He was not a large man. He was not particularly good-looking. His physical presence didn’t inspire any assurance of significance, and he was a rather unexciting speaker to boot. Yet, he was a reformer of enormous consequence. He could draw crowds in the hundreds of thousands, who would come just to see him and be in his presence. For his voice did not carry far even if he did speak, and what he had to say at public gatherings was not always very lucid. He would try to move around the outside of the crowd and repeat himself at several points so as to get his message to more people. Or he may not speak at all, but give his speech to some better voiced individual to recite for him.
He had been ruminating over a certain issue for some time, as he did not come to conclusions quickly, and this was a very important determination he must make. There was violence in the air, and any decision had to obviate that. A deepening economic crisis was spreading world-wide, and it was weighing heavily on the poorest classes. The foreign rulers were reneging on prior promises for more autonomy, and their control was tightening. They had hijacked the economic mainstay of the people, and their taxes were exploiting the poorest.
Finally he had his plan. It came to him like an ‘Inner Voice.’ As always he wanted his adversary to have every opportunity to change the situation, so he sat down and wrote a long letter to the foreign leader, in which he assured him that there would be no intention of causing any violent confrontation and that he and his followers were prepared to suffer greatly if need be.
He gathered together nearly eighty disciples, and they began early on a March morning, walking. Each day they stopped in a village and he urged the peasants to give up alcohol and drugs, abandon child marriage, keep clean, live purely, and when the signal came, to break a certain law. They walked for twenty-four days and covered two hundred miles in all. Peasants spread leaves on the roads ahead of the walkers. He was sixty-one years of age, and considered the walk ‘child’s play.’ When he reached the sea at Dandi on the fifth of April, his small band of disciples had grown into a non-violent army several thousand strong. The next morning he made his way to the water’s edge, dipped into the water, returned to the beach, and there picked up some salt left by the waves. In so doing he became a criminal, breaking the British Salt Tax laws, which said every Indian must purchase their salt form, and pay the hefty tax on it to the British bureaucracy.
He, of course, was Mahatma Gandhi. His struggle to gain Home Rule for Indians would not end for many years to come, but with this act he had liberated the hearts and minds of millions of Indians. What the Indian masses lacked under British rule was self-respect, and once Gandhi had given them that, the battle was all but won. “In a nation of slaves, he behaved like a free man.”[1] “Even sceptics were captivated by his courage, indestructible vitality, good humour, near toothless smile, selflessness, self-confidence and unlimited faith in people.”[2]
Every few hundred years there arises an individual who stands head and shoulders above the rest of humanity, and whose life lifts humanity up on a different plane to what it has been prior. The Mahatma, or the ‘Great Soul,’ is one of my heroes. In fact he is my only non-Christian hero, although I want to qualify that categorisation in a moment. Gandhi’s life has been a huge inspiration to me for a long time, but it wasn’t until recent years that I came to see why he was so attractive to not only me but millions of people from all walks of life.
As I read a biography of Gandhi recently, it became quite clear that Gandhi leaned heavily towards Christ in his lifestyle. He was very happy to say that Christ was a role model for him. He loved Christ and was deeply moved by his teachings, often quoting them to his contemporaries. When as a young Law student in London he first read the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, he said they, “went straight to my heart.”
Matt. 5:39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; ...5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ...11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ...25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. ...Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...Forgive men their trespasses... 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, ...21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.[3]
He bogged down in Leviticus and Numbers -- that’s no surprise – and didn’t like Paul as much as Christ, and perhaps that accounts for why he never did understand justification by faith, despite his favourite hymn.
When one biographer, Louis Fischer, enjoyed Gandhi’s hospitality, he discovered upon looking into the Mahatma’s room that the only possession held there was a black and white picture of Christ hanging on the wall. Now that may not sound very significant until you learn that Gandhi did not allow himself even the luxury of a bed, but slept on the dirt floor.
Of ‘Charlie’ Andrews, a Christian missionary in India, Gandhi said, He “is more than a blood brother to me.” He would ask ‘Charlie’ to sing with him his favourite hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” When asked what religion he was, Gandhi would say he was a Hindu, a Christian, a Buddhist, a Jain, a Jew, and a Moslem. He would never tie himself down to any creed, but focussed his whole devotion toward God, and gave his last drop of blood in service to his neighbour. He was raised a Hindu, but I get the distinct feeling he didn’t tie himself down because he could be more effective in service to the majority of Indians if he did not. The “ism” didn’t interest Gandhi, only acts of worship and service to God.
But what is the purpose of spending so much time on an Indian saint, for a Christian congregation? To me, Gandhi showed that an ordinary frail human can emulate the life of Christ in the modern world. He showed that the teachings of Christ are not to be turned on their head by a metaphorical interpretation. When Christ spoke the words of the Sermon on the Mount, he meant them literally. You may take some of them metaphorically as well, but only after you have considered applying them literally. Gandhi emulated the life of Christ like few Christians ever do, especially political leaders. He applied the principles of Christ to everyday life: to politics, to his opponent, to business, to social issues. If this Hindu saint’s life does not make you feel very humble as a Christian, and does not make you re-evaluate your own Christian walk, then I can only feel sorrow for you.
Proverbs 13:20 says, He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
Even on many practical matters, Adventists would find agreement with him. He agreed with the separation of Church and state, when most of his contemporary politicians thought otherwise. He wanted Hindu and Moslem to co-exist, tolerate and love each other, and more than once fasted close to death to achieve it. He held that people and society must be trained in civil obedience before civil disobedience against some laws could succeed. He would make the most fastidious Adventist vegetarian cringe because of his zealousness. He practised only natural home remedies and loved curing the poor of their ailments. Ellen White would be very pleased with his position on jewellery.
He held to truth in politics -- did you get that -- truth in politics! Louis Fischer said, “Gandhi’s criteria were not the usual criteria of politics. His leadership did not depend on victories. He did not have to save face.”[4]
He was scrupulously honest and up-front, and never regretted a confession of error. “I have always held,” he wrote, “that it is only when one sees one’s own mistakes with a convex lens and does just the reverse in the case of others, that one is able to arrive at a just relative estimate of the two.”[5]
Confession of one’s sins, both personal and corporate (including a Church), I have always held to be a sure sign of a committed and mature Christian position. Churches and Christians who skirt around confessions of error, do themselves and God a disservice.
Matthew 6:31-34
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 …your heavenly Father knows that you need them. …34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
We find it so difficult to put our faith in God and not worry ourselves continually about material things. We hang onto things thinking they are our reason for living, that they will save us from ruin, when only God can do that.
Gandhi said, “Anxiety about the future, is sheer atheism.”
“Attachment to money or possessions is the product of fear. Violence is the result of fear. Dishonesty is fear. Fearlessness is the key to Truth, to God, to Love; it is the king of virtues.” Death has no terror to those that fear God. [6]
Love was the key to his non-violence. Non-violence grew out of not only Buddhist and Jainist infusions, but again, from Christ’s teaching. India’s struggle, Gandhi stated, had drawn the attention of the world not because Indians were fighting for their freedom, but because ‘the means adopted by us for attaining that liberty are unique, and as far as history shows us, have not been adopted by any other people… Hitherto, nations have fought in a manner of the brute. They have wreaked vengeance upon those whom they have considered to be their enemies…We in India,” Gandhi continued, “have endeavoured to reverse the process. … I personally would wait, if need be, for ages, rather than seek to attain the freedom of my country through bloody means.”[7]
And this is Gandhi's amazing difference in history. At many points he could only have said the word and millions of Indians would have rallied to a bloody revolt against the British, and they would not know what had hit them. Their self-assessed military strength would not have stood against millions rising against them
“Gandhi did not regard nobility as a monopoly of the great man, or the artist, or the elite. [His] …uniqueness lay in working with common clay and finding the soul spark in it.”[8] It was a matter of deep humiliation to him that Hindus regarded several million of their own kith and kin, the Untouchables, as too degraded even for their touch. “He refused to see the bad in people. He often changed human beings by regarding them not as what they were but as though they were what they wished to be, and as though the good in them was all of them.”[9]
When the issue of untouchability came up in a political wrangle over representation in 1932, everyone from the British hierarchy to his Indian colleagues were mystified when he objected to separate electorates for the untouchables. Both his Indian colleagues and the British leaders thought they were helping the Untouchables by assuring them equal representation. Gandhi felt this would dissect and cause dissension among Hindus and perpetuate the caste system. No one understood how passionate he felt about the abomination that is the caste system. “The political aspect, important though it is, dwindles into insignificance compared to the moral and religious issue.” he said.[10] His letters from prison seemed to fall on deaf ears at all levels. His final letter to the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald said, “I have to resist your decision with my life. The only way I can do it is by declaring a perpetual fast unto death…”[11]
His political colleague and friend, Nehru, also in prison, wrote in his autobiography, “I felt angry with him at his religious and sentimental approach to a political issue, and his frequent references to God in connection with it.” I “…felt annoyed with him for choosing a side issue for his final sacrifice.”
“…Then” says Nehru, “came the news of the tremendous upheaval all over the country… What a magician, I thought, was this little man sitting in Yeravda Prison,…”[12]
But with Gandhi there was no thought of being a political magician. He merely acted on the moral principle involved, politics was minor in significance. Gandhi’s act snapped a long chain that stretched back thousands of years. Many links in the chain remained, but after this event, to practice untouchability branded one a bigot. Hundreds of temples across the country in which no untouchable had ever set foot were opened to all. Those whom Gandhi called ‘The Children of God’ were allowed to walk on streets and to draw water from wells from which they were previously excluded, and marry outside their caste.
Luke 5:12,13 Once, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” 13 Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do choose. Be made clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him.
No one should be untouchable to us. We should look down on no one, we should discriminate against no one.
It was only a couple of years ago I heard a news report that some scientists had compared the genes of Caucasians and Africans. The “good news” report was that there was no genetic difference between us! I thought, “How sad that some even thought the science had to be done on it!
If you travel to South Africa some day, make it a point to worship with your black Adventist brethren. It is my understanding that we still have not overcome discrimination in our own Churches in some places.
I suppose an issue we as Christians consider critical is whether someone has accepted salvation in Christ. In fact for ten days an American Missionary, E. Stanley Jones, discussed religion with Gandhi, but the missionary was unable to change his mind on how salvation is obtained. Gandhi, as Jones understood him, felt that salvation comes ‘through one’s strict, disciplined efforts, a rigid, self-mastery.’[13]
Dr. Jones told Gandhi that he looked on salvation, “…not as an attainment through one’s efforts, but as an obtainment through grace. I came to God morally and spiritually bankrupt with nothing to offer except my bankruptcy. To my astonishment He took me, forgave me and sent my soul singing its way down the years. By grace was I saved through faith, and that not of myself; it was the gift of God…It was at this point that the Christians and the Mahatma never got together.”[14]
I feel we should not be too critical of Gandhi or anyone on this point. Are there not many Christians who do not understand and feel the joy of the Gospel truth? Will they miss out on salvation because of this? Of course not! It is not on our understanding of God that we are saved, but our faith in His perfect gift in Jesus.
So what is the point of being a Christian as opposed to some other religion?
Jn.8:31
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Millions of Hindus and others labour under the debilitating belief in re-incarnation. They see themselves eternally being re-cycled, and never knowing if they have found favour with their gods. How favoured are we to know that God loved us while we were in our sins, and that we can have the assurance of eternal life in Christ right now.
This truth can set you free!
Eph.2:4
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Many Christians would have a very different outlook on health and life if they understood the Bible teaching on the non-immortality of the soul. That truth underpins our emphasis on a healthy lifestyle and makes a huge difference to our quality of life as Adventists. Did you know that some Adventists' health age is 8-10 years younger than the average Australian? How blessed are we?
That is how the truth can set you free!
Conclusion
When Jesus walked among us in Palestine, he showed us the sort of life we should live now and in eternity. He taught us the principles to apply to our modern world. If someone like Mahatma Gandhi comes along to emulate Christ’s life, we should not cringe because he doesn’t belong to our fold. We should take something from his example, and resolve to look at Christ’s life afresh, and see how we can imitate Jesus and apply his teachings more closely in our lives.
It is true that Jesus said,
Jn.14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
But he also said,
Jn.10:16 “And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold.”
I choose to leave it to the Lord to judge Gandhi and to focus my faith on Jesus. Jesus said,
Mt.7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
[1] The Life of Mahama Gandhi, Louis Fischer, p. 243 (I am indebted to this biography for the biographical material in this sermon.) [2] Ibid. [3] Matt. 5 & 6 The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). Thomas Nelson Publishers. [4] Ibid.,p.237 [5] Ibid. p229 [6] Ibid.,p382, 433 [7] Ibid.,p366,355 [8] Ibid.,p366 [9] Ibid.,p271 [10] Ibid.,p383 [11] Ibid.,p383,384 [12] Ibid.,p386 [13] Ibid.,p380,381 [14] Ibid.
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