human being (good and bad, saints and criminals, healthy or deformed, intelligent or not, this colour or that, this gender or that and so on and so forth) has resonated so powerfully with human beings down the centuries, so that whether religious or not, as a human race we have arrived at this very same insight through many many paths. It is precisely this which has become the foundation of various articulations as expressed in the French Revolution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the Constitutions of various democratic countries around the world, and is the very basis on which the United Nations was founded. But it was not only that message, that revolutionary insight, that made Jesus so incredibly influential down the centuries. Because added to that, the Jesus’ story is perhaps one of the most powerful and enduring stories we have in the history of our world, one that resonates with all of us, namely the story of a man who preached love and forgiveness and respect for all human beings above all religious beliefs and rituals and everything else, and was killed for it .

And so, may I suggest that if we choose to accept this Christian identity, people should know we are Christians, not by our names, and our attendance at Sunday masses, or by the crosses that we wear, but by our love and forgiveness and respect for ALL human beings, both good and bad, because that is the only true tribute to that Jesus whose life ended in what the world would normally consider a complete failure, namely a death on the cross.

 

1st Reading – 2 Kings 4:42-44

A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said. “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked. But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.

2nd Reading – Ephesians 4:1-6

Brothers and Sisters, As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Gospel – John 6:1-15

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.