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Introduction: Gandhi’s great respect for Christ and the extent to which he drew inspiration from him are revealed in his following statements: “What does Jesus mean to me? To me, he was one of the greatest teachers humanity has ever had.” “Jesus lived and died in vain if He did not teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal law of love.” “Jesus, a man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.” “Jesus was the most active resister known perhaps to history. His was non-violence par excellence.” “Jesus expressed as no other could the spirit and will of God. It is in this sense that I see him and recognise as the Son of God. And because the life of Jesus has the significance and the transcendence to which I have alluded, I believe that he belongs not solely to Christianity but to the entire world, to all races and people. It matters little under what flag, name or doctrine they may work, profess a faith or worship a God inherited from their ancestors.”
Gandhi and Christianity: After reading the life of Christ as presented in the Bible and in the writings of some renowned Christian authors, Gandhi admired the Sermon on the Mount (which shaped his whole philosophy of life) and hoped to see Christians live up to its standards. While living with Christians in England, South Africa and India, Gandhi expected to experience qualities like unconditional love, forgiveness, willingness to sacrifice, meekness, etc., (Qualities of Christ). To his utmost dismay, Christians in his era never lived up to the standards preached by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount and on the Cross. What really attracted Gandhi to Jesus’ life and message is the aspect of Jesus’ suffering. Suffering for others form one of the pillars of Gandhi’s Message to the world. It is worth noting that Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence-satyagraha as already affirmed above has three principles: Truth- Sat/Satya, Nonviolence- Ahimsa and self-suffering- Tapasya. These are called the pillars of Satyagraha. Failure to grasp them is a handicap to the understanding of Gandhi’s nonviolence. Gandhi saw all these principles in Jesus’ life and the one that really attracted him was the third aspect that is Tapasya- willingness to self-sacrifice or suffering. On this note Gandhi declares: “The example of Jesus’ suffering is a factor in the composition of my undying faith in nonviolence which rules all my actions, worldly and temporal.” He kept hanging in his little hut a black and white print of Christ on which was written “he is our peace”. The picture of the crucified Christ wearing only a loin cloth such as is worn by millions of poor men in Indian villages, had touched Gandhi’s heart very deeply.
It was in the Vatican in 1931, after returning from the Roundtable conference in London that Gandhi saw a life size crucifix and immediately had an emotional reaction towards it. After gazing at it, he declared: “I saw there, many nations, like individuals, could only be made through the agony of the cross and no other way. Joy comes not by the infliction of pain on others, but the pain voluntarily borne by oneself.” He understood the cross and believed that when one lived the life Jesus lived, he would probably end up in conflict with the powers that be. For him, Jesus died because of the way he lived. The cross of Christ was therefore the result of his living out his way of life to the end. On the cross, Gandhi saw the perfection of virtue. Living like Christ means a living a life of the cross, without it, life is long dead. Without going too deep into his many points of divergence with Christ, it is good to insist that he found in Christ the greatest source of spiritual strength that man has never known. For him, Jesus Christ is the highest example of one who wished to give everything, asking for nothing in return. Jesus Christ belongs not sorely to Christianity but to the entire world. Jesus was for him the prince of satyagrahi (a nonviolence activist). His suffering is a factor in the composition of his undying faith in nonviolence. Just as Christ passed through the test of nonviolence through his virtues of mercy, nonviolence, love, truth, forgiveness of his murderer etc., Gandhi equally admired the gentle figure of Christ, so patient, so kind, so loving, and so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when abused but turn the other cheek. For Gandhi, how we treat other tells the people more about what we believe. A better Christian follows Jesus in words and deeds. It is thus not just enough to distribute tracts or deliver sound sermons. Gandhi loved the teachings of Jesus Christ and the wisdom contained in the Bible, but he did not feel Christians lived up to these standards.
Conclusion: It is worth noting that Gandhi influenced and keeps influencing Christians. Just like John Paul II whose funeral mass saw united together around his remains political and religious leaders whom he had been trying to put together during his lifetime, the message of Gandhi to imitate Christ and to unite was well understood. Today, on Gandhi Jayanti which commemorate the birth day of Mahatma Gandhi, we give thanks to the Lord for the witnessing of Mahatma Gandhi to the Truth of the Sermon on the Mount and for his life of service and for his defence of the poor and for his action of peace and for his hatred of violence and for the witnessing which he has given that love and sacrifice have a saving power. I am sure, without renouncing in any way any Christian teachings, that if Gandhi were to be a Christian, we should have been thinking of calling him “Saint Gandhi”. This thinking may not be supported by all. Some criticise Gandhi on the grounds that the latter only “accepts the Sermon on Mount thinking it supports his principle of nonviolence and denies the rest of Jesus’ teachings and claims”. Nevertheless, what we can learn from Gandhi is how to put to practice what we profess. In fact, his life should be a painful reminder to Christians. His was not mere intellectual appreciation of the teachings of Jesus. His understanding was grounded in the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount where some of his partners and adversaries professed to be Christians with whom he was engaged for over fifty years. In the process, he has left us two edited works: “What Jesus means to me” and “The Jesus I love”. What is certainly true is that Gandhi not only understood the ethic of the Gospel as well, if not in some ways better, than most Christians, but he is one of the very few men of our time who applied Gospel principles to the problems of a political and social existence in such a way that his approach to these problems was inseparably religious and political at the same time. Christians understand the theology of the cross, while Gandhi puts it into practice.
“Gandhi has taught me more of the Spirit of Christ than has others in the East or West... The world which calls itself Christian talk of truth but Gandhi puts it in practice. Here is the difference... Never in human history has much light been thrown on the cross. It is only through this man who was not a Christian.” – Stanley Jones.
Rev. Fr. C. Joseph,
Counsellor-St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama-Kohima, Nagaland