Good Friday and Some Arithmetic

Two and two is not always equal to four, my young friend Tony says. 2 + 2 ≠ 4, he reasserts. Tony doesn’t think linearly though his thinking has the precision of mathematical logic.

See these two, Tony offers an illustration, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Then add another 2 to them, Ambani and Adani. What do you get?

I smile in answer. It’s dangerous to answer Tony verbally.

Now, Tony continues, let’s take two beggars from the street. And then add you and me, another two, to them. What do you get?

Tony goes on with more arithmetic because he thinks I didn’t get it.

(Modi + Shah) + (Ambani + Adani) = 4 persons

(Beggar 1 + Beggar 2) + (You + I) = 4 persons

Is the first 4 equal to the second 4?

Today is Good Friday. Good Fridays are sad because they are about the victory of vicious political power over simple goodness. Just a few days back, on what’s known as Palm Sunday among Christians, Jesus was led like a hero to Jerusalem, a political fulcrum in those days, by a huge crowd of people who imagined that he was their redeemer. Those same people gathered a few days later outside governor Pilate’s palace demanding the crucifixion of Jesus.

People sing hosana to you today and demand your death tomorrow. Lesson umber one of Good Friday.

What changed the people’s attitude to Jesus? Religion + politics. The religious priests like Annas and Caiaphas hated Jesus because he was undermining their religion by making it humane instead of subhumanly ritualistic. The power that the priests enjoyed over the faithful as well as the money that came through that power would go with the wind if people really started taking Jesus seriously.

Every genuine teacher is a threat to those in power. Lesson number two of Good Friday.

The priests changed the mindset of the people as soon as they saw Jesus’ increasing influence on them. So the shouts of Hosanas transmogrified into cries for crucifixion.

It is easy to hoodwink the masses with new stories and histories. Lesson number three of Good Friday.

Give the masses new slogans and they will hunt your enemies with the zeal of frenetic militants. One of the easiest ways of eliminating certain people is to project them as enemies of some glorified entity like nation or religion. Jesus was projected as both: an enemy of political rulers and of God.

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus of the Sanhedrin will become powerless in front of the frenzy of the masses. They can only bury Jesus now.

Goodness dies again and again because of the leaders of the masses. Lesson number four of Good Friday.

(Joseph + Nicodemus) + (Tony + I) = 4

(Annas + Caiaphas) + (Pilate + Herod) = 4

One 4 ≠ Another 4. Lesson number five of Good Friday.