# chhotebhai
While searching for a book in my library this title caught my eye: “Fools Die”, by Mario Puzo, of “The Godfather” fame. Its opening line is even more telling. “Listen to me. I will tell you the truth about a man’s life”. I have not read the novel, but the commissioning of this article pushed me into researching the lives of several men.
I was tasked to write an article to “Be a Living Sacrifice”. The more I reflected on it, the more intimidated I felt. It was a personal challenge. Was my life a living sacrifice? If not, then what right did I have to write about it?
When we Christians think of a living sacrifice our thoughts fly to the voluntary sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. He died, he rose, he saved us – mission accomplished! Now all we need to do is build grandiose churches in his Holy Name. We can now sit back and relax.
Before delving further, let me quote some texts that describe Jesus’ sacrifice. The first point is to affirm that he was not “killed by the Jews”. His sacrifice was voluntary. Jesus says. “I am the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep … I lay it down of my own free will” (Jn 10:11,18). “He accepted death on a cross” (Phi 2:8). “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant sacrifice to God” (Eph 5:2). “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb 10:12).
Perhaps this last verse leads to passive Christianity, enjoying the fruits of salvation, while superciliously condemning others to Hell. That is why there is a rider, “Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God” (Heb 13:15). There is no room for passive Christianity. It calls for a living sacrifice.
The word “sacrifice” occurs 141 times in the Old Testament, but just 16 times in the New Testament. The OT sacrifices were external, primarily of animals. God tires of these that had been reduced to mere rituals. “What are your endless sacrifices to me says Yahweh … I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs and goats” ((Is 1:11). Again, “I do not look at your communion sacrifices of fat cattle” (Amos 5:22). Hence the psalmist advises us that “The sacrifice acceptable to God is … a contrite heart” (Ps 51:17).
What then is the living sacrifice that God expects of us? The phrase is an oxymoron – living and sacrifice, the latter being associated more with death than life! Herein lies the challenge. We are asked to “Be” – a state of being, a way of life, not excluding death. As Jesus says, “Anyone who loves his life, loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world, will keep it for eternal life” (Jn 12:25). Strong words. That is why “After this many of his disciples went away and accompanied him no more” (Jn 6:66).
The rich young man had kept all the commandments. Yet Jesus says to him. “If you wish to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then follow me. But when the young man heard these words he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth” (Mat 19:22). How do we answer this call to be a living sacrifice? It’s intimidating.
These demands may have resulted in an ascetic/ monastic form of Christianity that, for centuries, dominated both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. There was a marked divide between the sacred and the profane. This austere form of discipleship also resulted in disdain for anything that smacked of worldliness, including marriage.
Severe forms of penance, like self-flagellation, emerged. Inquisitions, torture and intolerance became the order of the day. St Francis of Assisi in the 13th/14th century was probably among the first to break this stranglehold – going out to seek peace with the Saracens at the height of the Crusades. His love for nature also broke the severity of the monastic way of life.
Colonialism ushered in another form of living sacrifice – the foreign missionary, travelling to distant shores; often dying of tropical diseases or “hostile natives”. Here in India, till not so long ago, it was common to hear even bureaucrats talk about “missionary zeal”.
Among Catholics, the turning point in the understanding of Christian discipleship came with the far-reaching aggiornamento (updating) through the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).Two examples should suffice. The “Dogmatic Constitution of the Church” refers to the family as the “domestic church” in which Jesus is fully present (LG No 11). Likewise the “Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World” begins with these ominous words: “The joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, are that of the followers of Christ. Indeed nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts” (GS No 1).
This was turning Christian discipleship on its head. An isolated Church now became an inserted one. This vastly expanded the horizons of being a living sacrifice. It was no longer limited to fasting and penance, but reaching out to people in need. The question, “Who is my neighbour?” (Lk 10:29) now assumed greater significance for those seeking to be a living sacrifice.
Just as in the OT God was tired of ritualistic sacrifices; It is now asking us to emerge from our comfort zones; to make sacrifices of time, money and even reputation. Mother Teresa’s words ring out, “Don’t give from your excess, give from what hurts”. Lest we gloat over how we are being living sacrifices I give some instances from other religions.
Islam shares a common, though varying, belief of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son that we believe is a pre-figurement of Jesus’ own sacrifice. According to the Quran Sharif he offered up Ismail, not Isaac as per the Judaic/ Christian belief. This is recorded in Surah Saffat 37:100-107 of the Quran. The popular Eid-al-Azha (Bakra Eid) is a commemoration of this sacrifice. Muslims are expected to rear the sacrificial animal with the affection that is accorded an only child. The purpose is to experience the pain of sacrificing a loved one.
The Sikh religion has two powerful examples. On Baisaki Day 30/3/1699 at Anandpur Sahib, Guru Govind Singh asked for volunteers who were willing to be beheaded for the faith. From a crowd of 80,000 just 5 young men stepped forward, all from the lower castes! Because of their living sacrifice they came to be known as the Panch Pyare (five beloved), even to this day.
Even more heart rending is the fate of the two seven-year-old sons of Guru Govind Singh. They were Baba Joravar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh, The local Mughal Wazir Khan told them to choose between death and conversion to Islam. They unflinchingly chose the former. They were bricked into a wall with their heads on one side and bodies on the other. We cannot even imagine their excruciating death.
Hindu mythology also has such instances. The deities needed bones to make a diamond shaped celestial thunderbolt Vajra for the rain God Indra to defeat Vritrasura, the deity of drought, in the Puranas. Rishi Dadhichi, through yogic powers, chose self-annihilation so that his bones could be used for the purpose.
In the Mahabharata, Shibi was a noble king which made both the rain God Indra and the fire God Agni, jealous. They decided to test his resilience. When Shibi was sitting out a dove, pursued by a hawk, descended onto his lap. The hawk asked for the dove as it was its natural prey. The king declined as he was the protector of all, especially the weakest in his kingdom. The hawk said that it would spare the dove if the king gave him an equivalent weight of his own flesh. The king agreed and placed a piece of his flesh on the scales. But no matter how much of his flesh he chopped and put, the dove was still heavier. Finally he placed his entire body on the scales which then balanced. It was his supreme sacrifice. The dove and hawk now transformed into Indra and Agni who had been testing him. Shibi was now restored to his former self with even greater virtues.
I have no intention of verifying anything from history or mythology. My purpose is limited to sharing inspiring incidents. What of contemporary sacrifices? Two spring to mind.
St Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan friar. At the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1941 ten men were sentenced to be starved to death. Among them was Franciszek Gajowniczek, a married man with children. He pleaded for clemency. Kolbe stepped in for him, dying an agonizingly slow death.
The other was Wing Commander Clarence D’Lima, Vayu Medal, who on 4/11/1977 was piloting a TU 124 aircraft carrying Prime Minister Morarji Desai and other VIPs. Due to engine trouble he had to crash land in a paddy field. If he came tail down his VIP passengers would have surely died. If he went nose first he and his crew of 5 would die. In the line of duty he chose the latter.
I hope and pray that these instances of living sacrifices will inspire us to do likewise in whatever manner and extent possible.
Returning to Puzo’s claim that fools die, I quote St Paul. “Where are the philosophers, experts and debaters of this age? Do you not see how God has shown up human wisdom as folly? … God’s folly is wiser than human wisdom … God chose those who by human standards are fools to shame the wise” (1 Cor 1;20,25,27). “Let no one take me for a fool, but if you do, then treat me as a fool, so that I, too, can do a little boasting” (2 Cor 11:16). Dear Puzo, in God’s kingdom, fools of living sacrifices never die. They live forever.
- This article was commissioned by FOCUS (For Christian Understanding and Solidarity) an international ecumenical forum with a circulation of 250,000. It is being reprinted with permission from its Editor, Dr Zac Verghese (London).