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Anand Bhia was absolute ruler over a motley crew of thieves and cut-throats and when Chamdi met him, he came face to face with absolute power. This was demonstrated when an older boy tried to double-cross him by withholding a knife he had stolen. The gang-leader took the knife and carved up the boy's face. There is a touch of Fagin from Oliver Twist about him, but much more sinister. He ruled by fear and by retribution.
When later the gang is involved in acts of terrorism against the local Muslim population - something that actually happened in Bombay in 1993 - Chamdi was drawn deeper into a web of evil with terrifying consequences, though the novel ends with Chamdi discovering an interior freedom as he created a mythical city called Kahunsha - a Bombay of his dreams which saved him from total destruction.
Anand Bhia, the gang-leader, is a type. He represents all those who in our world rule by terror and fear. The control they have of others is a sign of power and of manipulation. Throughout history and in our present time, such people - Hitler and Stalin are obvious examples - have brought ruin and destruction on many.
Religion has not been immune from such an approach. Control through fear has marked even the Christian Church from time to time. God is portrayed as vengeful - one who rules by the fear of punishment and retribution. The Old Testament sometimes portrays God in this way and there are those, even today, who have a picture of God which is based on such a perception. I am probably not alone in remembering that, as a child, I was sometimes told that, because I was naughty, God would punish me. Not surprisingly I distrusted God and avoided him at all cost, at least until I knew better.
Ruling people by fear and repression is something the religious rulers of Judaism in the time of Jesus were adept at. Combine that with what was seen as the repressive rule of the Roman occupiers and there was a cocktail of fear which kept people firmly in a submissive position, cowed, frightened and ultimately resentful. As is often the way when this is the situation, there were those who longed for deliverance by a more powerful figure who would sweep away the tyranny and replace it with a new power, albeit one achieved by force and in which the repressed became the victors.
It is not impossible to read the battle cry for such a hope in Mary's Magnificat and even in some of the preaching of Jesus in whom so many placed their hopes that a Messianic Kingdom would be established. The Messiah - God's anointed one - was sometimes seen as a herald of peace who might use bloodshed to overturn the misfortunes of Israel and establish a new Kingdom in which justice and freedom is established.
When Israel was taken into exile by first the Assyrians and then the Babylonians, a longing grew for a Messiah who would be a Warrior-King leading them to their rightful homeland and destroy their enemies along the way. This hope is based on various deliverances that God engineered against Israel's enemies in more prosperous times - think of the destruction of Jericho in the time of Joshua or the battle against the Philistines which was brought to such a spectacular conclusion by the boy-shepherd, David.
Here we have the classic victory of right over might, which was deeply embedded in Israel's psyche. Not surprisingly, when they are held in captivity in a foreign land at the time of the Babylonian Exile there grew up a kind of fantasy that a Messianic Warrior-King, who was not unlike David, would arise and put everything right. This hope was further revived when, back in their own land, the Romans invaded and once again oppressed the people.
When Jesus appeared on the scene that hope found its focus in him, at least amongst the more revolutionary elements of society. He was seen as the fulfilment of their dreams. He would establish a Kingdom in which the Israelites would return to their destiny as God's people, reigning supreme over all around them.
Yet, was ever a King so regal as this broken Lord who lets his persecutors off the hook.
They
don't know what they are doing.
Yet, it's
plain to see that what they were doing was getting rid of a threat to
their power - whether it be Roman power or the power of the religious
leaders. Not surprisingly they scoffed at his words. You
call yourself a King. Come on then. Leap from that Cross
and start fighting.
Oh, there
were plenty who would have joined in if that had happened. That
fickle crowd were spoiling for a fight. There is no doubt that
God would be vindicated. What a reversal of fortunes that would
be! But to do that God would simply replace one corrupt Kingdom
with another because at its base it would rely on force, oppression,
repression, to remain in being. this was Kingship on human terms
- and corrupt humanity at that. But God needed to win hearts, to
transform lives, to change expectations, to herald a new way of being
powerful.Those who put Jesus on the Cross didn't know what they were doing. They could be forgiven because what they were doing was releasing a new, powerful force into the world. The Kingdom that Jesus inaugurates from the Cross is not a Kingdom as this world understands it. The foundations of it are God's holiness, justice, freedom, peace and love, and to be its citizens means to have far more radical and differing values. These values are love which overcomes hatred; gentleness replacing might; peace instead of strife; mercy in place of retribution; justice brought about by fairness; liberty and freedom replacing oppression and intolerance; self-centredness becoming self-giving and the service of others; humility which removes pride; forgiveness which replaces blame; and generosity overcoming greed. All, in this new Kingdom, are to be valued not only by God but by each other. There must be a recognition that all are of infinite worth and, precious in the sight of God, all must be cherished. This is a very revolutionary King dome and is at odds with so much in our world today as it was at odds with the world of Calvary and Jerusalem at the time of its beginning.
St Luke, in his picture of the Kingdom puts into it one who, out of all who are involved in our Lord's Passion, recognizes the moment of its beginning. That dear Penitent Thief, who knew the injustice of Jesus's Crucifixion as much as he accepted the justice of his own, saw in the broken Jesus a King who hung there representing a different, more hopeful Kingdom than he had previously experienced. His request that he would be remembered is more than a wistful hope not to be forgotten, it is an act of help. When you come into your Kingdom is the first acknowledgement that in the Crucifixion Jesus is beginning his true destiny as Lord and King. In his penitent humility that thief became the Kingdom of God's first citizen.
And we too are citizens as long as we dare live by the Kingdom's values and are penitent enough to accept the Salvation it brings both of us and to the world. A world in which we are signs of another, better and real Kingdom. We are called to be Companions of the High King in his work of loving the world to His Father's heart.
Chamdi, in Anosh Irani's novel, can only dream of a transformed and beautiful world. For us it is a reality but it can only be a reality for others if we represent our King and the values of the Kingdom by who we are, what we say and think, and how we act. Christ our King calls us with him to not only make our world a better place. He calls us to make it a beautiful place transformed by the Love of God.
Here's a prayer, written by a Christian of the Hervey Islands, which tells us what we must do.
O
Lord, you are King of our spirits.
You have issued orders to your subjects to do a great work.
You have issued orders to your subjects to do a great work.
You
have commanded us to preach the gospel to every creature.
We are going on the that errand now
Let your presence go with us to enliven and enable us to persevere in that great work until we die. Amen.
We are going on the that errand now
Let your presence go with us to enliven and enable us to persevere in that great work until we die. Amen.