Which comes first: the Belief or the Teaching ?
Today’s Gospel narrates a story that we have all heard many times, about the two others who were crucified with Jesus. And while we all praise the good robber for standing up for Jesus, perhaps we need to reflect more deeply on his response. Here was a person who hardly knew Jesus, though he may have probably heard of him. His only first hand experience of Jesus was a man who was crucified on a cross completely void of any power. Yet, unlike the disciples - who just could not understand what Jesus being the new promised Messiah or King really meant, who right till the end were found jostling among themselves as to who would be the greatest among themselves in Jesus' kingdom (Luke 9:46, Mark 9:34), and who expected Jesus to be this powerful Messiah who would bring all things under his feet, - this criminal on the cross, who sees Jesus completely without power, unable to come down from the cross, still recognizes and confesses him as the Messiah and the true King of the Jews. What a difference from Peter who also confesses Jesus as the Christ, but just cannot understand what that really means, and is so clueless, that Jesus calls him Satan (Mathew 16:23, Mark 8:33).
And it would seem that like the disciples, for most of us, our belief in Jesus is grounded in our belief in him being this powerful Son of God, one in being with the Father as we say in our Creed, and it is because of that, that we take his teachings seriously. In other words, it is because we believe in the divinity of Jesus that we follow his teachings, and not the other way around. This is true for most of us in all religions. It is because numerous Hindus believe that Krishna is incarnate God that they accept and choose to follow the teachings of the Bhagwad Gita which is supposed to have been given by him. It is because Muhammad is perceived as the prophet from God that most Muslims revere his Quran which is supposed to have been dictated by him as he heard it from Allah. In other words it is not the inherent value of these scriptures that draw us to revering the author to be a special emissary or incarnation of God, but the belief that this person was special in a divinely appointed manner that makes us take his teachings seriously. In the same way, it is not because we believe in Jesus’ teachings that we come to honour him as truly reflecting the glory of God (John 1:14).
And that ought to make us reflect. Is our Christianity based on what Jesus taught, or is it primarily based on our belief in Jesus’ divine nature? For if the source of our belief is that Jesus is God, then like the terrorist or religious leaders who send people out to kill others in the name of commitment to Yahweh/God/ Allah/ Ram, we too can harm others because we somehow have been convinced that this is what this mysterious and unknown God is asking of us. It is perhaps because of this that so much evil can be done in the name of the one we revere or worship - because then what we choose to do is not based on his teachings, but on a blind devotion to that person’s special status before God, and therefore in blind obedience to those who we believe speak in His name. Because if Jesus’ teachings were primary, and not his divinity, then how could we maim and pillage and torture, how could we choose to serve ourselves instead of others, how could we throw out immigrants and refugees or anybody who is different from us because they are ‘taking our space’, how could we build our economy on war and destroying others, and all the time call ourselves followers of him who actually taught us that loving one’s neighbour, and being a servant to others, is the only way into his kingdom, and to be his disciples.
Is this what Jesus meant when he told Thomas that blessed are those who do not see, like the disciples saw, and yet believe ? For unlike the disciples, that robber on the cross had not had the good fortune to be with Jesus and see all that he did in the way of wonders and miracles, but he still chose to believe. Is our following of Jesus too based on all the wonders we are told he did, and on the belief that we have that he is the Son of God, and not primarily because we find value in his teachings ? The simple question is which comes first?
First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-3
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you, ‘It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.’ ” So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.
Giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Gospel: Luke 23:35-43
And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
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