At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”
Luke 13:31-33
“Tragedy is an imitation of life.” I am pretty sure Aristotle said these words. At least, some have alluded that these are his words. I am not entirely sure. At any rate, they sum up his views on the subject of poetry or theater. He goes on to say that tragedy invokes in us two important sentiments; empathy and fear.
The gospel reading above is not poetry, nor a play, but it unfolds as such to us as modern readers. We tend to read it as spectators of a drama. However, it brings about the same effects that Aristotle talked about. We are brought into the life of Jesus and at the same time made to confront our own mortality. In other words, our fear of death.
The Pharisees claimed that Herod was trying to kill Jesus. It is really doubtful that they were concerned about the welfare of our Lord. In all likelihood, they hoped that the fear of death would paralyze His active ministry. This does not mean that Herod wasn’t indeed a menacing threat. Jesus did not exclude this possibility. He made it clear that as far as probable death was concerned, it made no difference to His ministry. Jesus continued to do what He has been doing, perhaps to the chagrin of the Pharisees. Our Lord even went a step further. He predicted His own imminent death in the hands of the very people who were supposedly trying to protect him from the corrupt king. Jesus accepted that death was inevitable and he boldly walked towards it. Jesus confronted the fear of death by accepting death.
No one has power over the wind to restrain the wind, or power over the day of death. Ecclesiastes 8:8
St Augustine, in his book, City of God, wrote that death is the one thing we know for certain from the day we came into this world. He wrote this when the city in which he was living was being sieged. He died shortly thereafter. In modern times, talk about our mortality is very often avoided. This attitude hasn’t done any favors for us except to make us more superficial. If we avoid reflecting on one aspect of our life, then it is only natural for us to avoid profundity and intimacy in other aspects, too. We end up living our lives from one superficial experience to another without ever enjoying the full depth of any of it. In the past, the Christian faith embraced the spirituality of “Memento Mori” *. I wrote about this in my previous Lenten reflections and I won’t repeat myself here. However, the season of Lent is a time we reflect on the humanity of Jesus and His mortality plays a significant role.
A famous Brazilian singer, Gilberto Gil, in his advanced age, composed a song about his own imminent death. The chorus repeats an universal human sentiment. It says, “I am not afraid of death but I am afraid of dying.” He explains one is after the fact but the latter is a present reality. Jesus had to deal with this sentiment throughout His life or at least when He became fully aware of His vocation.
There is an unspoken belief among Christians that Jesus was some kind of superhuman who had perfect knowledge of everything from the day He was born. This is perhaps left over from our polytheistic past where gods disguise themselves as humans to experiment human life. Jesus did not come into this world to experiment with human existence. He was a complete human being. Therefore, He lived the complete process of human development. He grew into the knowledge of who He was and had to confront the fear of losing His personal identity in the face of death. The doubts and insecurities we feel towards death, Jesus sensed them too. He knew that each day that passed brought Him closer to His own brutal death. The Pharisees hoped that this thought or realization would paralyze Him. They made the mistake of thinking that Jesus was just like them. We know that His spirituality transcended that of the Pharisees.
The Pharisees lived their lives dominated by fear of death. All their decisions were influenced by this fear.
A very dear friend is celebrating her birthday this Sunday. She lives away from her home city. She has been living in this city about three years. She wanted to celebrate the day with her new family of friends here. She lives in a tiny apartment and we offered to plan a special celebration at our place since our place has the space. She was overjoyed and invited a dear friend. Unfortunately, this friend is terrified of the neighborhood where we live. She imagines that people here get robbed and murdered left and right although where we live is safe, if not safer than where she works and lives. There are people in the streets at all hours of the day. Many times I have seen elderly women walking their dogs at midnight here. Unfortunately, fear is much stronger than reality. She turned downed the invitation, refusing to participate in a celebration of life because of the fear of death. Of course, this does effect the friendship. Our friend is too kind to say anything about it.
Our fear of death is a real thing. It is part of our evolutionary development. We would not exist today as a species if it wasn’t for this defense mechanism. The fear of death was strong in Jesus, too. He overcame it so that we too can overcome it. Nevertheless, we don’t overcome the fear of death just by being fearless. Fearlessness borders many times with stupidity. Jesus never taunted death, nor lived recklessly. He overcame the fear of death by engaging in the ministry of healing and casting out demons. He was involved in the sufferings and pains of his fellow human beings. He also participated in their joys and celebrations. We must not forget that part of Jesus’ ministry involved eating and drinking, too. The Pharisees accused him of being a glutton and drunkard. At least, Jesus said that they did. This is also part of healing and casting out demons. Therefore, it is important for us to consider what it means for us to participate in healing and casting out of demons. It will help us to face death with boldness.
Today we have doctors and hospitals. As for demons, we have priests to exorcise them if we believe in literal demons and spirits and we have psychologists for medications for those who believe otherwise. Therefore, what is left for us as regular people? We have to figure out for ourselves what it means to heal and cast out demons in our everyday lives. In Jesus’ time, sickness and demon possession were elements which robbed people of their humanity. These ailments kept people isolated from the rest of society. We, humans, are social beings. When we are cut off from the world, we feel lost and our sense of identity is threatened. Consequently, we lose the zest for living. Presently, we live in a world where we see a slow and gradual process of dehumanization. People are losing their jobs and with this they lose their connection with the world. Better said, they lose their place in this world. Parents are losing contact with their children and feel a loss of their identity especially mothers. The value of friendship is no longer considered important nor essential. We are surrounded by people but no one is truly a friend. We are slowly slipping into slow and premature death. There is a need for the healing touch of love in this world. There is a need to cast out the demonic lies which reduces a human being into a mere machine which only exists to serve a function. The ministry of healing and casting out demons is as relevant today as it was in the time of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is able and willing to use anyone who is open to participate in the life of our Lord. He led the way and now He beckons us to follow Him.
As for the fear of death, the Bible teaches us;
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18
