THIS IS HOW LOVE WINS...

This is how Love wins, every single time

Climbing high upon a tree where someone else should die

This is how Love heals, the deepest part of you

Letting Himself bleed into the middle of your wounds

This is what Love says, standing at the door

 

You don’t have to be who you’ve been before

Silenced by His voice, death can’t speak again

This is how Love wins

(From the song ‘How Love Wins (Thief)’ written by Nichole Nordeman

and performed by Steven Curtis Chapman)

 

And yes, today is a Friday. The Good Friday… The Holy Friday.

 

My two Heroes come before me, once again. 

Yes, once again, my mind reels back to one of the final scenes in the movie – ‘Gandhi’. This time, it is when the communal riots break out all over and the nation is burning… The Hindus and the Muslims have been provoked by their hardliner leaders and now they are all over the streets torching houses, dragging men, women and babies out of their homes… burning, raping, and slaying them like possessed cannibals with no remorse, with no sign of ending their insanity. India is a new-born nation… and, Pandit Nehru has in hand the impossible task of bringing the situation under control… What the Mahatma did not want to happen is now happening in its goriest form: violence and bloodshed… hatred and revenge… To quell such a fierce madness, now the Army tanks have been thrusted upon… and, the Prophet of Peace knows, that’s not the way… That’s not the answer!

So, Gandhi resorts to his ultimate weapon: Fast unto death!

And, that’s the last thing Nehru, now, wants!

Till both, the Hindus and the Muslims, end their hatred and violence, Gandhi is not prepared to end his fast. 

The nation is on flames!

In that breath-taking scene, an ordinary Hindu (played brilliantly by Om Puri), all overpowered by emotions, storms into the room where the fasting Gandhi is lying on a cot. The people around Bapu are taken aback, but not he himself… The agitated man throws some rotis before the Mahatma, who looks too pale to react or speak. 

“Eat this,” the man yells at Gandhi, “I have just crushed a little Muslim-girl to death.” 

His confession has left everyone in that room stunned and speechless!

“Why did you do it?” Gandhi, with shrill voice, manages to ask the man.

“Because, they killed mine!” the man bursts out, unable to handle his pain and guilt. 

“You can do one thing to heal yourself of your sin,” the Mahatma assures the man.

The man looks to frail Bapu with hope soaked in disbelief. 

“Find a girl of the same age and raise her as your own,” declares the Mahatma.

There is a huge sigh of relief on the tormented man’s face. Before the words fully sink into his heart, “Only thing you remember,” Gandhi informs him, “the girl must be a Muslim!”

The man falls at Bapu’s feet and sobs… till the heavy load of pain and guilt falls off his heart!

This was how Gandhi touched the low and the mighty alike… This was how he gave them hope!

This is how Love wins… every single time!

It was on a Friday, Gandhi, my hero, was killed by the bullets of a hardliner!

 

And, it was on a Friday, Jesus Christ, my incredible hero, was nailed to the cross by the hardliners of His time. 

Jesus touched people – the low and the mighty, the sinners and the saints – all in a manner that would not only heal them, but would also transform them beyond any trace! He gave them hope which they found nowhere else… It was a complete new testament!

“You don’t have to be who you have been before,”… Yes, this was the hope, this was New Testament!

So, on this day – the Holy Friday – two dramatic events from my Master’s life stand up before me.

The cunning hardliners have dragged a young woman to Jesus. They want to trap him somehow… So, they ask him: 

“Teacher, this woman has been caught in an act of adultery. The Law of Moses commands us to stone her to death… What do you say?”

Jesus is able to read their cunning intention. So, he scribbles something on the ground and then looks up to them and says:

“The one amongst you, who has not sinned, let him cast the first stone!”

This leaves no option before these Pharisees but to drop their stones and leave, one by one… till the woman is found alone. 

“Woman, where are those who condemned you?” Jesus asks her. 

“No one is here, my Lord,” the woman replies, all overwhelmed by what has just transpired. 

“Nor do I condemn you, then,” the merciful Master declares to the sobbing woman, “Go, and sin no more!”

Yes, this was how Jesus Christ touched lives… This was how he healed them, transformed them… and gave them hope, another chance to ‘live with dignity’!

This is how Love wins… every single time!

The other scene unfolds while my Master is left hanging on the Cross. He is crucified between two notorious thieves. But, unlike them, Jesus has been already tortured to death - well, He is almost dead, by now… His body is bruised, battered and bleeding, the skull is hammered with the crown of thorns… and, he is battling for his life, in great pain, hanging there almost naked… amidst isolation, hatred and humiliation. 

So, the thief on the left, even in such situation, rebukes Jesus: “Aren’t you the Christ? Then, save yourself and us.”

The thief on the right doesn’t like what he has just heard. “We are hardcore thieves and we deserve this punishment,” he tells the other thief, “But, what has this man done to deserve this cross?”

Then, turning his face to Jesus, this ‘good thief’ pleads: “Master, please remember me when you are in Heaven.”

And, to this, Jesus, who is almost bereft of life, manages to promise:

“I tell you the truth, my friend, tonight, you will be there with me in my Father’s Paradise!”

No matter how many times the Priests have explained to me in the church, why this day is know as a ‘Good Friday’…, I am still left dumbfounded by the mystery and the legend surrounding this day!

These men – Gandhi and Christ – taught us to love without judging our fellowmen… Even our worst enemies! They gave us hope… of a New Life!

Maybe, that’s the reason why this day is ‘good’… a ‘Good Friday’!

In death, they rose… and, they gave us hope!

This is how Love wins… every single time…

Yes, every single time!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.:i. Vinod Korgaonkar

       ii. Lionel Saldanha