April 6, 2012

  • Man's hypocrisy

    Thoughts

    Good Friday and what greeted me? The picture above on Facebook, taken by a certain Karlos Manlupig, who had this to say of the picture:

    FILTHY HYPOCRITES. As I was shooting in Davao City's San Pedro Cathedral during the observance of Good Friday, I noticed a Tagalog speaking man instructing this security guard to throw out a half-naked man who is silently kneeling and praying inside the church, saying that the churches in Manila prohibit persons with mental disabilities and vagrants to enter its premises. The security guard then assaulted the poor man without any warning poking him in the ribs several times using a "ratan" truncheon...I immediately took several burst shots of the detestable incident. Suddenly, an old man with a Bible in his hand tapped me on my shoulder and told me that it is improper to take photos of the incident and that it is also improper to take photos inside their heavenly church. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??? Tama si Dong Abay. Banal na aso, santong kabayo. (Copyright: Karlos Manlupig)

    NOTE: I opted to post this blurry picture to preserve the identity of the victim.

    Of course, as with everything these days, he got to put that "Copyright" mark to make sure he gets credited for the picture. Nothing wrong with that of course, and we have Karlos to thank for bringing this to our attention.

    As Jesus suffered from ridicule, physical prosecution, and the eventual nailing on the cross, this beggar also suffered from ridicule and prosecution. A modern day Jesus suffering from the hypocrisy of a modern day Roman Sentinel, representing society. What makes this picture symbolic is that while Jesus was pierced by a Roman Sentinel to hasten his death, this church guard poked this sincere and prayerful beggar on the ribs, hastening the latter's spiritual death, as how could he still believe in a church who speaks of being kind to the poor but unable to welcome him?

    The Book of John speaks of this event:

    But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs.One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (9:33-34, NLT)

    Church hypocrisy is a given. It is expected that what happened in Davao City's San Pedro Cathedral happens in many churches, regardless of religion or denomination, as Jesus said:

    A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family. (Mark 6:4, NLT)

    Since birth we have been taught to be body conscious. A boy gets to be given stuffs colored blue, while a girl gets pink. When we go out, we are told not to touch people in the streets, most especially the beggars, as they may be carrying loads of germs, thus commercials of sanitizers like Lysol and yes of course soaps for handwashing.

    Do you remember this movie? I love this movie:

    There is nothing wrong with taking care of our body, but the thing is, when it comes to how we treat the poor, looking at them with disgust because they could not afford clean clothes or to clean themselves even, is not just fair for them. Body consciousness is one of the ails of the world, not the disease that we get from that filthy beggar in the street.

    When we are so engrossed with our bodies, we smell the stink in the air even if the source is a mile away. Then we are grossed out, not knowing how difficult life has been for that person.

    When was the last time you shooed away a beggar, ran away from him, or made sure to take the other path to make sure your paths wont cross?

    When we go to mountain communities or in depressed areas the one thing that we are told is to not decline anything given to us because it was given out of sincerity and deep gratitude. To decline would be to insult them because they would think that you believe them to be dirty. To be honest, no one has to tell us this, its called courtesy, but because most of us could not be anywhere near someone in old dirty clothes or those smelling like they've never been near water for a decade, we need reminding.

    Body consciousness makes us put a lot of weight on what we see, feel, and smell. We have ideals, we have a criteria on who to talk to, who to mingle with, or who to touch. And if people don't meet these criteria, we shun them, we ostracize them because they are a potential danger.

    On the other hand, soul consciousness allows us to accept people regardless of their faults. It allows us to see them with acceptance and with regard.

    So, they may not be wearing clean clothes, they may not be smelling fresh, but they too have needs, they too need are people, not some bacteria or disease that should be shunned. So, they may be carrying a lethal disease, so much more their need for acceptance, we just have to take what's called universal precautions, of course.

    But why keep them out of society? Why should we forbid them from fulfilling a very basic need, their need to fulfill their spiritual obligations?

    Jesus was rejected by his people not knowing that he was the world's savior. He was not even an ordinary man as everywhere he goes, people flock to him. How much more a beggar, unclothed, covered in grease, and smelling like the latrine. Wouldn't it be so easy to reject him?

    This Black Saturday, let us start practicing looking at others with a soul conscious eye. Not for the body that he is being presented to us, but the soul that he truly is.

    A soul conscious vision.

     (Photo credit: Karlos Manlupig | Video credits:Fox, Warner Bros., Brahma Kumaris)

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