Week 18—Thursday Matthew 12:38-42
Matthew 12:38-42
FOUR SUGGESTIONS FROM GANDHI
We pause today to look at what the greatest Hindu of modern times says to the Christians about their faith. I asked Mahatma Gandhi, in the early days when he had just come from South Africa to begin his work of gaining freedom for India, “What would you suggest to us as Christians that we do to make Christianity more naturalized in India, not a foreign thing, identified with a foreign people and a foreign government, but a part of the life of the people and making its contribution to the remaking of India?” He replied without a moment’s hesitation:
I would suggest four things: First, that all of you Christians, missionaries and all, must begin to live more like Jesus Christ. [He needn’t have said anything more!] Second, I would suggest that you practice your religion without adulterating it or toning it down—practice it as it is. Third, I would suggest that you emphasize love and make it your working force, for love is central in Christianity. Fourth, I suggest that you study the non-Christian faiths more sympathetically to find a more sympathetic approach to the people.
Here was the leading Hindu telling the Christians that they should live more like Jesus Christ—the central Figure of our faith; to practice our faith without adulterating it or toning it down. A representative of the most syncretic religion in the world, Hinduism, suggests that we be Christians in the deepest sense of that word—that will make us universal. That we use love as our working force, for Jesus came armed with no weapons save the weapon of love. And that we discover any truths in the old faiths we can, for Gandhi implied that that will lead you on then to the Truth—the Incarnate Truth. A great commission from a great Hindu.
O Savior and Lord, we thank you that but to see you is to see what the ages have longed to see. So we can say to our eyes: “Blessed are you for you see what the best of people everywhere have longed to see.” Thank you, thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Let these four things be incarnate in all I do and say today.