By Bartimaeus
Jesus once visited Bangalore city. His intention was to meet Father Stan Swamy at the Indian Social Institute. Needless to say, Father Stan was overjoyed to see Jesus, his Master, in person. Without many formalities and niceties Jesus stated the purpose of His visit – to impersonate each other. Father Stan was greatly bewildered, but could not resist his Master.
So he accepted the proposal and from that moment Jesus impersonated Himself in Stan’s life. No one ever knew of this deal except the two of them.
It was then that the travel to Jharkhand was decided to align with the helpless and exploited Adivasis in their struggle for dignity and human rights. It was no easy path in any way. Whenever things seemed getting out of hand, Stan pleaded the Master to put an end to this impersonation experiment. When he was finally arrested and taken to prison, Stan fell at the feet of the Master and pleaded: “Let’s stop this risky game. Please allow me to go to the prison and not you.” But Jesus was unrelenting.
At that time, he could not freely drink water with his Parkinson’s hit trembling hands. So Stan hid a straw-attached glass in Jesus’ bag. But when Stan learned that the prison authorities would not allow him to use it, the age-old cry of the Crucified echoed in his mind: “I thirst.”
To the bishops who approached the Prime Minister, he kept asserting of the prisoner’s guilt: “He is a Maoist!” Suddenly, the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin flashed across Stan’s mind.
During the nine-month incarceration, Stan hoped that at least a few of the Church authorities would visit Jesus. But hardly anyone turned up. Of course they can’t be blamed as many of them were indeed busy arranging receptions and sumptuous dinners for political higher ups, while others were searching for ways and means to silence the dissenters within the Church. Some were engaged in serious theological discussions regarding the restoration of the original purity of religious rituals.
At last, when death entered into the ICU, Stan asked Jesus: “What was your impersonation and suffering for?” After a moment of silence, Jesus gently turned his head towards him and softly whispered: “I took this step to assess the progress truth and justice had made, during the past two thousand years.”
His gaze was then directed to Stan’s curious eyes as he said: “All my expectations are shattered. On that bygone day, Pilate sincerely made many unsuccessful attempts to find out the deadly crime accused against me, before he finally washed his hands! But today my death penalty has been carried out without any trial and against clear evidences of my innocence. At that time, my disciples abandoned me and ran away only when they sensed that their life was in high risk. But today, my followers have disowned me and succumbed to indifference for fear of losing their wealth, power and comfort.”
With these words, Jesus bowed his head and died.
(A fantasy story on Father Stan Swamy’s death)