Sunday Times 2
‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me’
It is the government’s responsibility to provide security and the government’s failure to act upon the intelligent report received well ahead of the attack cannot be taken lightly
The shock and sadness among the people of Sri Lanka, the Christians in particular, is unabated even after seven days since the deadly Easter Sunday attack that took place on three churches and three prestigious hotels in Colombo. The blood of the victims cries out loud from the ground as our cheeks are still undried with tears. We do feel the heaviness in our hearts. I am sure the coming days are going to be very challenging for our nation and for ourselves.
For many young boys and girls who are less than 18 years old, this may be their first-time experience. Fear and confusion were well evident on their faces. My daughter who falls into this category was highly troubled and was calling me from a distant place with many questions. After patiently listening to her, I answered her by quoting Romans 14:8, “If we live, we live for Christ, and if we die, we die for Christ. So, whether we live or die, we belong to Christ.”
Death and Christians
The above biblical reference was written after the resurrection of Christ when the early followers of Jesus were facing persecution even death. The Christian community grew unabated despite being persecuted and even being killed. The simple message that the cross of Christ and the witness of the early Christians is that death was never a threat or a force that could stop the Christians. The statistics of world Christian population is an obvious evidence to that effect. Therefore, the answer to IS or to any other attack on the Christians is that, “We will not stop”, because in death we find life.
Non-retaliation of the community
The shock and the brokenness were not without the wave of anger which was electricising the emotions of the Christians. However, they were able to keep calm and did not unleash violence on Muslims at large. This must be commended while we don’t approve of the few regrettable incidents that occurred. This includes the threat on the Pakistani Catholic and Ahmadi refugees in Negombo. We must not forget that the non-retaliatory character is a uniqueness that comes from the cross of Jesus himself and it is not a weakness, but it is our strength. The Cardinal, our bishop and the leaders of the churches must be applauded for their role and leadership in not permitting the emotions of the faithful to get out of control.
Difficult questions
This, however, did not keep the faithful from struggling with difficult questions. It was Easter Sunday, a celebration of Jesus’ triumph over death and evil. The carnage after the attack, sounded the contrary and sounded as if evil has triumphed. Where is God? Was the bitter cry that burst through the agony and brokenness. The absence of God to protect and deliver was troubling indeed. The disciples of Jesus, too, would have felt the same on the very first good Friday.
The answer lies in the carnage. There we see Jesus, mutilated, bloody and dead. God was not outside; He was inside. This gives us an idea to ponder about the intensity of the sin. A sin against humanity is a sin against God, indeed.
This gives rise to another question. If God himself was killed, then where do we place our hope and faith?
The answer lies in our pilgrim experience. As I mentioned earlier, nothing, even death, could stop the growth of Christianity. On the contrary life in death was getting fully uncovered. Let me take another example, look at all those families who have lost their mothers or fathers too early in life. Have you ever seen their children starving on the road? The answer is, ‘no’. The Lord takes care and fills the gap, even though the feeling of the physical absence of that person is bitter and non-replaceable. Time heals and we wait patiently in pain and in faith.
Our responses
a) We strongly condemn such cowardly crime against humanity and label them “evil”
b) We express solidarity with the victims and their loved ones as we ourselves grieve. We don’t try to answer questions but only listen and offer our presence. Even when feelings are critical of God. I must say that I was truly taken up by the concern shown to me by my Buddhist friends during this time of crisis.
c) We must not retaliate and let the world know that we are a community who finds life in death and that is our strength. It is our uniqueness.
d) It is our Christian duty to be the voice of the voiceless: In this context, the innocent Muslims. In the process of the government’s operations in cracking down the culprits, the entire Muslim community should not be perceived as, “terrorists” and “suspects”. God loves them, too.
e) We must fight the evil and be vigilant: The ultimate call and a commitment of every baptised Christian. An Inter-faith methodology would be the best.
Experts are now analysing the reasons as to why Christians in Sri Lanka were targeted. It could be the understanding that groups such as ISIS believe that the Christians are an ally of the West. The war is between the ISIS and the West. Therefore, all sympathisers and allies of the West must be eliminated. This seems to be the motive behind the attacks.
However, it is the government’s responsibility to provide security and the government’s failure to act upon the intelligent report received well ahead of the attack cannot be taken lightly. The ones who are responsible including the politicians who play hide and seek must be brought to justice. We must not forget that even as I write this, more than 250 people, including women and children are killed and more than 500 are injured in this deadly attack. We may forgive but justice must be done.
It is also important to be aware of vested political interests and agendas that are now speculated in connection with these attacka. They must be exposed and defeated.
We must also be aware about the business community and ponder whether there are attempts to stifle the business of the Muslims. This would be an easy method by the non-Muslim competitors to find, ‘competitive advantage’.
f) We were told at a recent meeting that the meaning of “Thowheed Jama’ath (the local group that was believed to be involved in the attacks) is “the group for monotheism”, meaning a group fights for “one God” principle. We heard the Batticaloa Zion church pastor saying in the media that the attackers looked very calm and happy. And it’s no secret now that it was only to kill the innocent women, children and men, in the name of God. Unbelievable but true. Totally misguided and brainwashed. Did Judas have a similar countenance when he betrayed Jesus with a kiss? Did he think that he was doing a favour to God as the Easter Sunday attackers?
We must stand against all forms religious extremism including Christian extremism. The time has now come to say, “No”. It’s important to realise that, we don’t find a single verse in the gospels that points to Jesus as criticising or downplaying another religion. He was only critical about his own religion and called that leaders to conform to the right spirit of the scriptures. We still have some Christians who are very critical and disrespectful towards the other religions. They preach extremism in the name of God. Sadly, there is significant section of the Christian faithful who support the “Zionist movement” of Israel. What difference do we find between the Zionist concept of God and the Thowheed exremists? Religious extremism must stop immediately. Let me quote a model of Bishop Lakshman Wickramasinghe in reference to mission in a pluralistic society: “Togetherness but uniqueness”. We must keep our uniqueness but it must be exercised in the spirit of togetherness. Do we need repentance in this regard?
g) We are now puzzled between the security requirements and holding public worship. The decisions are not very easy to make. How can we stop worshipping the Lord? How can we stop coming together? But has the time come for us to contemplate on new and creative forms of worship while remembering that the early church met in houses?
Conclusion
These are no doubt hard days for us Christians. We are confronted with difficult decisions to make as death stands at the door step. We surely uphold and sustain life, because life belongs to God. However, if the choice is between worship and death, we will not compromise for in death we find life.
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. You are with me. Your rod and staff comfort me” (Psalm 23:4-5)
(Rev. Andrew Devadason, MA is the Assistant Priest at St. Paul’s Church, Milagiriya, Colombo 4, andrewdeva@gmail.com)