Hands, Face, Space & Fresh Air: The Stories of Two Unnamed Women - Reflecting on Mark 5:21-43

Public Health England’s campaign as the restrictions of ‘Stay at Home’ have eased out, allowing six people or two households to meet outdoors since 29th March 2021 has been, “Hands, Face, Space & Fresh Air.” The campaign urges the public to stick to these rules and remember the key behaviours of washing the hands, wearing face coverings, making space and meeting in the fresh air to stop the spread of Covid-19. This guidance still continues and some have commented that these rules will have to remain in place for a longer period of time. In our moving forward, though it is hard to keep up, let’s stick to these rules as advised.

 

The text for this Sunday from Mark 5:21-43 is a passage where Jesus on his way to heal and resurrect the twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus also heals a woman who was suffering from blood haemorrhage for twelve years. As I reflect on this text, I have noticed four important things in it, which are, touch, masks, distance and fresh air, which is to say in our modern contextual terms, is hands, face, space and fresh air. Let me explain it to you.

 

1. Hands/Touch:

We see three people involved in touching in this text. Firstly, it was Jairus on seeing Jesus fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “my little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” (22-23v). It was Jairus, who touches the feet of Jesus and requests Jesus to lay his hands on her daughter for healing. On that touch of Jairus, Jesus went with him to his house. This touch, I call ‘requesting touch.’ Hands and touch are for healing. The second touch is from an unnamed woman, who was suffering from haemorrhage, who was in a crowd on knowing about Jesus, came behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. (27-29v) The woman received physical healing in her life at this touch, for there is healing of her disease. The interesting part of this touch is, now Jesus makes it a big deal to find out who has touched him as healing went out of him, asking “who touched me?” The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him and told him the whole truth. At this touch, Jesus heals her socially and spiritually appreciating her, ‘daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease.’ (32-34v). Here is the moment where the woman finds healing from her dis-easiness. This touch I call ‘restorative touch.’ The third touch in this text is when Jesus takes the unnamed dead girl, the daughter of Jairus, by her hand and says to her, ‘Talitha cum,’ which means ‘little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk. (41-42v). This touch I call ‘resurrection touch.’

 

2. Face/Masks:

In this given passage Jairus and Jesus are the ones, whose faces are well known and they have no masks on their faces. Jairus is a leader of the synagogue, who has a religious status, social status and economic status in his society. He commanded respect in the society, and when he came to plead Jesus to visit and heal her daughter, Jesus went with him. Next, we have Jesus who has become famous with his kind of movement, preaching, healing and challenging the powers, for which huge crowds followed him, everywhere he went. He healed the woman with haemorrhage and brought back life to the little girl in this given text. Two people in this text had to be masked with no face and no names mentioned here. The woman who was suffering from haemorrhage. Her identity was masked by patriarchy and prejudice, for no one remembers her name. It is so sad that eventually the readers of the text over the period of history called this woman as ‘a woman with a flow of blood.’ It is so unfortunate that her disease became her identity. She was masked by the religious law, for she was treated unclean because of her disease. She was broken physically enduring this pain of the haemorrhage for 12 years visiting every physician in her town. She was economically broken, spending money for her treatment. Not sure whether she had a family, if she had one surely, they would have accompanied her or would have pleaded for her like Jairus pleading for her daughter. Maybe due to her disease, she would have been a pain for her family and they would have left her on her own. With all these masks, this unnamed woman was de-peopled in her time and context. The next is the 12-year-old little daughter of Jairus. Again, she too was masked under patriarchy. No mention of her name here. The little girl was known as the daughter of Jairus. There is no record of her conversation in this text. All we know is she was sick on a dying bed, later died and Jesus brings life back to her. Her responses to resurrection were not recorded, whereas the recording of people weeping, wailing, laughing etc. were mentioned in this text. The 12-year-old girl was masked by patriarchy on one hand, and would have been masked as a child in the world of adults with no mention of her true self and identity.

 

3. Space/Distance:

When Jesus was surrounded by a crowd, who gathered around him as he crossed the lake by boat to the other side, Jairus with his religious and social status in the society could find space and access to Jesus and requested him to come and heal her dying daughter. Then the woman who was suffering with haemorrhage, she was on the margins of the society. Because of her disease according to the religious law, she was considered polluted and unclean and had to live outside of the city, away from the crowds. Anyone who touches her would also become polluted. She was untouchable and had to be socially distanced from the rest of the community. Her disease kept her at a distance, religion kept her at a distance, society kept her at a distance, family kept her at a distance and she was at a distance from her real-self. Finally, the little girl, daughter of Jairus. She was at a distance as she was on a deathbed, dying with her sickness, and so Jairus had to go to Jesus on her behalf. Halfway to Jairus house, they heard the news that her daughter died. And a dead corpse was also considered polluting and they would bury the dead body immediately. Anyone who touches a dead body is also polluted and they have certain rituals to follow to be cleansed again. The 12-year little girl who once was in the centre, due to her dad’s status and influence, is now on the margins, outside, due to her death.

 

4. Fresh Air:

There are several waves of fresh air in this text. Firstly, I recognise a breath of fresh air in the resilience of the woman who was suffering from haemorrhage, who took the risk, despite all the masks she had on her identity, despite the space and distance she had to keep from the society, she ventured to be in the crowd and receive healing from Jesus, even if it is to get a chance to touch his cloak. Jesus, by pressing to know who touched her in that crowd, was trying to recognise the resilience of the person who took courage and risk, defying the norms and rules in seeking healing. Imagine if this woman did not find healing that day, and if the crowd recognised that she was the woman with a haemorrhage, she would have received more insults and more punishment for defying those restrictions imposed on her. Her courage offers a fresh air to all the readers in the journey of faith. Secondly, the wave of fresh air comes from Jesus, who gave life to two unnamed women of his times. Jesus could have remained silent in that crowd without making a fuss of who had touched him. Yet, Jesus made that fuss, so that by recognising that woman of faith and courage in the public, he was offering a testimony to his disciples and the crowd to learn the kind of faith and courage this woman was showing in that busy, crowded public sphere. The wave of fresh air comes forcefully when Jesus heals the woman’s dis-easiness of masks, pollution and distance, and grants her freedom and liberation publicly. Jesus unmasks the masks of patriarchy, prejudice and pride. Thirdly, the wave of fresh air in this text is again found in Jesus laying his hand on the dead body of the little girl and bringing her back to life. Jesus willingly touched this dead girl, willingly wanted to take on her pollution of death and offered life to her in return. I think that whirlwind of fresh air was on the writer of this text, for he just recorded the Aramaic word ‘Talitha cum’ in wonder for ‘little girl, get up!’ The mystery and wonder of fresh breath of life remains unchanged, which is only to be celebrated.

 

In the context of social distancing today due to Covid, the calling for us as church is to be responsible in caring for one another, celebrating people and their identities, and offering to be waves of fresh breath of life, resisting exclusion and discrimination. The call for us as churches is to fight patriarchy and misogyny, and celebrate the equality of all genders. Let us like the woman be resilient and courageous in defying the rules in seeking and promoting healing in our midst. Let us like Jesus step out of the comfort zones in offering love and care to those people who are considered polluting and outcastes in our midst. Let us join with Jesus in addressing the dis-easiness of people who are struggling with mental health problems, with physical isolations, with grief, and with lack of companions, for we as a church should be a place of healing to all people in all places of our communities.

 

May the Spirit breathe in us the fresh breath so that we go out into the world as channels of healing, grace and love. Amen.

 

Raj Bharat Patta,

24th June 2021

Pic credit: https://coronavirusresources.phe.gov.uk/hands-face-space-fresh-air/overview/

 

 

Churches growing to nest and shelter the birds of the air: The parable of the mustard seed - Reflecting on Mark 4:30-32

Jesus spoke to his disciples in parables about the mysteries of the kingdom of God as ‘they were able to hear it’ (33v). In this given text Jesus shared the parable of growth of a seed which grows without the knowing of the farmer who has scattered the seeds and the parable of the mustard seed. Over the years many have interpreted the parable of mustard seed in terms of size, that mustard seed is a small seed and grows to become a big tree, and so is it with the Christian faith. But if we get the facts right, we know that mustard seed is not the smallest of the seeds for there are many other seeds smaller than mustard seed. Also, mustard seed grows to become a shrub and it never grows to be a tree, leave alone to be the greatest tree. Why then does Jesus share this parable? Yes, I know many will then argue that parables are allegorical and are told to share a message, and any literal reading of seeking facts might undermine the essence of a parable. As I re-read this parable for our times today, I find that Jesus was sharing this parable with a certain degree of abnormality in mind, that the mustard seed will grow to be a greatest tree nesting many birds on its branches. However, through this unimaginability, Jesus is conveying a message of critique and a message of hope to his audience then and now, which is a message that the kingdom of God is ‘beyond’ normal.

1. The critique against the norm of empire:

The parable of the mustard seed is recorded in all the four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and also in the gospel of Thomas as a parable shared by Jesus about the Kingdom of God. The audience of these gospels were well aware of the first century Jewish kingdom narratives, particularly the metaphorical usage of trees representing the rulers and the empires. In the Old Testament, Assyria and Nebuchadnezzar are depicted as large trees providing shelter to many birds on their branches in Ezekiel 31:6 and Daniel 4:12. In both these instances Assyria as an empire provided shelter to many other neighbouring nations and Nebuchadnezzar as a king provided shelter to his people in his kingdom. When Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which grows to be the greatest tree in the field nesting birds on its branches, though it was not normal for the mustard seed to grow that way, Jesus picked that unimaginability to critique the norm of empire by warning the colonial powers that such an abnormal will be the ‘new’ normal. The kingdom of God grows in an (ab)normal way, defying the norm of an empire, not in the normal way of growing to be a shrub but in a subversion way of growing to be a tree from a tiny pungent mustard seed. The norm of the empire is that the powerful become the tree and under the patronage of the powers and principalities, the rest of the nations and ethnicities seek their shelter. But the norm of the kingdom of God is that out of powerlessness, out of smallness the mustard seed grows to become an unimaginably greatest tree so that the birds of the air can nest on its branches. The parable of the mustard seed becomes a lens to understand that Jesus’ kingdom of God is unimaginable to the known empires of Assyria or Rome, yet in that (ab)normality those that are different from mustard seeds find their shelter. Jesus shared this parable of the mustard seed as a critique to the norms and normalisations of the empires.

 

2. The hopeful aspiration ‘beyond’ normal:

Who would have thought that the mustard seed would grow, become a plant, become a shrub and then turn to be a big tree, the greatest of the shrubs? Jesus by sharing this parable was explaining that the kingdom of God begins as a small seed and then grows unimaginably and (ab)normally beyond normal. This parable expresses a hopeful aspiration of the kingdom of God, for it grows unimaginably, beyond the expectations of the sower, beyond the expectations of the mustard seed, beyond the expectation of the field in which it grows, beyond the expectation of all the hearers and audience of this parable. As is the normal, the kingdom of God which is like a mustard seed growing up, the expectation is to grow as a plant and a shrub. But that edge or notion of growing into a tree and into a greatest tree conveys the eschatological vision of the kingdom of God, which is not limited to the normal, which is not limited to the expected, but which transcends and outgrows the normal. By sharing about the unimaginable growth of the kingdom of God like a mustard seed, Jesus is conveying that the kingdom of God is not what we think as normal where business is as usual, but kingdom of God is ‘beyond’ normal, with unexpectedness, with surprises, with some shocks, and with no limitations. In that (ab)normality, the kingdom of God provides a hope for the mustard seed to become a greatest tree, which was unthinkable and unimaginable. Hope is not knowing the future, but trusting in the God of the future, for God will lead from the known normal to ‘beyond’ normal, into the (ab)normal walking and working with us. 

 

3. The opportune space for a different purpose:

What would be the ultimate purpose of an apple tree? To be fruitful and yield a great harvest of apples. Similarly, what would be the purpose of a mustard tree? To grow mustard seeds and yield a great harvest of mustard seeds. This understanding of the purposes of the trees is a very human-centred view of the trees, where we selfishly think that trees grow fruits for the benefit of humankind. But when Jesus narrated this parable, he said that the mustard seed will grow to be a greatest tree, and never mentioned about the harvest of the mustard seeds, but Jesus said “so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Jesus presents an ecological vision of the kingdom of God, where the mustard seed grows into a tree to nest the birds of the air. The (ab)normality of this parable grows to a greater height when Jesus narrates that the mustard seed not only outgrows from a shrub to a tree, but also outgrows to nest the birds of the air. The (ab)normal growth of the mustard seed to become a hopeful greatest tree is not to enjoy the privilege of being the greatest and biggest tree yielding a great harvest, but to be a space of shelter for a variety of birds of the air to nest on its branches. The (ab)normal comes with an ecological vision of trees being grown not to meet the selfish desires of human beings, but to become a space to nest the birds on its branches. With the trees being cut down because of human greed, we can understand how much it affects the housing of the birds.

 

So, seeking a relevance of this parable today, as we prepare for a re-turn to our churches, the call for us is to engage in a spirituality of the unimaginable and (ab)normal growth of the kingdom of God. Such an engagement requires not to re-turn uncritically to the things we have always done, but to re-envision what God wants us to do at a moment like this. In the present context I see the church as a mustard seed, and the kingdom of God is where the church grows (ab)normally to be a tree nesting the birds of the air as its ecological missional calling. No one would expect the church to grow into a tree, but if we want to be part of the kingdom of God that Jesus inaugurated, it might look (ab)normal, but it is the need of the hour, to become a tree to shelter birds, save them from extinction and save the planet.

 

Secondly the (ab)normal growth of the church like the kingdom of God happens as a critique of the empire which comes to us in the forms of capitalist understanding of growth for whom numbers and profits are all that matter. The (ab)normal growth as a church is recognised not in the yield of the mustard seed harvest, but in providing shelter to many people who do not have shelter, becoming a space of hospitality to all those who are on the move, crossing boundaries and oceans, and by offering to be a Christian presence of sharing love, peace and justice with people in our communities. These outcomes certainly sound abnormal to many people for whom church is all about filling the pews, but the parable of the mustard seed speaks to us to think of the kingdom of God growing (ab)normally to be a tree addressing housing issues for birds, for people and to all those that are in need of shelter.

 

Thirdly, the (ab)normal growth of the church as the kingdom of God happens in the unknown, the unexpected and the unimagined ways of doing church. The mustard seed growing to be a shrub was a normal phenomenon, but growing to be a tree, and to be a housing tree is that extra edge that Jesus was pushing the boundaries, which is but the very meaning of the kingdom of God. We cannot follow Jesus without following this ‘edginess.’ As churches today the calling for us is to allow God to push our boundaries to do things that are different from what we have always done, and to be prepared as churches to grow (ab)normally, ‘beyond’ normal, so that we become relevant for our times today.

 

Allow me to reiterate, for Jesus, the growth of the mustard seed is in it growing to be a greatest tree by sheltering the birds of the air, and so it is for the church in the design of the kingdom of God. Jesus in a way was abnormalizing normality and normalising abnormality. Jesus elsewhere in Matthew 17: 20 said that if we have a faith like a grain of mustard seed, we can do the impossible. May God grant us such a faith like the grain of mustard seed so that we can grow as a church (ab)normally by sheltering those needy people in our spaces. May this parable of the mustard seed inspire us as a church in our reimagining to (ab)normally grow as a church being a church with an ecological vision, and with a communitarian vision with a preference to those on the margins. Perhaps in growing (ab)normally we as a church will find our relevance today. Post-lockdown is an opportune time for us to discover and explore our (ab)normal ways of being a church.

 

Raj Bharat Patta

10th June 2021

Who do people say we are as a church? Missioning despite (Mis)branding: Reflecting on Mark 3:20-35

As the restrictions of lockdown are easing out, as we begin to rethink about the being and re-becoming of our churches, we are called to reflect on how we are known as a church in our community today? Perhaps the other way to ask is how better can we be known as a church apart from our buildings and locations? Some of the posters outside the church during the lockdown read, “we as a church have gone online” and they are still hanging outside some church buildings. How can we re-turn as churches offline again during this post lockdown? Perhaps it's time, we prayerfully wait on God to listen to God’s voice for our mission today.

 

In Mark 3:20-35, we read Jesus being (mis)branded by the people in his society for his radical inclusive gospel. In verse 21, his family members were trying to protect Jesus as people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” Then later in verse 22, we see Sadducees (mis)branding Jesus that, “Jesus has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” Jesus confronted these allegations and (mis)branding of him and spoke to them in parables and again reiterated what they have said, which is, “He has an unclean spirit” (30v). Right at the start of his ministry, Jesus received allegations and accusations by the religious authorities. There are many themes in this text, which include the conversations with Jesus’ family members and the unforgiveness of the sin on the Holy Spirit, and about the parable of stealing a strong man. Jesus was known in his community as an insane person, as a demonic and as an untouchable, all because he put life before law, love before legalities.  

 

Why was Jesus (mis)branded as an insane person? In the previous chapter 2, we see Jesus calling Levi, a tax-collector to follow him, and then was dining with tax-collectors, which the religious pharisees complained saying, “Why does he eat with sinners and tax-collectors?” (2:16) Jesus confronted them saying that he has come to call not the righteous but sinners at that point. Later he reinterpreted sabbath, when Pharisees complained against Jesus that he was breaking the law saying, “sabbath was made for humankind and not human kind for the sabbath, and the Son of Man is the lord even of the sabbath” (2:27-28). In Chapter 3:1-5, Jesus heals a withered man on a sabbath and the Pharisees conspiring with Herodian against Jesus, “how to destroy him” (3:6). Jesus then healed many people from different parts including the region around Tyre and Sidon, which are gentile areas. Perhaps such a thing of meeting the strangers and healing people from such non-Jewish regions would have also irked the religious authorities, for Jesus was healing and treating everyone equally transcending all boundaries. Many people who had unclean spirits were healed by Jesus and they were shouting at Jesus, “You are the Son of God'' (3:11), which would have been blasphemous to the ears of Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

In essence, Jesus was (mis)branded as insane person for the way he has come out in the society radically altering the doctrine and practice of the law, and not according to the way of these religious authorities, who were considering themselves to be the custodians of the law. If Jesus upheld the status quo of the religious law and practice, these Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes from Jerusalem and Herodians wouldn’t have a problem with Jesus. On the contrary Jesus disrupts such status quo, breaks down the walls of division, resists empire, befriends with people who are considered outcasts, embraces the excluded and builds a just and inclusive community, for which the cost he has to pay was to be (mis)branded as a ‘person who has lost his mind,’ a person who has Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons inside him and as a person with unclean spirits.

Jesus counters these (mis)branding by raising several questions as he speaks in parables. By contesting these (mis)brandings, Jesus was also countering the stigmatisation of people with mental health issues, for people ‘who have lost their minds were looked down and discriminated against in their society.  Here are at least five things that Jesus spoke in this context, offering hope and courage in the journey of the mission.

 

How can Satan cast out Satan? (23v) - One of Jesus’ mission was to cast out the demons of his times, which includes the empire who exploit the poor and the powerless and religious fundamentalism: the system that oppresses people based on law, texts and rituals.  Therefore, when Jesus raised this question, he was revealing his mission on one hand and on the other exposing the nexus of evil with religious authorities and the empire.

 

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand (24v) – Jesus once again was challenging that there are divisions in their land in the name of identity, region, religion, gender etc. was calling on them to overcome their divisions so that they can all together and unitedly fight against the greater evil the Roman empire. One of the mantras of the empire is to divide and rule, so Jesus was provoking his listeners including the religious authorities to resist that division and stand united in their fight for liberation of their land.

 

If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand (25v) – Jesus was emphasising the unity, togetherness, co-operation, partnership among the people of the same household, for it is love that unites them all together in their diversity. If a house doesn’t nurture a spirit of unity in diversity and either strives for uniformity or suppresses the difference, such a house will not be able to stand. This again was a challenge that Jesus was throwing at his listeners to strive to celebrate unity in love and humility in a house to stay together.

 

But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered (27v) – Now that Jesus and his people are living under the occupation of the Roman empire in that first century Palestine, by this parable Jesus was inspiring his people and calling them by saying in order to liberate their land from the Roman empire, they need to tie down the powers and principalities in their land for only then comes liberation, plundering back what was plundered from them. Jesus again was revealing his mission, which is to tie down the powers and principalities and inviting his fellow citizens to join in that mission so that collectively ‘plunder’ and liberate their land and people from the occupation.

 

Anyone who blasphemes against Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin (28v) – All that Jesus has been doing was by the Spirit of God in him, and so at this point Jesus warns his community that if anyone tires to chain this Spirit, wants to dictate terms to the Spirit of God or limit the ambit of the Spirit of God to only few chosen people, they will not enjoy the freedom that the Spirit of God offers. In a way Jesus was saying let us celebrate the unpredictability and ambiguity of the Spirit of God, for she is like a wind not knowing from where it comes and to where it goes.

What is the relevance of this text in our context today?

 

1. Today who do people say we are as Christians and as a Church? Are we known by our love or by our doctrine or by our tradition or by our ritual or by our texts? Perhaps this given text is a call for us to be known in our community by our love. Towards that cause we might be (mis)branded, yet it is worth being (mis)branded for the cause of love rather being branded ‘righteous’ with our exclusive attitudes.

2. Jesus is inviting us to join with him in the mission of casting out the demons of our society today. Demons like inequality, racism, casteism, occupation, tax dodging, discrimination, consumerism, fundamentalism etc. – As churches we are called to contest these demons and strive for a just world.

3. We are called to celebrate unity in diversity, celebrating difference, practicing humility in accepting and receiving one another in all fronts of life today.

4. Let us be prepared to be surprised by the Spirit of God, for she comes with a spark of unpredictability and graciousness, calling to love everyone beyond any doubt.

5. As churches we have a role to support people with mental health issues, offering friendship, love and cordiality and resisting any form of stigmatisation of people.  

 

May the Spirit of God be with us in our being known as Christians and as a Church by our love for the ‘other.’ May the Spirit of God be with us in contesting the demons of our times and strive for the Kingdom of God here on the earth. Amen.

 

Raj Bharat Patta,

3rd June 2021

A conversational reading of John 3:1-17

John 3:1-17 (Narrative Script Adapted from NRSV version)

Narrator: It was late in the night, clouds wrapping itself around the moon. Now there was a Pharisee: A government official, a religious teacher, a learned scholar of Hebrew texts, and a leader of Jews. His name was Nicodemus. When everyone was asleep, Nicodemus comes by at night and says to Jesus, the one who has just cleansed the temple by taking a whip and turning water into wine at a wedding at Cana.

Nicodemus: ‘Rabbi J, I am sorry to have come by night and hope I am not disturbing you at this hour. We know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ 

Narrator: Jesus answers Nicodemus,

Jesus: ‘Very truly, I tell you Nick, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’

Narrator: Nicodemus says to Jesus,

Nicodemus: ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old Rabbi J? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’

Narrator: Jesus answers,

Jesus: ‘Very truly, I tell you Nick, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “Nick, you must be born from above.”  The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So, it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’

Narrator: Nicodemus says to him,

Nicodemus: ‘How can these things be Rabbi J?’

Narrator: Jesus answers him by saying,

Jesus: ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things Nick? ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.    And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Nick, I tell you and to all those listening to our conversation, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

 

@rajpatta, 29th May 2021

 

God the source of all breath - Prayers for India during second Covid wave

 God the source of all breath,

We join with the people in India

crying for a breath of oxygen,

crying for a breath of life,

crying for a breath of love,

during this deadly second covid wave.

 

Breathe your fresh breath of life O God into all our creation,

Breathe your peace to all those who lost their dear ones,

Breathe your healing to all those infected by this virus,

Breathe your wisdom to all health workers offering their care,

Breathe your knowledge to all politicians to make responsible decisions,

Breathe your comfort to all those living in fear, anxiety and depression,

Breathe your love to all people, specially to the vulnerable and those on the margins,

Breathe your justice so that corporate capitalism of profit making is contested,

Breathe your compassion so that vaccines are made available to all people,

Breathe your solidarity so that we stand together in overcoming this pandemic

Breathe your Spirit on us so that we strive towards transforming our world today,

Breathe your grace on us to care, to share and to love one another beyond doubt,

Breathe on us your fresh breath of life O God…

 

We ask this in the name of Jesus, who shares our breath. Amen.

 

@rajpatta

29th April 2021

The True Vine and the Farmer: Reflecting on John 15:1

Early in the year 2021, thousands of farmers in India protested against global capitalism opposing the proposed legislations put forward by the national government, and gained international attention exposing the agrarian crisis in India. P. Sainath, a renowned journalist and a scholar on rural India, described the current agricultural crisis in five words, “hijack of agriculture by corporations.” He notes the process by which it is being done in five words too, “predatory commercialisation of the countryside.” And in another five words he described the outcome, “biggest displacement in our history.” Though they constitute the world’s largest population of surviving small farmers, Indian peasants’ lives have been jeopardized by neo-liberal globalisation and legislation. The suicide rate among Indian farmers has skyrocketed, due to the debts incurred on their crops, while at the same time, the agrarian crisis is exposing the climate change crisis and its impacts on food sovereignty on our planet today.

 

Against the backdrop of the growing agrarian crisis, I read John 15:1–8 with a subaltern hermeneutic, offering a counter-hegemonic reading, contesting the episteme of privilege, power and domination, which is a reading from below and a reading from the margins. Subalternity deconstructs texts that portray political difference, arriving towards transformation rather than understanding of the texts only. In that spirit, I offer two subaltern insights into this text.

 

In John 15:1, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.” Jesus picks the common, agrarian images of his times and conveys the meaning of his being and be-coming, relevant for his public sphere. Inverting the anthropomorphism that has become a norm, where human-being becomes the centre and human traits are attributed to the rest of God’s creation, Jesus’ usage of the image of a vine and his claim to be the “true vine” are ways of contesting the domination of humanity over the rest of the creation. When Jesus says, “I am the true vine,” he de-anthropomorphises the imagery, dismantles the hierarchy of humans above the rest of the creation, and offers an ecological perspective on his life and mission, emphasising his kith and kin relationship with the creation. Out of the seven “I am” sayings of Jesus that John has recorded in his Gospel, six are not anthropomorphic in nature, and at least four are from the ecological worldview: I am the bread, the light, the door (doors to the sheep pen were either made of stone or wooden fence), and the vine. If Jesus’ being and be-coming are defined in ecological perspectives, with life at the heart of it, the calling for the disciples of Jesus today is to widen our horizons from our narrow anthropomorphic worldviews and embrace and engage the ecology of God’s creation, striving for a greener and healthier planet today. 

 

Jesus nowhere mentions, “I am the strong tower,” or “I am the mighty warrior,” or even “I am the new Moses.” Rather, Jesus identifies himself using the images of everyday life, for Jesus always has identified with the simple, weak, and vulnerable in the creation, demonstrating his preferential option for those on the margins. Therefore, a de-anthropomorphic reading of the texts and contexts helps us to bring creation and its life to the forefront and in the aforementioned contexts helps us to understand the struggles of the farmers in India and elsewhere in the world, where life, bio-diversity, agri-culture, and sharing of food takes the centre stage, rather than financial profit and hijacking by corporations. It therefore becomes a theological necessity for followers of Jesus Christ, the true vine, to stand in solidarity with the struggles of the farmers who are fighting for the life of the creation.

 

The second subaltern hermeneutic from this reading is the “de-transcendental divine,” where Jesus says that his Father is the “vine grower.” If Jesus explains himself with de-anthropomorphic imagery as the true vine, his understanding of God is a de-transcendental divine. God is a gardener, who works as the farmer in the vineyard and toils day in and day out to bring in a good yield of the grape crop. What is the ground on which Jesus the true vine grows? This is where I think that God, who Jesus explains as the farmer, offers to be that ground where Jesus the true vine sprouts and grows with branches and grapes. The aforementioned  two subaltern hermeneutics are not mutually exclusive, rather they are interdependent upon one another. The de-transcendental divine is on the one hand the farmer, and on the other hand the ground, the space in which Jesus the true vine grows as a creeper out of that ground. God the farmer is not yet another anthropomorphic image. Rather, God is the ground, the soil, the being out of whom the true vine shoots up.

 

Here I would prefer to read Father as Parent, including both father and mother, for the farmers in my locality in India are not gendered to be male farmers only but include both men and women, working as landless farmers. The Parent represents the farmers today and their struggles, because as a Parent, God truly understands their pain and sufferings. So, God the farmer becomes the focus of this text. The Greek word translated “vinegrower” by the NRSV is georgos, which can also be translated “husbandman,” “tiller of the soil,” or even “farmer.” In my native home language (Telugu), this term is translated, Vyavasayakudu, that is,an “agricultural farmer.”  If I were to use an even more colloquial Telugu term, the saying of Jesus could be translated, “my Father is a Rythu (a simple farmer).” Today most of the Dalits, who are born outside of the caste system, are the Rythus and have been the worst victims of globalisation, because they work as landless labourers and live at the mercy of the landlords.

 

If Jesus is the true crop, then the disciples are the branches, and God is the farmer, the ground, the soil, the carer, and the nurturer. When Jesus speaks about God as Rythu, the farmer, he unsettles the image of God from all the colonial trappings of the conception of God as omnipotent. Instead,God is a farmer, tilling the soil and toiling for the yield of the crop. A subaltern hermeneutic unsettles the divine from “transcendental” notions and locates God as “de-transcendental divine,” as Rythu, the farmer.

 

Within the Western theological thought, God-talk found its fecundity within the paradigms and parameters of transcendentality. God has always been understood as the transcendental other. But Dalit theology, in the context of a postcolonial turn towards materiality, shifts towards a “de-transcendentalized sacred” epistemological position. With this shift, Dalit theology envisages an immanent God who is intrinsically connected to matter/flesh. 

 

In such a context, Y.T. Vinayaraj argues in his book, Intercessions, that transcendence is not totally rejected, but it is not at all an experience of the “beyond.” In the context of postcoloniality, echoing A.P. Nirmal’s understanding of Dalitness as Christianness, for Vinayaraj, God is a Dalit God, and such a Dalit God is an enmattered God, in which the becoming of the Dalit body is re-envisaged within. Dalit God is an enwombed God, out of whom the fluidity of life flows. The dichotomy between transcendence and immanence is denied and tangled towards an open materialism and open immanence, where the understanding of God oscillates towards the immanent image, in this given text, as the farmer.  In that immanent turn, Agamben, a contemporary Italian philosopher who argues that messianc time does not stand for a particular point of time in which the world will be transformed, rather is neither the future, nor the past, nor it is the end of time, but rather the time of the end. So alluding to Agamben, Vinayaraj observes that a messianic God is a God who happens in the present unfulfilled promises and such a God is not a God with a future orientation. He further says, “For Agamben, the cross of Jesus Christ becomes the fulcrum of theo-politics where we see a weak God who relinquishes sovereignty and power. It is a weak God who embodies the politics of the marginalized and the excluded. It is not an identifying God who comes from beyond and incarnate; rather, it is a God who ‘inter-carnates’ as the inherent potentiality to challenge the practice of exclusion within the political process of becoming” (pp. 142–143). 

 

Such a shift towards immanentality in theology, situates God as Rythu, the farmer, the ground, who would ‘rapture’ from within the communities of subalterns to challenge domination and hegemony of exclusion in the society. This shift evolves a totally new language for God-talk, situating and locating the divine among and within the margins, the subalterns, and therefore God as the Rythu, the farmer offering hope to the subaltern communities in our quest for justice.   

 

God as Rythu, the farmer, therefore, as a de-transcendental divine can be found in the creation narratives in Genesis, if read with farmers’ eyes. For me, when the earth was without form and was void, when there was darkness hovering on the waters, God the Rythu, the farmer tilled the soil of darkness, giving a form to earth, and yielded a fruit, which he called “light.” God the Rythu then created the skies, separating them from the waters for rains, and worked hard on the land to divide the waters into seas and the dry land into earth, where it brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seeds, and trees bearing fruits. God the Rythu then created the seasons, which play an important role in farming, and the sun and moon, which help the plants for photosynthesis. God the Rythu then created life in the waters, and waters to be the life to the farm; then the birds and the animal-kind that are interdependent on the farm for their living. God the Rythu then created humankind to be the kith and kin to the earth, by taking care of the earth and its yield. God the Rythu, the farmer, identifies with all the farmers today, echoing their calls for justice, demanding that life be at the centre of all of God’s creation. God, the Rythu had the best knowledge in terms of farming and created so meticulously the interdependence of earth-waters-plants-animals-humans. As God created the first human in God’s image, God made Adamah to take up God’s work, to till and keep the land (Gen 2:15) as a farmer. And later Cain, the first human child to be born according to the biblical narrative, had to follow his father’s line of work to cultivate and till the land as a farmer. In other biblical passages like Isaiah 5, God as the farmer is again brought to light. Also in the New Testament, Jesus several times used the field, seeds, vineyard, farmers, and fruits as imagery in many of his parables and messages. Jesus himself is described as the first-fruit of resurrection, which was the act of God the Rythu, the farmer.

 

Subaltern hermeneutics offers two insights in this text, a “de-anthropomorphic” reading and “de-transcendental divine” reading. These readings offer hope to the subaltern communities in their journey of faith today and challenge all readers to seek partnerships with the creation, for Jesus is the crop, the vine, the rice, the carrots, the spinach, the sugar cane, the apples, etc. Our role is to care for the creation around us, repenting of our hegemony and domination. With the farmers in the streets, demanding justice, God the Rythu stands in solidarity. Likewise, the church is called to join with God the Rythu, the farmer, working alongside farmers for justice and life. In conclusion, if i have to offer political theology of this text John 15: 1 in nine words: “God of Jesus the true vine is the farmer.” 

 

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@rajpatta, 24th April 2021

Written for Political Theology blog and can be read on this link:

https://politicaltheology.com/the-true-vine-and-the-farmer/

Pic credit: https://mackchurch.org/sermons/i-am-the-true-vine/