Should Religions Grow?
In today’s Gospel we have Jesus sending out 70 of his disciples to spread his word, and his instructions are clear: “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals….”. But then in a later passage in the very same Gospel, we have Jesus saying something quite different: “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “No, not a thing.” He said to them, “But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. (Luke 22: 35-38)
Considering that this last instruction of Jesus is quite different from his first one, I would like to pose a hypothetical question: What if we did not have this different instruction that is found here, and many years later another very holy ‘teacher’ came to us and said: ‘I know Jesus had told you to go without a purse, bag or sandals when you go to preach the Gospel. But now I tell you, the situation has changed, and so the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no weapons must sell his possessions and buy one.’ How would we respond to that new teaching? Isn’t it most likely that most of us would say: ‘Nothing doing, we cannot go against the teachings of Jesus’.
It seems to me that very many of us generally like to set in stone any teaching that is claimed to have come out of the mouth of our religious founder or current supreme leader. And yet, during his own lifetime, Jesus himself changed, and not so infrequently. in addition to the above mentioned example, if we look at the story of the Wedding at Cana, we are told that Jesus himself believed that his ’time has not come’ and yet he later decides to listen to his mother, who ignored his objection, and insisted that helping another in need was more important. Similarly he initially instructs his disciples, ‘Go nowhere among the gentiles..’ (Mathew 10:5) since he believed his Gospel was meant solely for the house of Israel. Later, however, after his interaction with the SyroPhoenecian woman and other such experiences, he changes and tells them, ‘Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Mathew 28;19)
These changes in his teachings/actions do not demonstrate a lack of consistency in Jesus’ teachings, but rather a deep commitment in his journey towards the Ultimate Reality, a commitment to always remain open to God’s revelation wherever it came from. This openness to change one’s viewpoint is seen in many people committed to the path of finding the Ultimate Truth. Once, a journalist pointed out to Gandhi that some of his teachings were inconsistent, even contradictory. In response Gandhi said, “I have never made a fetish of consistency. I am a votary of truth, and I must say what I feel and think at a given moment on the question, without regard to what I may have said before on it …. As my vision becomes clearer, my views grow clearer.” I had a similar experience with my teacher Fr. Anthony D’mello (author of Song of the Bird), who used to preach regularly on Sundays in the Jesuit novitiate in Mumbai. Once he was approached by some troubled Jesuit seminarians, saying: “Father, what you preached today at Mass was contradictory to what you said a few months ago.’ And Tony (as he was called) answered: “That’s what I thought then, but I have moved on. Why are you stuck over there?”
But, most of us are not comfortable with the idea that our ‘religious’ lives are a continuous pilgrimage. Much less are we willing to admit that Jesus’ life too was a continuous pilgrimage. This, despite the fact that the Gospel of Luke clearly states that Jesus grew in wisdom (Luke 2:52), which seems to clearly suggest that his wisdom came to him gradually, and not in one go.
Perhaps, for most of us religion is primarily a commitment first of all to the founder of our own respective religions, and secondly to follow whatever we are told s/he taught. But is that all that religion is? Isn’t religion primarily a journey to experience the Ultimate Reality ourselves, and the founder and his/her teachings essentially meant to be a means to this experience? But since for many of us, our religion is primarily an ‘attachment’ to the founder and his/her teachings, and NOT essentially our own journey to the Ultimate Reality, we prefer to place a full stop (a period) after the last ‘revelation’ received as recorded in the life of the founder of our own respective religions. And acceptance of any new revelation, even more so if it seems to go against something said by the founder, is seen as blasphemous or being unfaithful. But, the reality of our human history is this, that after one religious genius passes away, often enough in another place, another age, a new person comes along and has another experience of God, and then either him/herself or through his/her disciples, creates a new “Scripture” - like Jesus did, like Muhammad did, like the founder of other newer faiths and religious traditions have always done. And quite predictably, the disciples or followers of that new founder place a full stop after whatever that new religious genius offers. But then after some time, another religious genius emerges…. and history, as they say, repeats itself.
This is perhaps one of the greatest differences between science and religion, for science too is in search of the Ultimate Truth, the Ultimate Reality, albeit through a different route. But, in the world of science, despite centuries of belief in the laws of physics or chemistry or biology or whatever other branch, there is always an attempt to find out more and more about the Truth. And although many scientists are stuck in their own ways of thinking, and often may not be able to comprehend a world beyond the existing norms of their particular science, the aim of the scientific world as a whole is always to reach the Ultimate Truth, not to pay homage to whatever their greatest thinkers left behind.
So the question we have to ask ourselves is : Is our own ‘practice’ of religion a quest towards an experience of the Ultimate Reality, or just a ‘follow or protect the founder or current supreme leader’ type of religion? Perhaps, what may help us, is to remember, that the basic principle we could ground our religious pilgrimage on, is the axiom that if God is the source of all TRUTH, then any truth coming from any source, religious or non-religious, must be taken seriously and we have to find new ways of re-structuring our own understanding - because NOT accepting these ‘newly revealed or discovered’ truths is the same as rejecting the truth that is in God. After all, like the world of science acknowledges the limitations in its knowledge of the universe, every single religion admits that there are many limitations in our understanding of God. Why then, should we who believe in God, feel afraid to do the same thing in the world of religion? Why should we end our religious reading of Scripture with “This is the Word of God” which seems to suggest a finality or a full stop in God’s word or revelation to us. Shouldn’t we rather say: "This is the Word of God as it has been revealed to us till today!" - for who are we to stop God from continuing to reveal Self to us?
For thus says the Lord: I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm, and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bodies shall flourish like the grass; and it shall be known that the hand of the Lord is with his servants.
From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.
Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.
The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
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