Friday, April 06, 2007

Good Friday

A quest

Someone asked me the other day, what the significance of Good Friday was for Christians? I answered with the usual blah blah.... and conscious pricking authority of a Christian, who doesn't know anything about Christ, saying it's a sad day for us as it's the day Jesus was crucified.

Then the second question. ''Why do you guys call it Good Friday, if the day is sad?''

Here goes my Christian scholar mask out of the window. But I was determined to find the answer.

After a few searches in Google, I hit upon a site. Typed the key word. The site says Good stands for ''holy'' as in a holy day. Or Good derived from ''Good Book, The Bible''

Then I asked another good friend of mine about 'Good'. She said It's because Jesus died on the cross and at that very moment we were saved. Humanity was saved. Hence it's a good day for humanity.

Well I know it's not a perfect answer. But my pursuit starts this day. Pursuit of God, not the meaning of Good Friday.

I know what I have said now is a quest without an end, and for me, without any means too. But it might end up as a search for my soul. Search for my inner voice, finding which will bring me at peace with myself. So I can safely term it as my small pursuit of happiness.

I have heard someone say, God and Devil are within every human being.

Who is God, What is God... Does God exist. If he doesn't then why so much hype. If he's there, then where is he. Is God good. Does he love us........ The questions are endless...... But life, in itself, if you think of it, is an endless question. Of course there is a beginning. Or is there? There's no proof. I can't prove to anyone at what point in time my life began. Will my life end? I would definitely die. But my journey never ends. Here too I can't prove with logic. But life is endless, and my quest of God will, I hope, help me unravel it's mysteries.

This day, I went to Besant Nagar Church and attended the Good Friday service. There was Way of The Cross too. It was different in the sense, at every station a clipping from the Mel Gibson movie Passion of the Christ was shown depicting the scene. The movie, I felt, was a little on the bloody side. Too much of torture.. I am sure an exaggeration. But the effect of those images were definitely strong. I saw tears in some of the people's eyes. Even I was moved, thinking about lot of things, not just Christ.

But when you think of it, are we doing the right thing here. Church, as we all know, had quite a dark past. It had used this symbol of Christ suffering on the cross as a marketing tool to control the masses, even though some of their actions were much more a torture to the great man. Or rather Son of God.

Christ loved humans more than any prophet or God or person had ever done. He just didn't care about anything else but love. ''Love thy neighbour'', a misinterpreted quote at His time, and unfortunately even now.

But the point is, the Church which Peter and the many pontiffs who followed him controlled, has a philosophy entirely different from that of the Teacher. Church is based on Power. It's foundations deeply rooted in political ambitions. Where as Jesus' idea of church, the way I figured out with my limited exposure to his teachings, is that it should stand for the people and not for God. When you think of it it's ironic. Son of God saying church shouldn't be for God but for humans. Well Jesus desired just that. Like I said earlier, no one has been a better lover of mankind than Jesus.

So I would say church is or has been crucifying Jesus time and time again. But no one realises it and we all take active role in it. Either we wash our hands or throw stones or whip him.

Am I a Christian. I would love to be one. Because Christ was a great man who wanted everyone to be happy. A happy world. Can you imagine that. I will follow Christ, not the church...... Not the church that crucifies the great man, almost every day.

I would be a Christian. A person who follows Christ. Not the christian who re-crucifies the Messiah.