Thepfulhouvi Solo
What long ago a Jewish teacher named Yehohshua –Iesous or Yisu or Isu, Jisu or Jesus in different languages of the world today, after the development of the Roman letter ‘I’ and ‘J’ to represent the Long and Short pronunciation respectively of the consonant ‘Y’ in the 16th Century– taught the people from the gentle slopes of the now beautifully managed lawns on the mountain to the North edge of the Sea of Galilee in Israel, Mankind’s moral understanding of Ethics changed forever.
The SERMON ON THE MOUNT, as it is known to Christianity, promises:
“Blessed are the pure in Heart, for they will see God,
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy,
“Blessed are those who thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,
“You are the Salt of the Earth, ...
“You are the light of the world, ...
“If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other,
“If someone takes your tunic, let him have your cloak as well”.....
And many other gems of Ethical Principles.The Sermon on the Mount, 2000 years later, in the 20th Century, must have inspired Mahatma Gandhi in the development of his Principles of non-violence and now affects modern Men tremendously for the betterment of the nation and the world at large, and many Leaders adopts Non-violence for fighting Civil and Political Rights.
The Scripture contains Inspiration for the Reformation and Innovation of Government and Nations too.
The parting Word a dear person -never to meet again- utters at the moment of parting is unforgettable. The last Commandment of Jesus to his disciples just before he finally left them, recorded in Mathew, the longest Gospel Book, is: “go and make disciples of all nations”; in the shortest Gospel Mark, it is: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” and the second longest Gospel Luke recorded: “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations”. John, the fourth Gospel Writer simply recorded a poignant conversation Jesus had with Peter for the last time in the hearing of all:
Jesus said to Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my Lambs”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you”
Jesus said, “Take care of my Sheep”.
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “do you love me?”
He said, “Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep”.
The one sentence last commandment Jesus made to his selected Disciples, a bunch mostly of barely literate, ordinary, day to day and hand to mouth bread earning, tame lowly Fishermen on the shores of the lake variously called ‘Sea of Tiberias or Sea of Geneseret or Sea of Galilee’ in Israel so profoundly motivated them to become fearless, restless and utterly committed selfless Teachers to renovate and reform the ancient Jewish Faith to new heights of Reality unimaginable to the authorized, traditional paid jealous religious establishment, the Learned and the Powerful.
The Leaders of the religious establishment and Authorities eliminated the Jesus but he rose from the death as he had said he would when alive long before and the tame, timid, powerless Galilean Fishermen were inspired into fearless courage and boldly spread to the whole of the unimaginably vast and powerful Roman Empire covering all the then known world and Waters with the Good News of their crucified, buried but wonderfully risen Messiah, actually God becoming man and dwelled among man, to reveal salvation of man caught in the madness of Man’s selfish Frailties and unconscionably unconscious Evil nature.
This simple Gospel in unbelievable plain story of virgin birth, of curing the blind from birth and of diverse diseases, of making whole the invalids, raising the dead, forgiveness of Sin and resurrection from death, seemingly a shade superstitious, irrelevant, coming out of the mouth of the ordinary, the untrained and uneducated; appeared irrational to the learned, the educated, the powerful, the elites Scholars. They saw the happenings but did not perceive and discern the divine spiritual scheme.
Science found Water, designated H2O, a Compound of two Gases -Oxygen and Hydrogen- forms water. If Water is separated into Oxygen (O) and Hydrogen (H), none of them separately is any longer Water. They are each become completely of different characteristics from each other or from Water.
The word of God is a compound of two inseparable parts –one of preaching and the other of living what is preached. When, what is preached is done in deeds; the word and the deed together form the living Spirit of God. And just like a degree of increased temperature of the Earth melts the whole of the Arctic snow revealing the bare beautiful land; the word of God in the Gospel immensely inspires new truth of reality.
If preaching the Gospel does not inspire, if the preaching does not include real life truth, if it is not with real life deeds; it is dead Gospel. The Word of God is Living Spirit and performs Works. The living Word is God:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that was made.”
Most pastors and religious teachers from the pulpit in the Church in Nagaland seem to take preaching the Gospel as the whole of everything in the Gospel.
The Gospel of Christ is composed of two parts –Preaching and doing what is preached. If taken only as preaching without doing what is preached, then the Preacher and the Hearer profit nothing; then the Preaching is only dead Word. Salt that has its Savor can be said to be alive. Salt, which has not its Savor, is useless. Preaching of the Gospel alone is like salt that has lost its characteristic taste. The Gospel of Jesus is preaching the Word with living what is preached.
If preaching alone is the whole of the Gospel, then God would not have needed the amazingly wonderful action of “the Word became flesh and dwelled among man”. Then the preaching of Elijah, Elisha, of Isaiah, Jeremiah and the many other Prophets alone would have sufficed. The Cross would have then been a Farce. John the Baptist was the greatest of the Prophet born of woman but he is the least in the Kingdom of Heaven!
Preaching the Word without human flesh is hypocrisy, it is only show business, devoid of reality. The Gospel from the mouth not originated from depths of the heart is pure hearsay. It is only beautiful fairy tale. The Christian tomb has a deep meaning: the Gospel of Jesus preached without deeds by the dead in the tomb, has no meaning.
The Church in Nagaland must be forged in the furnace; this is the only way to shed the Dross of the State to produce pure metal. The show life, the sheer insensitivity insincerity of leaders for the life of the common man, the incapability to deep reality; the false worship, the irreligious pomp, extravagant wealth in the midst want; the Injustices of corruption in the government, in the Church, in the Society; the Inequity in the land, Christianity without reality!
Thank God for revealing the Kingdom of heaven to little children only. Thank God for hiding the Kingdom of heaven from the wise and the learned. Thank God that that is his good pleasure.
The powerful pagan Roman Empire changed by the word in deeds of selfless fearlessness of the poor; not from the Empire’s vast resources from taxations, nor from the wealth pillaged from the conquered Territories.
Nagaland must change and the State can change only when the Church dies to the inequities of the State. The preaching in the Church alone would not do, it must die for the life of the State.
The decision for real change of the society lies with the leaders of the Church in this Christian world more than in the leaders of the secular world. Pope Francis has fired the imagination of the civilized world by his reformations of the Church’s government, dismissals of erring bishops, elimination of pomp with simple life of staying and eating in the hostel of bishops; using a metal staff than the golden, wearing simple necklace cross than the golden and a modest Ford in place of the magnificent official Mercedes, emphasis on graciousness to the poor, punishment to misdemeanor bishops.
Humility is the small sign of a really great man.
The Church in Nagaland must die on the cross of the state to produce Easter morning from the tomb of Nagaland just as Jesus did.
