EASTER HERALDS JOY AND UNITY

Apr 01, 2018 Consumer Concerns, Features / Columnists

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by PAT DIAL

Today is Easter Day. This is the holiest day in the Christian calendar since it is fundamental to the very meaning and existence of Christianity. God incarnated Himself in a human body as Jesus, and as in the accounts of the incarnations of God in all traditions, the birth of Jesus was a miraculous one.
Jesus was born in Palestine at the town of Nazareth and spent His life in that country. There are records of His life, which are historically credible as well as records of His death. It is His conquest of death and His resurrection, which Easter commemorates and celebrates. It also leads us to reflect on the beauty and attractiveness of the example of His life and His teachings.
The Middle East, and indeed the whole Mediterranean world had fallen into religious decadence. There was widespread agnosticism, continuous wars, barbarous blood sports like the gladiatorial contests, the dominance of the strong over the weak, lawlessness had taken over, and ethical and spiritual culture had been replaced by unrighteousness. God incarnated Himself as Jesus so as to restore this decadent world.
For example, the Middle Eastern world practised an ethic of violence and people were encouraged to settle disputes by violence. Jesus taught an ethic of peace, forbearance and forgiveness. He also tried to guide people to abandon selfish, hypocritical and illogical ways, which would bring suffering on others and ultimately themselves.
Examples of such guidance are manifested when he drove the money-lenders out of the Temple underlining how evil it is for man to be exploiting man economically; or when a crowd was going to stone a woman to death for adultery as permitted by the barbarous law and custom of the time, he showed them how hypocritical and wicked they were and were able to change many of them.
Or when he showed there are inflexible, meaningless and illogical rules which govern the lives of so many people to their own detriment or the detriment of their neighbours when he pointed out the case of a lamb falling into a muddy pit on the Sabbath but should be rescued and not left to die because of the mechanistic rule that one should do no work on the Sabbath. Above all, Jesus taught that the poor and hungry should be protected and helped.
He not only taught ethics, He also showed the way of spiritual development. He taught the achievement of Enlightenment and getting closer to God by such methods as fasting, invoking God, sincere prayer and other techniques. Over the centuries, mystics such as St Francis of Assisi preserved and practised this mystical aspect of Jesus’ teaching.
God incarnated Himself as Jesus so that human beings would be able to easier empathize with Him and absorb the teachings of regeneration. He would be an example to Man, suffering all the pains and joys and abuses, which all men experience.
His death and resurrection were meant to illustrate that there was always renewal and hope in worst scenarios of life and even death could be conquered once there is absolute belief in and commitment to God.
Easter is such a joyous festival or holy day because it celebrates Man’s conquest of death and sorrows and the ability to always do this once one lives strictly according to the example of Jesus. The various churches, in their Easter services, also repeat this message and the spread the infectious joy of Easter. They symbolize the cleanliness of body and spirit and the joy of Easter by wearing white garments.
In Guyana, our three national Faiths are Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. These are also the three greatest World Religions. Unlike in other countries where there is religious conflict, in Guyana, these three Faiths live side by side, respect each other, and identify their commonalities. Here, the vast majority accept that all religious paths lead to God.
In Islam, Jesus is the most important Prophet, second only to the Prophet Muhammad and he is revered in the same way that Christians revere him. And much of the teachings of Islam and Christianity are similar. Many Muslims may view Easter church services on television.
Hindus regard Jesus as an incarnation of God as Christians do and may pay worship to Lord Jesus as they do to Lord Rama. In the Bhagvat Gita, God says this well-known quotation:

For whenever the law of righteousness withers away
and lawlessness raises its head
Then do I generate myself on Earth
For the protection of the Good
For the destruction of evildoers
For the setting up of righteousness
I come into being, age after age.

Hindus may not only view the Easter church services on the television but may attend such services, sharing the relief, hope and victory over death with their Christian brethren in the same way that Christians participate in Phagwah and Diwali religious functions.
Easter, therefore, is not only a time of joy, hope, renewal, conquest over death, and strengthening belief in God and Jesus, it is a time when Guyanese reflect on their unique religious unity.

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