Good
Morning.
Greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, who became the Maha-bali (great sacrifice) for our sake! As Indians we are proud of our unity in diversity. The rich cultural heritages in India are widely celebrated and each culture has its own uniqueness. Every culture brings before us new Texts to read and thus opens the possibility of polyvalent layers of meaning. Engaging with those cultural traditions would give us new terrains of liberative and transformative ideals for our theological understanding and articulations. As an ecumenical community, here at UTC, such intercultural interactions, engagement and celebrations would help us to create not a cacophony but a symphony of cultures. If so, Onam, the national and cultural festival of Kerala is indeed a part of such a symphony of intercultural celebrations and a new landscape for theological articulations.
Today I would like to reflect on God’s own country (kingdom): A contextual reading of the Kingdom of God.
The phrase God’s Own Country, is used to refer to several places such as Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Kerala. In recent years the phrase has been adopted as a slogan by the tourism department of the Kerala state government.
According to Hindu mythology, Kerala was created by Lord Parasurama, an avatara of Lord Vishnu by throwing his axe across the sea to create new land for his devotees to live peacefully. So, Kerala is God's own creation, hence it is called God's own country. With a mixture of varied ethnic communities and their sub-divisions living in harmony and peace in a predominantly agrarian set up, decorated with its panoramic and capacious greeneries, beautiful hills of high elevation and its intense network of rivers and lagoons, thick forests, exotic wildlife and backwaters, it was indeed a replica of God’s own kingdom. This is the portrayal we get from the poets, at least in the ideal portrayals of the folk songs and traditions. These traditions and folk songs are our texts to interrogate with, in recalling the ideal past and proleptic envisioning of the ideal future.
The term 'kingdom of
God' signifies the rule of God, not as a general and abstract idea,
but as a concrete idea rooted in the political social, economic and
environmental dimensions of the human society.The kingdom of God is a
term loaded with Jewish and Hellenistic ideas. The question arises,
how to interpret the kingdom of God as taught by Jesus in a different
context? Could there be also analogous ideals, which could be
relevantly used to express Jesus' teaching of the kingdom of God? The
Onam tradition from Kerala is such an analogous idea. Here
we are using two texts side by side to see the vision of the kingdom
of God or God’s own country: the folk tradition of Onam and the
Biblical texts about the kingdom of God.
Hence I
title my reflection as God’s own country (kingdom): An
Inter/contextual reading of the kingdom of God.
When the Jewish
Christians of Roman congregation who had been expelled in 49 were
returning in ones and twos to pick up the threads of their old life,
the temptation was for the majority gentile Christians to act in
condescending/patronizing fashion to them. The term παραλαμβανομαι
means to accept or receive into one’s society, home or circle of
acquaintance. What is in view is the everyday recognition and
practice of brotherhood not an official act of reception. The
overarching concern of Paul here is that a church should be able to
sustain a diversity of opinion and lifestyle as an integral aspect of
its common life. God’s kingdom is therefore beyond any human
imagination or cultural limitation. As Marcus J Borg says of the Holy
Spirit, the Kingdom too is a boundary shattering experience. Paul is
encouraging the community to think beyond such boundary markers.
Secondly the text of the Onam tradition and its folk songs also reflect a community and its aspirations. Onam is the national festival of Kerala, a harvest festival that falls during the Malayalam month of Chingam usually in August or September. For Keralites, Onam is the celebration of the return of their mythical King Mahabali. This legendary king known by the name Mahabali was very wise and greatly loved by the people. According to the mythology, he was the son of Virocana, son of Prahlada, son of Hiranyakasyapa. Onam is reminiscent of Kerala's agrarian past.
There are two main versions about the legendary king Bali.
According to the Orthodox Brahmanical version, Mahabali was a wicked demon (asura) king who was yet good enough to become a yogi by virtue of his tapas. He controlled earth and heaven; the gods felt threatened by Bali. So they sent Vishnu to get rid of this danger. Vishnu assumed the form of a holy beggar, the dwarf Vamana, and asked for a gift of as much land as he could cover in three steps. Mahabali was benevolent to give the request. Vamana grows into cosmic size and in three strides encompassed the whole earth and heaven and Bali was forced to retire to the only space left, the Pathalam (in accordance with a tripartite structure of cosmos, similar to Biblical cosmology).
This
has been in a sense a colonized version of a folk/popular story,
brahminised and religiously legitimized. It shows an interpolation in
the folk tradition by the colonizing elite Brahminical hegemony. Thus
the aspiration of the people for such ideal rules were demonized, and
such people were dethroned, which was religiously legitimized.
In the Kerala version/popular version, Mahabali was a benevolent ruler who aroused the jealousy and envy of gods. He gave up his kingdom not just because he was the victim of a trick but because he was too generous not to refuse a request and too honorable not to fulfill a promise. It was a symbol of standing for integrity and honesty in words and deeds. He asked Vamana to place the third stride on his head. Vamana Vishnu kicked him down to the Pathalam. Mahabali, however, was given his wish to visit his people once a year. Onam is that day.
It is very much understood that these two versions of the Mahabali legend represent the conquest of the non-Aryan Keralite by the Aryans on the battle field and in the field of religion. The Aryans and their gods triumphed over the local Keralite gods, even demonizing their local god, Mahabali. Keralites, on the other hand, would not consider their god Bali, a demon, but rather a vanquished god, as a result of their experience of coloniality.
According to the mythology, Mahabali’s kingdom was a very virtuous and prosperous kingdom. During his ruling time it is said that people didn’t even lock their houses in the night because, there were no thieves, no corruption and no betrayal. And all the people lived united without the difference of rich and poor. In memory of those happy days, the glory of those ancient time is recaptured in a popular folk song, which is sung all over Kerala; “Maveli nadu vanidum Kalam, Manusherallarum onnu pole”.
Maveli nadu vanidum Kalam, manusherellarum onnu pole
Amodathode Vasikkum kalam, Apatangarkkumottilla thanum
Kallavummilla chathivumilla, Ellolamilla polivachanam
Kallapparayum cherunazhiyum, kallatharangal mattonnumilla
Maveli nadu vanidum kala, manusherallarum onnu pole
The Keralite still gladly remembers Mahabali; his kingdom is still a longing of the people. Mahabali is the once and future king, Mahabali will return in glory and the defeated Kerala culture and religion will rise in glory like the phoenix from the ashes.
Just like the texts of Onam myth were hijacked and colonial versions were legitimised with interpolations into this folk narrative, the biblical texts and its vision of the kingdom were hijacked by the colonisers and interpreters with vested interests. Just like Kerala, forgetting the mythology of divine creation of their state, used the phrase as a caption for their business interests and enhancement of tourism, the kingdom concept of the Bible had been a multinational business for many, making ‘God’ in that phrase as a mere ornament.
At the pretext of God’s kingdom what has been grown are their individual kingdoms. The kingdom of God, God’s own country can be imagined and realised only by retrieving the original texts without such interpolative interpretations.
a.
The Concept of Justice/Righteousness: Paul
says Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness,
peace and joy in the Spirit. Romans 14:17 with the occurrence of the
term δικαιοσυνη
could be the theological center of Chapters 12-15. The term βασιλεια
occurs only 14 times in Paul (105
in synoptics), whereas δικαιοσυνη
occurs 57 times (7 Synoptics),
and πνευμα
110 times. (13 in
Synoptics). Jesus’ emphasis
on Kingdom has been effectively replaced by Paul’s emphasis of
righteousness and Spirit. Used thus, Kingdom of God is a way of
describing “ What Christianity is all about” or the essence of
Christianity. In fact justice or righteousness is the hallmark of
kingdom of God in biblical text. We see a similar emphasis in the
Kingdom of Mahabali. It is a kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy.
b.
The concept of Equality
Equality is an inherent value in both these concepts. In Jesus’ concept of kingdom, there is no inequality, no discrimination based upon any disparities. Kingdom of Mahabali also represents such an ideal as seen in the folk song related with the Onam festival.
c. Life without Exploitation
Jesus’ teaching of the kingdom of God idealized the reversal of values where exploitation and oppression has no place in the socio-religious and political and economic structures. The hallmark of the concept of the kingdom of Mahabali is a kingdom without exploitation, falsehood, wrong parameters and manipulations.
d. Life in Fullness
Jesus’ kingdom ideals gave hope to people to aspire for a life in its fullness. Mahabali’s kingdom ideals also give the dream of a society where life can be lived in happiness and bliss.
e. Vegetarianism
The practice of vegetarianism for religious or philosophical reasons was quiet well known in ancient times. Some of the priests imprisoned in Rome according to Josephus lived on figs and nuts, avoiding all meat with the fear of eating food offered to idols. We have the Old Testament traditions of Holy men like Daniel who opted for vegetarian food or who opted for pulses. In the Isianic vision of the future kingdom there is a mention of the Lion eating grass along with the Ox. This is total transformation: non-vegetarian becoming vegetarian. According to Christian traditions, James the brother of Jesus and Ebionites practiced vegetarianism. The Lenten days of the Christian calendar give such an emphasis. One of the specialities of Onam tradition is its emphasis on vegetarianism. It is argued that vegetarianism actually was non-brahmanical, which was taken over by the Brahmins in a later stage.
f. Jesus the Messiah and Jesus the Mahabali
Jesus was the long expected Messiah who was killed because of his kingdom ideals, which is a supreme sacrifice that can be compared with the sacrifice of Mahabali who also was killed for his virtuous rule. Messiah is term loaded with Jewish contextual meanings, whereas Mahabali could be the easiest term to be appropriated in the Kerala context. The term “Mahabali” means the “great sacrifice” which can serve as an analogous concept of Jesus as the paschal lamb. Of course, there is an element of jealousy on the part of “gods” (Devas) in the death of Mahabali (Mahabali for them was Asura/ or the local non-Aryan god). But in the case of Jesus, Biblical texts affirm that “Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many”(Mark.10:45).
g. Vision of a Casteless Society
Kingdom of God is beyond caste considerations. The measuring rod is “in Christ”. In Mahabali’s kingdom all the people form one casteless race. Casteism is a threat to our community ideals. Kingdom of God and Mahabali envision a casteless society.
3. The Counter Empire of God and Mahabali: The Anticipation of the coming Kingdom
Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world (John.19:18). It is a counter empire and imagination in contrast to Pilate’s colonial Rome and its exertion of authority and subjugation of people with a military might. Mahabali is the once and the future king who will come in glory and Jesus is also expected as the coming king. Both the kingdoms have an ideal of universality, breaking the boundary markers. At the same time there is great amount of preparation for the coming of the king.
The key motive of this counter empire is love. The pattern for this love is Christ, who gave himself to death for us when we were weak (5:8). Thus the counter empire of God is guided by sacrificial love. Mahabali’s kingdom and its traditions invoke the ideals of such a counter empire.
Over against the political leaders, who ask their followers to risk their lives for the sake of the leader, in this counter empire, the leader himself gives the life for the sake of the people and ideals of this kingdom. Empires of this world stand for life-negations. In a cry-for-life situation like in India and many other nations, Onam celebrations and its texts along with the biblical texts invite us to imagine counter empires which stand for life affirmation and values of the ideals of the kingdom of God.
As Amos prophesied: May justice roll down like rivers and justice like a never ending stream. May God help us to retrieve our traditions, evaluate the interpolations and reimagine counter empires of love and sacrifice in the context of such a time as this, resisting the hegemony and commercialization of religion and culture! Let us retrieve those analogous concepts from our own traditions, that we may truly build a God’s own country. I wish you all a very happy Onam.
Biju C.
DTh
Greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, who became the Maha-bali (great sacrifice) for our sake! As Indians we are proud of our unity in diversity. The rich cultural heritages in India are widely celebrated and each culture has its own uniqueness. Every culture brings before us new Texts to read and thus opens the possibility of polyvalent layers of meaning. Engaging with those cultural traditions would give us new terrains of liberative and transformative ideals for our theological understanding and articulations. As an ecumenical community, here at UTC, such intercultural interactions, engagement and celebrations would help us to create not a cacophony but a symphony of cultures. If so, Onam, the national and cultural festival of Kerala is indeed a part of such a symphony of intercultural celebrations and a new landscape for theological articulations.
Today I would like to reflect on God’s own country (kingdom): A contextual reading of the Kingdom of God.
The phrase God’s Own Country, is used to refer to several places such as Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Kerala. In recent years the phrase has been adopted as a slogan by the tourism department of the Kerala state government.
According to Hindu mythology, Kerala was created by Lord Parasurama, an avatara of Lord Vishnu by throwing his axe across the sea to create new land for his devotees to live peacefully. So, Kerala is God's own creation, hence it is called God's own country. With a mixture of varied ethnic communities and their sub-divisions living in harmony and peace in a predominantly agrarian set up, decorated with its panoramic and capacious greeneries, beautiful hills of high elevation and its intense network of rivers and lagoons, thick forests, exotic wildlife and backwaters, it was indeed a replica of God’s own kingdom. This is the portrayal we get from the poets, at least in the ideal portrayals of the folk songs and traditions. These traditions and folk songs are our texts to interrogate with, in recalling the ideal past and proleptic envisioning of the ideal future.
1.
Text as Reflection of the community: Retrieval of Tradition
Any
con/inter-textual reading presupposes the availability of text. In
the literary criticism the text has often been seen as a Window to
and Mirror of the Community. Stretching this for our purpose, the
Biblical texts and the cultural traditions reflect a community for
and by whom these texts were produced. The text that we have heard
read to us from Romans reflects the Sitz-im-Leben of the community
dynamics. Throughout Romans, Paul’s appeal is
to have the mutual acceptance between Jewish Christians and gentiles.
In Romans 14:1-15:1 Paul is dealing with the particular problem of
food laws and holy days. Paul is redefining the people of God in the
context of cultural deviances and conflict between Jews and gentiles.
For Jews the boundary markers were the dietary rules and festivals.
Secondly the text of the Onam tradition and its folk songs also reflect a community and its aspirations. Onam is the national festival of Kerala, a harvest festival that falls during the Malayalam month of Chingam usually in August or September. For Keralites, Onam is the celebration of the return of their mythical King Mahabali. This legendary king known by the name Mahabali was very wise and greatly loved by the people. According to the mythology, he was the son of Virocana, son of Prahlada, son of Hiranyakasyapa. Onam is reminiscent of Kerala's agrarian past.
There are two main versions about the legendary king Bali.
According to the Orthodox Brahmanical version, Mahabali was a wicked demon (asura) king who was yet good enough to become a yogi by virtue of his tapas. He controlled earth and heaven; the gods felt threatened by Bali. So they sent Vishnu to get rid of this danger. Vishnu assumed the form of a holy beggar, the dwarf Vamana, and asked for a gift of as much land as he could cover in three steps. Mahabali was benevolent to give the request. Vamana grows into cosmic size and in three strides encompassed the whole earth and heaven and Bali was forced to retire to the only space left, the Pathalam (in accordance with a tripartite structure of cosmos, similar to Biblical cosmology).
In the Kerala version/popular version, Mahabali was a benevolent ruler who aroused the jealousy and envy of gods. He gave up his kingdom not just because he was the victim of a trick but because he was too generous not to refuse a request and too honorable not to fulfill a promise. It was a symbol of standing for integrity and honesty in words and deeds. He asked Vamana to place the third stride on his head. Vamana Vishnu kicked him down to the Pathalam. Mahabali, however, was given his wish to visit his people once a year. Onam is that day.
It is very much understood that these two versions of the Mahabali legend represent the conquest of the non-Aryan Keralite by the Aryans on the battle field and in the field of religion. The Aryans and their gods triumphed over the local Keralite gods, even demonizing their local god, Mahabali. Keralites, on the other hand, would not consider their god Bali, a demon, but rather a vanquished god, as a result of their experience of coloniality.
According to the mythology, Mahabali’s kingdom was a very virtuous and prosperous kingdom. During his ruling time it is said that people didn’t even lock their houses in the night because, there were no thieves, no corruption and no betrayal. And all the people lived united without the difference of rich and poor. In memory of those happy days, the glory of those ancient time is recaptured in a popular folk song, which is sung all over Kerala; “Maveli nadu vanidum Kalam, Manusherallarum onnu pole”.
Maveli nadu vanidum Kalam, manusherellarum onnu pole
Amodathode Vasikkum kalam, Apatangarkkumottilla thanum
Kallavummilla chathivumilla, Ellolamilla polivachanam
Kallapparayum cherunazhiyum, kallatharangal mattonnumilla
Maveli nadu vanidum kala, manusherallarum onnu pole
The Keralite still gladly remembers Mahabali; his kingdom is still a longing of the people. Mahabali is the once and future king, Mahabali will return in glory and the defeated Kerala culture and religion will rise in glory like the phoenix from the ashes.
Just like the texts of Onam myth were hijacked and colonial versions were legitimised with interpolations into this folk narrative, the biblical texts and its vision of the kingdom were hijacked by the colonisers and interpreters with vested interests. Just like Kerala, forgetting the mythology of divine creation of their state, used the phrase as a caption for their business interests and enhancement of tourism, the kingdom concept of the Bible had been a multinational business for many, making ‘God’ in that phrase as a mere ornament.
At the pretext of God’s kingdom what has been grown are their individual kingdoms. The kingdom of God, God’s own country can be imagined and realised only by retrieving the original texts without such interpolative interpretations.
2.
The ideals of the Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Mahabali
We
can draw out many ideals that are parallel in both of these. They are:
Equality is an inherent value in both these concepts. In Jesus’ concept of kingdom, there is no inequality, no discrimination based upon any disparities. Kingdom of Mahabali also represents such an ideal as seen in the folk song related with the Onam festival.
c. Life without Exploitation
Jesus’ teaching of the kingdom of God idealized the reversal of values where exploitation and oppression has no place in the socio-religious and political and economic structures. The hallmark of the concept of the kingdom of Mahabali is a kingdom without exploitation, falsehood, wrong parameters and manipulations.
d. Life in Fullness
Jesus’ kingdom ideals gave hope to people to aspire for a life in its fullness. Mahabali’s kingdom ideals also give the dream of a society where life can be lived in happiness and bliss.
e. Vegetarianism
The practice of vegetarianism for religious or philosophical reasons was quiet well known in ancient times. Some of the priests imprisoned in Rome according to Josephus lived on figs and nuts, avoiding all meat with the fear of eating food offered to idols. We have the Old Testament traditions of Holy men like Daniel who opted for vegetarian food or who opted for pulses. In the Isianic vision of the future kingdom there is a mention of the Lion eating grass along with the Ox. This is total transformation: non-vegetarian becoming vegetarian. According to Christian traditions, James the brother of Jesus and Ebionites practiced vegetarianism. The Lenten days of the Christian calendar give such an emphasis. One of the specialities of Onam tradition is its emphasis on vegetarianism. It is argued that vegetarianism actually was non-brahmanical, which was taken over by the Brahmins in a later stage.
f. Jesus the Messiah and Jesus the Mahabali
Jesus was the long expected Messiah who was killed because of his kingdom ideals, which is a supreme sacrifice that can be compared with the sacrifice of Mahabali who also was killed for his virtuous rule. Messiah is term loaded with Jewish contextual meanings, whereas Mahabali could be the easiest term to be appropriated in the Kerala context. The term “Mahabali” means the “great sacrifice” which can serve as an analogous concept of Jesus as the paschal lamb. Of course, there is an element of jealousy on the part of “gods” (Devas) in the death of Mahabali (Mahabali for them was Asura/ or the local non-Aryan god). But in the case of Jesus, Biblical texts affirm that “Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many”(Mark.10:45).
g. Vision of a Casteless Society
Kingdom of God is beyond caste considerations. The measuring rod is “in Christ”. In Mahabali’s kingdom all the people form one casteless race. Casteism is a threat to our community ideals. Kingdom of God and Mahabali envision a casteless society.
3. The Counter Empire of God and Mahabali: The Anticipation of the coming Kingdom
Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world (John.19:18). It is a counter empire and imagination in contrast to Pilate’s colonial Rome and its exertion of authority and subjugation of people with a military might. Mahabali is the once and the future king who will come in glory and Jesus is also expected as the coming king. Both the kingdoms have an ideal of universality, breaking the boundary markers. At the same time there is great amount of preparation for the coming of the king.
The key motive of this counter empire is love. The pattern for this love is Christ, who gave himself to death for us when we were weak (5:8). Thus the counter empire of God is guided by sacrificial love. Mahabali’s kingdom and its traditions invoke the ideals of such a counter empire.
Over against the political leaders, who ask their followers to risk their lives for the sake of the leader, in this counter empire, the leader himself gives the life for the sake of the people and ideals of this kingdom. Empires of this world stand for life-negations. In a cry-for-life situation like in India and many other nations, Onam celebrations and its texts along with the biblical texts invite us to imagine counter empires which stand for life affirmation and values of the ideals of the kingdom of God.
As Amos prophesied: May justice roll down like rivers and justice like a never ending stream. May God help us to retrieve our traditions, evaluate the interpolations and reimagine counter empires of love and sacrifice in the context of such a time as this, resisting the hegemony and commercialization of religion and culture! Let us retrieve those analogous concepts from our own traditions, that we may truly build a God’s own country. I wish you all a very happy Onam.
Biju C.
DTh
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