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"My father was a wandering Aramean"
Simonthepilgrim
Veteran
In the Western Christian calendar, today is the day when the last seder was held by Jesus and his friends. During the course of the meal, Jesus (one assumes) would have recounted the Haggadah, the story of the freeing of Israel from Egyptian slavery. As part of the story, the last of the 'plagues' visited on Egypt was the death of all the first-born, human and animal, who had not marked their doorposts with sacrificial blood.
In Matthew's account of Jesus, a similar slaughter is recorded, the massacre of all the male children under the age of two.
Both of these events, horrifying if we spend any time considering them, are presented as necessary to the unfolding of the story but they must pose a serious challenge to those of us who see compassionate action as the basis for a life of liberation.
In the same way, today, we remember the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, exactly five years ago, and are offered a similar challenge.
Can violence become the only answer, the only way forward? Is the virtuous end a justification for bloody means?
As a Buddhist, I am faced with this question in Burma and Tibet where peaceful demonstration by monastics have led to or blossomed from civil rioting, looting and ethnic violence. The response of the authorities has been slower in Tibet - as the BBC have reported, Chinese troops held back at first, unsure how to act - but has become become as rigorous as any governmental action anywhere (Grosvenor Square, Chicago, etc.) That I have a personal love for Tibetans whom I have met and treasure the unique culture cannot blind me to the fact that my stronger reaction to the events in Tibet is precisely that: personal. Of course, in my activist days, I also learned that the personal is political.
Also today, in Maundy Thursday services around the world, clergy will wash the feet of various people, remembering the example given by Jesus. So my question to myself is this: how do I serve? And how to I hold the message that the feet of Judas, the betrayer, were washed just the same as the others?
In Matthew's account of Jesus, a similar slaughter is recorded, the massacre of all the male children under the age of two.
Both of these events, horrifying if we spend any time considering them, are presented as necessary to the unfolding of the story but they must pose a serious challenge to those of us who see compassionate action as the basis for a life of liberation.
In the same way, today, we remember the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, exactly five years ago, and are offered a similar challenge.
Can violence become the only answer, the only way forward? Is the virtuous end a justification for bloody means?
As a Buddhist, I am faced with this question in Burma and Tibet where peaceful demonstration by monastics have led to or blossomed from civil rioting, looting and ethnic violence. The response of the authorities has been slower in Tibet - as the BBC have reported, Chinese troops held back at first, unsure how to act - but has become become as rigorous as any governmental action anywhere (Grosvenor Square, Chicago, etc.) That I have a personal love for Tibetans whom I have met and treasure the unique culture cannot blind me to the fact that my stronger reaction to the events in Tibet is precisely that: personal. Of course, in my activist days, I also learned that the personal is political.
Also today, in Maundy Thursday services around the world, clergy will wash the feet of various people, remembering the example given by Jesus. So my question to myself is this: how do I serve? And how to I hold the message that the feet of Judas, the betrayer, were washed just the same as the others?
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