THE DISCRIMINATION OF GOD--PART II

Once in a conventional parish, a young well dressed lady stood in line to receive Holy Communion. Sensing that the person was not a Catholic, I gently refused her. After the Eucharistic celebration, I approached the concerned person who happened to be a Christian from one of the mainline churches. She was in tears. I apologized if I had hurt her sentiments, but made it clear, that she couldn’t partake of the Sacrament, as she was not a baptized Catholic. She cried foul saying that it was discrimination; unfortunately she was not in a state to see any reason.

Why can’t anyone partake of the Holy Eucharist? Why does the Church discriminate between people and religion? In the midst of the many voices that claim that we shouldn’t be discriminating between cast and creed and be charitable and generous towards all, some even make an assertion that Jesus loved everyone and he did not discriminate between people. With non-discrimination as their goal, we have the humanist and the atheist and other humanistic forms too. Should Christians discriminate at all?

As mentioned in part I of my earlier article on this blog site the understanding of the term discrimination depends on how we understand equality and life. The ordinary human being seeks to judge objectively but almost always in perspective and will normally go by legal certitude and mathematical exactitude; along the way this idea of discrimination may change depending on a person’s upbringing, beliefs systems and attitudes. In keeping with the worldly perspective the standard it sets for judging is far different from the religious perspective. Thus Christian perspective will differ in many ways. The revelation that makes a difference: Jesus reveals man fully to himself.

Today we have charity being done irrespective of caste and creed. The church appears to be no different than any NGO (non-governmental organization). There are people fighting for justice, in precedence over witnessing and evangelization and they call it witnessing too. Whom are they witnessing to and to what? These pseudo evangelists who are involved in activism claim that they don’t discriminate between people and hence believe in the proclamation of Gospel values and work towards human emancipation. Are they not following the worldly standard? Do they really not discriminate? It’s a big question mark!

If our approach to God is worldly then even God becomes a victim of discrimination and that is how it is almost always.

Scripture is replete with examples where God is making a choice (God’s standard) of one over the other. Concerning Abraham he says; “..for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him." Gen 18:19

Concerning Israel He says; "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples;  but it is because the Lord loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers” Deut 7:6-8

Why was there so much of favoritism with Israel and the prophets, and selection of few leaders of the people? In the New Testament we have the Apostles chosen from among the many who were in Israel. How can Jesus discriminate between the many and choose only a few to be with Him? Could there be something called pre-destination in God’s discrimination?

In the Gospel of John we have a clear statement of favoritism: “…….having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” John 13:1.  Isn’t this discrimination between his own and the others?

In Mt. 15:21-28, we have the extreme example of discrimination against a Canaanite woman who is referred to as a dog: “He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."  And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Matt 15:24-26. Ah! How can he call her dog?

Could it be that God does not discriminate and we are the ones who feel discriminated against? God who has created us loves each one of us equally. May be the individual feels in one’s heart a sense of discrimination and expresses it through rebelliousness, protests and other forms of expressions. One such situation we see in scripture in the gospel of Matthew Chapter 20, verses 1 to 16 in which the Master chooses to pay each one his due as promised. Though the eleventh hour workers are happy the others feels discriminated against because of the same wages which they all receive.

Thus there are two sides to this existential discrimination; on the one hand you have a situation of discrimination into which we are born into and on the other hand we have a situation in which we ourselves experience, depending on the external stimuli or reality it get manifested accordingly. The outcome will again depend on which standard we are following; worldly or Godly.  For by worldly standards discrimination will always exist but it can be mitigated only to a certain extent. In fact the mitigation process and outcome could lead to another form of discrimination. If our approach to God is worldly then even God becomes a victim of discrimination and that is how it is almost always.

In the midst of all this we are not forgetting the subjective human condition which necessitates such discrimination which in the ultimate situation may be no discrimination. One form of non-discrimination leads to other forms of discrimination and hence the solution is in exercising the right kind of discrimination. No justice system can assert that theirs is a superior form of justice system that does not discriminate. The Americans with their superior legal and justice system has bred a new form of discrimination where people end up disgruntled and suing one another. The freedom of choice is primarily a discrimination of choices and these can lead to extremes of choices which are detrimental and discriminatory to promoting life. Do what we ultimately accept as just and deserving by a superior judgment be a non discriminatory truth? The majority in a democratic society may decide, yet it in no way guarantees a just and non-discriminatory mandate.

Why the confusion in all this explanation? Is the malignancy of discrimination deeper than what we are discussing? The Christian thought is this that we are conceived and born in a situation of discrimination. If we accept this reality then it should not be difficult for us to accept the other aspects of this reality; whatever be the situation there is a reward for those who endure investing their hope in a larger reward, the eternal reward that Jesus has promised for those who believe in Him.

It is like a slave, who is being told; “look you are a slave and hence a victim of discrimination and I have come to help you out of this reality”. Imagine the slave snubbing the man with mockery and laughter, “sorry, it’s not me who is a slave but you, I have a job which feeds my stomach and my wife and children and you don’t”.  Let’s take another example of a businessman who is told that one of his trusted staff is a cheat and he refuses to take that in.  Now in both these cases you cannot help the persons unless they accept the reality and believe in what is true. Further, In this situation the discriminator by right can become a comprehensive victim of discrimination by intrigue. (Mt. 21: 33-39). Likewise the process of taking someone out of a situation of discrimination could be a long drawn battle which could be mired in cascades of discrimination; this is true with our Christian walk. 

Similarly the reality of the human race; Jesus came to reveal to us this reality that we are in a state of discrimination on account of the sin that separates us from God and that he has come to take that primary discriminating factor away. This discriminating factor can be referred to as sin or as a dog’s life but it is nevertheless the same. To resolve this all that is required is acknowledging this reality about ourselves and accepting in faith what Jesus has to offer us. It is this faith which alone is able to save us.  Once one accepts this truth then one slowly realizes that as we work in this world to reduce the discrimination in our life and society, that it is not this world that we live for but the eternity which Jesus has promised.  This discrimination can primarily handled through acceptance of this Gospel message of equality (Jn. 1:12).

The peripheral situation of the human heart gives us a glimpse into the mystery of this discrimination we experience and face. The human heart because of its narrow vision of life discriminates against itself by constantly rejecting the truth about itself. When we don’t accept our origin as from God and our final destination as going back to him to live with him for all eternity then it is the first step in the discrimination process; discriminating with ourselves by seeking to live in a situation which apparently seems good and beneficial to us. As we accept our sinful self before God there will then arise a need for his salvific action in our lives in order to receive the grace of eternity. The third aspect is to live out this grace here on earth with the help of the many gifts and blessings God has given us.

Thus the mystery of discrimination teaches us that to trust ourselves and having a self belief may help us in achieving and accomplishing things but not enough. What is required is faith and belief in God which will not only help us in this world but also in the world to come. One can’t have faith in too many people over a single matter especially when each one has a different and contrary thing to say. Some live their lives in trusting themselves more than God or trusting others thoughts and philosophies which are contrary to sound doctrine.

In the light of the above God’s discrimination is then looked as an action of love. The woman who was referred to as a dog would never have seen the reality of herself. Sometimes we need extremes language or a shocker in order to understand the essential meaning of life. The woman understood that faith is what triumphs over all complexities and sinfulness of life. Faith makes it easy for God to help us overcome our own situation of discrimination and receive without discrimination from God’s presence. The practitioners of eastern spirituality and others who sit in judgment over retreat centres as promoting a spirituality of guilt ultimately are the true promoters of discrimination. God’s holy word when it points to the reality of truth also offers us a solution for the byproduct of guilt.

Human judgment fails to comprehend the ways of God and looks at things from their narrow perspective. It is like a child who may look at the scolding of the parent as either a correction of love and thus be grateful or may look at it as a correction of discrimination or hate and may grumble at the parent and may never forgive them for life. Even for a believer the challenge is in seeing the reality; God’s love and faithfulness to his chosen ones in the most trying circumstances. So too our attitude to life reveals a lot about how we discriminate ourselves in the light of God’s steadfast and constant love.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you sent your Son Jesus into the world to set right the discrimination that was brought about by the sin of Adam. Help us to recognize you and accept you as the one truth that frees us from our situation of being discriminated. As we go through this process of accepting your freedom, may we never feel discouraged by the discriminations we may face at the hands of men. Give us a spirit of boldness to assert to the world that it is only you in whom men can be free from their inner bondage of discrimination.

               >>>>>> fr. conrad saldanha