Fr. Bijesh Philip

The Good is Crucified

In a seminar of Malayalam Society in Houston TX in March 2010

Once upon a time in a certain place, pedestrians began to fall down on the streets. They were taken in taxis to emergency care. As more and more pedestrians began to fall down, more and more taxis and emergency care facilities were required. This helped to boom the economy of that place. Later it was found that the root cause of this falling of pedestrians was nothing but people carelessly throwing away the banana peels into the streets. Some youngsters took initiative to make people aware of this and encouraged them to use trash cans. As they stopped throwing banana peels into the streets, pedestrians stopped falling down. As pedestrians stopped falling down, taxis and emergency care clinics were not in much demand, which adversely affected the economy of that place. The story goes that the people who lost their means of income made a demonstration against the use of trash cans.

This story is relevant to our topic today. The falling of the pedestrians was certainly not good for those who fell down and broke their bones, but it was good for those who made a living out of it. So when we try to define good, we need to ask the simple question of “for whom?” For example, a good person, a hero, for Pakistan may be a terrorist for India. The definition of good may vary based on who defines it and in what context. This calls for a transcending of our narrow and divisive perspectives and developing a wider, global vision and perspective that involves all of humanity and nature. We need to learn to develop allegiance to the whole rather than to a part of it. The golden rule, “Do to others as you want others do to you,” found in all major religions and ancient philosophies, is a fundamental principle of Global ethic, which is very helpful to distinguish the right and wrong of human actions.

Crucifixion is the imparting of suffering and pain on individuals and communities. We can see any number of examples of crucifixion in history as well as in our surroundings. When people take initiative to stand for good, the forces of evil organize themselves against them and crucify them. Jesus took a stand against the evils in his community, and he was crucified. Nelson Mandela in South Africa took a stand against apartheid, and as a result he had to be in prison for a good part of his life. Often crucifixion is done in the disguise of good. Judas handed over Jesus for crucifixion with a kiss, which is a symbol of love and close attachment. In Mahabharata we read of Dhritarashtra trying to kill Bheema with an embrace.

Sometimes crucifixion succeeds in eliminating good, but often good resurrects with even more power. One can cite any number of examples from real life or from literature. Nelson Mandela is an excellent example from our recent history. It is from the suffering that Dalai Lama and his people experienced from China that he has evolved as a symbol of global peace. This can also be seen in the story of Onam. Mahabali comes back every year, but Vaamanan doesn’t. Our celebration of Onam represents our sincere wish for the goodness and peace as represented by Mahabali. Suffering often gives birth to creativity. As Shelley says, “Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought”. We know the story of how Ramayana evolved from a painful experience.

Crucifixion is often done by a minority out of misunderstanding and prejudices. The solution is an active attempt to clear misunderstandings and bring about right understanding. Educators and writers can play a significant role to achieve this. When swami Lakshmananda was murdered in Orissa, some religious fundamentalists took advantage of it by putting the blame on the entire Christian community, which resulted in widespread violence against Christians. When I was in Orissa after this incident, I witnessed there something very beautiful. A large number of educators and other cultural leaders belonging to the Hindu religion were organizing rallies to keep people from communal violence. They were trying to make people realize that an entire community cannot be blamed for the activities of a handful of extremists. Our own Ramayana and Mahabharata are supreme examples of the influence of writers in a society. India is very much indebted to Ramayana for its rich family values and other social and cultural values. The story of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is noteworthy here. We see how an act of kindness ignites the good in Jean Val Jean, an ex-convict, who becomes even a mayor of his city later. Such movements and literary works should encourage us to stand with Good, willing to be crucified. It is essential to identify the powers of evil today like religious fanaticism, environmental degradation, poverty, family disintegration etc., and adopt a united and consistent effort to overcome them.

Before concluding, I also want to bring to your attention the good that is not crucified. Often the good that gets crucified gets so much media attention, but we need to be aware of so much good that gets unnoticed.

Finally, I want to share with you a story from Antony de Mello’s Prayer of a Frog. A child was upset to see a tortoise which appeared to be dead at a pond. The child ran home crying. To console the child the family decided to give a funeral to the dead tortoise. When they all came to get the dead tortoise, they found it swimming again in the pond. This sight made the child very upset, because he was now excited about giving it a funeral. Seeing the child upset his family decided to kill the tortoise and give a funeral as planned.

We often have this kind of childish desires within us. But we should not do the mistake of going along with such desires. We have to crucify our childish desires in order to help the growth of good. If we do not crucify our own selfishness, we will crucify the good.


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