“Do you want to…”
“Do you want to…”
This is one of the most fundamental questions in the field of faith, theology, family, and personal life. This question constitutes a basic truth of human existence, especially when it is applied to personal identification as an authentic human being. In the field of Christian theology, especially in the discipline of anthropology, this question defines who we are as God’s creation in response to God’s call to live as authentic human beings. From this perspective, the entire concept of faith depends on the will of the individual to respond to God’s call. In the realm of faith, nobody can be forced to believe based on force, proselytism or imposition. When people are being forced to believe without their personal will, the faith becomes a symbol of oppression and slavery. The best example can be the Residential Schools in Canada, where children were forced to believe and were indoctrinated by the white colonialism of the western world. The consequences of this mindset are slowly resurfacing across the prairies, where unmarked graves are being found in the thousands. A forced belief of the Roman Catholic Church, as this was understood in the middle Ages, turned faith of the Christian West into a concept of the “Death of God”, which at the end turns society into the sphere of atheism and the loss of sanctity of life. At a result, the Western society revolted against the religion of oppression and slavery, condemning anything associated with the Church or Christianity.
If we look closely at the last Sunday reading of the Gospel from St. John 5:1-15, an authentic response is given by Jesus Christ, which should become a paragon for faith, mission, and respect of choice of any person. According to St. John, the first words which came from Jesus Christ, are the words of choice: “do you want to be healed?” Our Saviour Jesus Christ doesn’t impose the healing upon the paralytic, but directs his question towards the will of the individual. Before healing, Jesus Christ confirms the right attitude and will of the paralytic towards the possibility of being healed. There is no sign of imposition or force from Jesus, but respect for personal choice. By asking the paralytic this question, Jesus Christ affirms the authenticity of a free human being to respond to God’s call for healing. This one question of Jesus Christ encapsulates the greatness of humanity in the providence of God. God enabled the person to choose, knowing that they can refuse to respond to the Divine invitation. This is also an image of God’s infinite love, Who bestows upon humanity free will while expecting nothing in return.
The implications of the above shown by Jesus Christ, have immense and immediate effects on the life of the believers of the Church and our societal life as community. In the life of the Orthodox Church, nothing is being done based on force. What is even more remarkable, the Church, in order to eliminate the concept of forceful belief or imposition, makes sure that it is the will of an individual to accept the faith or a sacrament of the Church. The best example could be the Sacrament of Baptism and Holy Matrimony. In the Sacrament of Marriage, the officiant asks the individuals approaching Holy Matrimony if they have a free and unconstrained will to marry the other person. The person cannot be forced into love with the other person or marry the other person if their free will is obstructed. Love cannot be enforced if the other person doesn’t accept it. The same approach is taken by the Church in the Sacrament of Baptism, where the person is being asked if they believe in God; the Trinity. Only a positive response from the person being baptised allows to proceed with the acceptance into a Christian community.
The applications of this approach are fundamental in the life of a democratic society, where free will is essential for the stability of communal life. In a democratic society, the basic fundamental principles of the Orthodox Church, are essential for the proper understanding of free choice for a human being. At the same time, we have to affirm that even democracy has its own limitations and parameters, which can’t be underestimated. The question of the present abortion rights in the United States are the best example. The principle of free will and dignity of another human being are essential for democracy. As correctly understood, the Church will always emphasize the elimination of physical and psychological abuse within the family in a democratic society, where the will of the other is eliminated or subservient. You cannot be truly in love if your love is not returned freely by the other person. The imposition or enslavement of the will of the other will cause pain and suffering, but never love and unity. Within the principle of free choice, the Church will never be associated with slavery, indoctrination or ideological imposition, as is seen within the concept of the Russian World, also known as, Russkiy Mir, which is foundational for the present war in Ukraine. You are not authentic to your dignity bestowed upon you by God if you have no chance or possibility to choose and to confirm your free will. The freedom to choose, as this is being realized in the war in Ukraine against Russian aggression, costs us as Ukrainians immensely. The atrocity of the aggressors speak for themselves. If we would only be allowed to live according to the basic principles of Orthodoxy of having the choice, as this is given by Jesus Christ to a paralytic, we could really find the authentic human call for self-identification. If Jesus Christ, seeing the suffering of the paralytic still asks him for the acceptance of healing, why would we not allow each other to be truly themselves. If God respects the fundamental principles of humanity, as this is seen with the example of the paralytic, why are we so narrow-minded in our approach to our brothers and sisters, wives and husbands, and children of God?
May 2022