REHABILITATE JESUS IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

 

Jesus was crucified. He died, but he rose to a new life. This is the foundation of Christian faith. If the historical evidences prove that He rose, and if we accept it to be true and believe it, then we need to rehabilitate Him in our midst, in the modern times. He needs to be ‘re-installed’ in the new updated ‘version’ of humanity today. The Christ in Jesus evolves, and this process continues. So, too the ‘processor’ that has to process him, has to be upgraded with new programming and coding. New wine must be put into new wineskin.

The present world process is full of violence, divisions, injustices, inequality, injustice and hypocritical. Within the religious circle, a large section of people does recognize the spiritual and religious importance of Jesus, but his teachings are little known. Often believers of other faith  perceive the Christians as "hypocritical" (50%), "judgmental" (49%) or "arrogant" (32%), according to a  Ipsos survey (2022). In an era dominated by the rapid dissemination of information through social media platforms, where information spreads like wildfire and opinions clash incessantly, the figure of Jesus Christ remains a subject of both reverence and controversy, misconceptions and misinterpretations. While some uphold his teachings of love, compassion, and forgiveness, others manipulate his image for personal or political gain, leading to division and conflict. However, amidst the chaos of the digital age, there is a pressing need to rehabilitate the essence of Jesus's message of compassion and understanding, and revive the pursuit of peace through justice and human Rights; and within the existing noise of digital discourse, it is an opportunity to rehabilitate Jesus and propagate his message.

As the present generation is engaged in communicating through the social media in a  digital world, it must be engaged with religious world as well for human spiritual progress. The AI-aided social media needs to be used to ‘rehabilitate’ Jesus in the post-post-modern world, to make Jesus’ presence and his teachings felt.  In an age of swift communication, people  – believers, atheists, skeptics,– all over the world are very much aware of the Church conflicts and confusion over abortion, homosexual couple’s blessings, clergy sex abuse scandals, etc.  Christian fundamentalists, liberals, modernists and especially the hierarchy, have tarnished the People of God (Church) and, “obscured the image of Jesus Christ”.

In the present reality of political polarization, gender equality, poverty, immigration, ecological crisis, war, terrorism,  following the initiative taken by the campaign "He Gets Us" (2022) – the Church as a whole, needs to be relevant by trying to address different aspects of  Jesus’  life  and his teachings through digital efforts. People must come to know that the experience of Jesus’ living presence is relevant to the present society infested with loneliness, anxiety, mental health issues, etc. All Christians especially the young believers will have to engage social media, design and organize them to evangelize the culture with Christ. Through these means they need to connect with the Church and its teachings;  clear doubts and disputes through dialogue and debates; inter into inter-faith dialogues and discourse on religious freedom; bring the Christian families together;   be aware of the divisive and diverse Christian denominations which draw their identity from the single Christ and work towards reconciliation and unity.  A rehabilitated Jesus within the present reality would embody the value of love, compassion, justice and peace.

The AI-aided social media has revolutionized the way information spreads, enabling instant communication on a global scale. Yet it is often fraught with polarization, misinformation, and sensationalism. In such an environment, the image of Jesus is frequently distorted through misinterpretation of his teachings, seeking to promote their own agendas. True, the social media platforms have made Jesus more accessible to people. His teachings, once confined to sacred texts and religious institutions, are now shared, discussed, and dissected across the digital landscape. But this accessibility allows both for widespread dissemination of his message, and also opens the door to distortion.

One of the primary challenges in rehabilitating Jesus, therefore, is navigating the myriad interpretations and agendas employed for personal or political gain. The religious fundamentalists and the atheists often deride him as a mythical figure. Jesus is frequently reduced to a symbol that serves their interests. Yet, at the heart of Jesus's message lies a call for love, understanding, and reconciliation. His teachings emphasize empathy, kindness, and the pursuit of justice. He championed the cause of the marginalized, healed the sick and forgave even those who persecuted him. It is this message of hope and redemption that needs to be reclaimed in the age of social media.

 It is imperative, therefore, to emphasize the core principles that underpin Jesus’ message. At the heart of his teachings lies a profound call to love one another, to show compassion to the marginalized, and to seek peace even in the face of adversity. Through discernment a concerted effort is to be made to counteract the spread of misinformation and hatred. It is essential to embrace the entirety of his message which transcends narrow political or ideological boundaries. Instead of engaging in divisive debates or using Jesus as a weapon to bolster one's own beliefs, individuals can use their platforms to  foster a culture of dialogue, bridge divides and promote understanding, empathy and reconciliation. It can connect individuals from diverse backgrounds and foster meaningful conversations. By engaging in respectful discourse and listening with an open mind, we can promote empathy and compassion. It certainly offers unique opportunities for innovative forms of outreach and community-building inspired by Jesus' example. Online forums, virtual gatherings, and social media campaigns can serve as spaces for people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs to come together in dialogue and mutual respect.

To truly rehabilitate Jesus in the age of social media, it is imperative to embody his teachings in our everyday lives. This means actively working towards peace, justice, and reconciliation in our communities and beyond. Whether through acts of kindness, advocacy for the marginalized, or efforts to promote social justice, each of us has the power to make a positive difference. However, the task of rehabilitating Jesus in the age of social media extends beyond mere online interactions. It therefore, necessitates embodying his teachings through daily witness– to be agents of justice and peace in a world plagued by division and strife.

To conclude, Jesus Christ remains as relevant today as ever. As we navigate the complexities of the digital age, it is incumbent upon us to rehabilitate him in the world today. Christ’s followers can rehabilitate Jesus if they use the social media to bring about social change by communicating truth, hope, love, peace, light and life, which Jesus himself bore witness to. By embracing his teachings to evangelize cultures, and by fostering a culture of empathy and understanding, we can strive towards a more harmonious world for the post-digital generations to come.

To Think with the Church

 I have spent the last thirty-three years of my priesthood and forty-two years of my consecrated religious life, mostly as a priest, educator in faith and life, writer, and pastoring youth. To be with the Church, according to me is, that to think with the Church one requires that one thinks. Only through thinking that the Church doctrines, dogmas and directives appeal to the will and to reason.  We believe understanding, and understand believing.  Above all, loving  we obey, and we are enlightened. We then open to the light.  We hear and heed to the heart, and not just “hearing about,” being apprised of.  The faith matter is not mere “theological data”. Instead of turning away from facts, it is meant to dive deeply into “thinking about reality”.[1]  We often run the risk of substituting reality with subjective imagination and faith-expressions,  instead of treading truth with passion and reason.  Going behind the non-essentials, leads often to confusion, corruption, and contempt.

 The Church has no power to declare the bad to be good. God is Absolute Good. We need to be realistically grounded and not be on “high spiritual romance”.  Things can always be otherwise.  If so, Church-sin can do “immense social harm” if we think with Church’s thinking, and not think.

 To some conservative factions of the Catholic Church who consider him to be  a dangerously progressive, the present Pope Francis in his epiphany homily this year on the issue of  ideological splits in Church, asked the faithful to abandon “ecclesiastical ideologies”, and focus on poor, not 'theory'. He warned against “basking in some elegant religious theory” instead of finding “God who comes down to visit us”, especially in the poor. The Church needs to ensure that "our faith will not be reduced to an assemblage of religious devotions or mere outward appearance.” Pope Francis allows “the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage”. On this controversial blessing of the same-sex couples, while making efforts to make LGBTQ Catholics feel welcome, he stresses that the ordinary pastoral blessing is not heretical and that it has no doctrinal grounds to reject.

A lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) Christian tries to follow a man-Jesus who, without any formal scientific theological qualification, confronted difficult questions of life and society, with responses arising out of common sense, for the common good. His responses based themselves on understanding of his Father’s will and the real situation of the person in time and place, and the rest did not matter for him. He did not  act according to set precedence, norms, rules, rituals, canons, or magisterium. Jesus mostly took a different path naturally programmed by God his Father, to outgrow his ministry. He often engaged in “disruptive behaviour” in all that he said, did or failed to do. He, the ‘untrained’ one,  trained himself the Father’s way, who is ever understanding, gentle, kind yet firm.

For the religious leaders, Jesus seemed to be “intrinsically disordered”, one who  was disrespectful to the prevalent religious laws and directives. Jesus had a “theological discourse”, while exposing the Samaritan woman’s multiple marriages and her cohabiting nature — irregular sexual relationship. Unlike other ‘religious experts’ (Pharisees, Scribes), Jesus  the teacher committed himself to educating with the heart, with ‘loving kindness’, and dialogued with sinners with respect and dignity,  calling them to repentance. He did not condone sins, neither condemn them.

 God through the Church calls all to conversion and commission all to be his messengers of love — the good news. Jesus the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, likewise want the Church, his Body, to act in ways that fittingly qualifies its members, in Jesus’ mode of ministry. Breaking the religious rules (man-made), can hasten the ‘salvation of the world’. This is the vision of Christ, — the coming of the Kingdom of God. This is the thinking of the Church — a new way of ordering things, with love and non-violence. Like Jesus, the Church too has to face the resistance of “the world,” — cruelty, corruption, betrayal, denial, lies,  hatred and violence. God, the Absolute, who is all love, is above all religions or societal norms. Our pettiness and stupidity, our human justification cannot mow down His love. God meets us as we ARE, because God IS — Absolute Being without any form. Human encounter with God is devoid of judgments that are subject to the religious and societal norms. This is the new thinking of the Church, inaugurating the new creation and  bringing humanity into communion with God.

 Therefore, the traditionalists are rightly to be disturbed, just as those religious leaders two thousand years ago. They  engineered the 'blasphemer-Jesus’ execution because he posed a threat to the status quo, to their control over the religiosity of the common people. The hardness of human heart rejects God’s merciful love, and tries to “usurp the place of God”. 

 The secular cultural world, with regard to the Church, considers that something in her that is indissolubly linked to the human heart. Whereas, for Christians, the Church acts as the conscience of people, to act for the common good and coexist peacefully. It is a ‘religion of  freedom’, enlightened by the high reason of Christian faith in Jesus. She constructs common goals and tries to solve concrete problems of the society.  The Church combines the secular and the religious dimensions, converging on a common  and mutual enrichment. Facing a crisis of values and the loss of the religious living, the Church validly still continues to build up the kingdom of God — the Absolute, within a secularized world.

 

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[1] Anthony Esolen, To Think with the Church’, https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2024/01/08/to-think-with-the-church-2/?utm_source=The+Catholic+Thing+Daily&utm, 9.1.2024