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Sign the Petition requesting The Honble Minister of State for Environment
and Forests (I/C) to maintain the moratorium on issuing further
environmental clearances for mining activities in Goa
http://goanvoice.org.uk/miningpetition.php
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THE AGONY OF CHRIST TODAY
*Dr.Ivo da Conceição Souza
Can we speak of the "agony" of God? When Man is in turmoil, when life
is threatened, when society has lost basic values of respect for life and
for human dignity, when respect for women, children and old folks has gone
down, can we speak of the "agony of God"? If the glory of God is the living
Man, and it is a common place to say that the situation of Man is at stake,
cannot we speak of the "agony of God"? These questions crop up to our mind
when we have the daily papers in one hand and the Gospel in the other, thus
reading the daily news in the light of the Gospel values and the Gospel
shedding light on the daily chores of life. Let us briefly reflect on these
existential issues in the light of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. The
Paschal Mystery is the kernel of Christian religion, it is the mystique of
our human-Christian existence. In short, it is our participation in the
"agony of the triumphant God".
Whenever we speak of the revolution brought up by Christianity into the
world, we praise the Cross. The Cross brought renewal to the world. It has
brought 'civilization of love' for the Barbarians. It was the sealing of the
"movement of Jesus" in Judea. It is epitome of Love. The starting-point for
Theology is its historical context. One cannot interpret theologically Jesus'
death without explaining it historically. Crucifixion was a death inflicted
on a slave. The crucifixion of Jesus was one of the most unequivocally
political events recorded in the New Testament. Early theological
interpretation of Jesus' crucifixion as a death "for our sins" has
overlooked the horrendous, non-religious feature of the Gospel. Cross was an
instrument of imperial terror. In the Roman Empire, crucifixion was supreme
penalty, instrument of terror and horror. The Roman Empire could not succeed
without terror and violence. Pax Romana was rooted on power-peace secured
through coercion and terror: terror of gladiatorial games, terror of human
sacrifices. Jesus, on the contrary, has rooted his message on peace and
love. This was certainly a threat for the Roman Empire.
To understand the "word of the cross" is to understand the quintessence of
Christianity, as found in the Pauline letters. In the First Letter to the
Corinthians Paul stated: "When I first came to you, brothers and sisters, I
decided to know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Cor
2:2). What was the meaning of the Cross of Jesus Christ for Paul? His
conversion was the result of his encounter with Jesus as the Crucified. It
generated a revolution in his conviction and action. It energized his entire
apostolic endeavour. The Apostle has to partake in the suffering of Jesus,
to order life in love (that is, crucified love), to pull everything into the
tremendous gravitational field of the Cross (cf.Col 1:24). His proclamation
was the "public portrayal of Jesus Christ Crucified" (Gal 3:1). In this
context, he could boast himself in the Lord: "Far be it from me to glory
except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (Ga 6:14).
Christian life is co-crucifixion with Christ (cf.Rm 6:1-5). Baptism means to
die to sin and live for God (cf.Rm 6:3-11). The common sacred meal, the
"Lord's supper" was a solemn, public proclamation of the Lord's death (1 Cor
11:26). Christ died for us, for our sins, for our liberation (Rm 14:15; 1
Cor 8:11). We have to recognize the centrality of the Cross of Christ for
Paul's theologizing.
Jesus of Nazareth was a "revolutionary" in the true sense of the word, as
can be seen from his manifesto (cf.Lk 4:16-21). Jesus came to the world to
proclaim the "good news" to the poor, freedom to the oppressed, to announce
the "acceptable year" of the Lord. He was to usher in a new era of renewal,
a new social order, God's Kingdom/Reign/Lordship on earth. Jesus sharply
criticized the rich oppressors and political rulers of his day. But he never
supported the use of physical violence against his fellowmen. Rather, Jesus
consistently rejected the urges of some of his followers to employ such
methods of violence (Jn 18:10-11). Jesus was familiar with the violent
means and measures employed by the political rulers to accomplish their
purposes (Cf.Lk 13:1; Mk 13:31). One of his twelve apostles, Simon, had a
Zealot background. Jesus was, therefore, familiar with the Zealots'
programme to overthrow Roman rule by force of weapons, arms and daggers. But
his stance was one of non-resistance a
