By M L Satyan
Bengaluru: These days there is a lot of discussion, debate and writings on the types of liturgies – which one to follow and which one not to follow – all quoting the life and sayings of Jesus of Nazareth and referring to various traditions of the church. In this context, a story written by Osho in his book titled Zen serves as a “food for thought” or a “base for introspection.”
Once Jesus thought, “I must go and visit the earth again, because after two thousand years of Christianity, now the earth may be ready to receive me. Now, they will not reject me as they did before, because when I went there before, there was not a single Christian, I was a stranger. Now, half the earth is Christian; millions of churches and priests are continuously preaching my words. Now I am going to be received, welcomed; all the doors will be open to me. Now is the time. I should not have gone before – that was not the right time.”
He came again, of course on a Sunday morning, because it is difficult to find who is a Christian or not if you come on other weekdays. It is impossible, everybody is the same! Only on Sunday can you distinguish who is a Christian, because Christian religion is a ‘Sunday affair’. It is not concerned with life, it is just a ritual to be done, a formality to be fulfilled – without any heart in it.
And Jesus reached his village, where he had come two thousand years before: Bethlehem. He stood in the marketplace, a little apprehensive because people looked at him and nobody recognized him, and they were coming in and going out of the church. And then a few people gathered around him and they started telling him, “You look just like Jesus – you have done a good act, you are a good actor!” Jesus said, “I am not an actor. I am the real Jesus.”
So, they started laughing and they said, “If you are the real Jesus, then, escape before the priest comes out; otherwise, you are bound to get into trouble.”
Then small urchins started throwing stones and people started laughing: “The real Jesus has come, the king of the Jews! This is the man who was crucified – he is resurrected!” And they were joking and laughing.
And Jesus felt sad very much… because these were his people, they were no longer Jews. They were Christians, they followed him, and even they could not recognize him. But he waited, hoping, “At least the priest will recognize me. These may be foolish people, ignorant – but the priest will know.”
And then came the priest. People stopped laughing, just out of respect for the priest. They made way for him, the crowd allowed him to go in, they bowed down in deep respect. Jesus laughed in his heart: “They have not bowed down to me, they have not given me any respect, but they respect the priest. At least that is a good sign, because he is my priest. Through him they will recognize me. They recognize me through him, not directly, because they are blind and they cannot see.”
And then the priest looked at him and said, “Come down, you ruffian! What do you think you are doing, insulting our God?” Jesus said, “Can’t you recognize me?” The priest collared him and said, “I recognize you well. Come and follow me.” He took him into the church and locked him into a cell. Jesus was very puzzled: “What is going to happen? Are my own people going to crucify me again?”
At night the priest came with a small candle in his hand and unlocked the door. He locked the door from the inside, bowed down, touched Jesus’ feet and said, “I recognize you well! But not in the marketplace, not before the worshippers, because you are an old troublemaker. Somehow, we have managed everything well, but you will disturb things. Now everything is smooth, Christianity is established: we have converted millions of people, sooner or later many others also will be converted. You just wait at your place! you need not come here!”
The priest said further, “You could not convert a single man when you were here and we are doing so well, we have managed so well; you should be thankful to us. We can recognize you when there is nobody, but we cannot recognize you before others because you are anti-priest, anti-church and anti-establishment. And if you insist, then, we will have to crucify you again.
We can worship you when you are not present because that does not disturb anybody. Everything is smooth, moving well – look how we have managed! Half the earth is converted, millions of churches and priests are preaching your words. You should be satisfied. So, escape immediately from here, and do not come again. We are the agents here and whatsoever you want to do you can do it through us. You cannot be allowed to move among the masses directly. You are dangerous!”
This priest is stating one of the basic truths: that the priest may be a priest of Jesus but he is against Jesus. He works for him, or appears to; he quotes his words, or appears to. But if Jesus comes, he will stand between you and Jesus and will not allow you in, because a Buddha, a Jesus, is always rebellious, he is never conformist. He can create a revolution but he cannot create an establishment.
Points for reflection: Is this story not real in today’s Christianity and Church? We have mighty and palatial church buildings. Does Jesus reside there? We have countless factions of Christian groups. Are they really bearing witness to Jesus? We have a huge number of miracle workers and charismatic preachers. Are they really practising what Jesus preached? We have enormous institutions. Are Christian values practised there? It is time for Personal Transformation!