Kate and I watched Gandhi this week on my day off. It was quite affecting to watch this movie on a day that I was also reading the Sermon on the Mount, as well as a great deal of Bonhoeffer, a "nonviolent" Nazi resister, and beginning to read Tolstoy, who interpreted the Sermon on the Mount as nonviolent and anarchist-communist.
This movie is beautiful. I remember the feelings it gave me as a child, but I didn't remember most of the details. It's remarkable that a man such as this lived on earth during and through the first and second World Wars.
There was much in Gandhi's life that reflected the classic hero story. I was reminded frequently of Joseph Campbell's "Hero with 1000 Faces". Like the elements of Jesus' life and Buddha's life that seem to correspond, so also did Gandhi's life follow a classic pattern that led him from riches to enlightenment to rags to transcendence and sacrifice for others.
Matthew 5 clearly says that we are blessed when we are persecuted for righteousness' sake. In this passage, there is very clearly no definite article. It means that if we are opposed or mistreated for any cause that is just, we are blessed. This film's portrayal of Gandhi's campaigns and his treatment by those who oppose him illustrate this perfectly. To the degree that the real Gandhi acted in and experienced these same things, I believe he was blessed.
But as much as the movie reminded me of this classic pattern and story, and the closer it came to the story of Christ and discipleship, the more glaringly obvious its' differences became. Gandhi was definitely influenced by Jesus' teachings, of that there is no question. His life produced a better example of what Christian discipleship could look like than most Christians I know. Still the chasm is wide between this film's portrayal of Gandhi's extraordinary life and that of a Christian disciple. I'll give three of the best examples I can remember.
First, Gandhi was a pragmatist. For me, this was the most glaringly obvious difference between Gandhi's interpretation of Jesus' teachings on nonviolence, and the life of discipleship to Christ as fully revealed in scripture. Jesus gives no word in his teachings regarding whether or not they will "work". Unlike Gandhi's ideal of success, in Jesus teaching, what defines success is that God is glorified, and we are humbly obedient to his call. To Jesus, the success occurs immediately when we turn our cheek to the one who strikes us. At this point, we give up all of our own agendas or thoughts of success, and leave it to God to redeem our enemy through our love. Throughout the movie, Gandhi expounds several times that what he is doing is a strategy that will work toward his end goal - the peaceful independence of India. He corrects people who would do things differently, telling them that their methods will not produce their desired result. No matter how lofty a goal his may have been, and no matter how humble he may have seemed, the path described by Jesus is narrower still. As long as we have our eyes on some earthly goal from the results of our discipleship, our eyes remain upon ourselves, and we are not humble disciples at all. Only when we release all thought of "success" and "result" on earth, and have our eyes steadily on Christ and his call alone are we truly humble. Rejoice in the results of our obedience, yes! But do so with all glory and thanks and credit given to God, not your works. This is discipleship as Jesus calls us to it.
Gandhi's way has an appearance of wisdom to it. It may even be in fact some of the highest earthly wisdom available. From this perspective only is it worth taking as an example. As high as this earthly wisdom may seem, or may be, it is not the wisdom of God.
Second, Gandhi was bound by his self righteousness and self affliction, and with each new level of greater asceticism and self denial, he only became more aware of his own wretchedness and failure. In the discipleship of Christ we become more aware of God, and less aware of our self as we humbly follow. Though we may become more aware of our own sin and unworthiness as we approach the glory of God's perfect holiness, our attention is not turned toward it. The closer we get to God, the closer we also are to his grace, his forgiveness, and his love. The more we submit our lives to Jesus, the less we are concerned about attaining sinless perfection by our own efforts. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Living in the light cleanses us from all sin. We become more aware of God and his way, and it is a freedom and joy to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. It is not a burden. The path of discipleship is not found in greater and greater depths of guilt ridden self denial. The path of Christian discipleship is one of greater spiritual awareness of just how deep and high and wide and long is the love that God has for those who put their trust in him.
Finally, possibly as a result of his pragmatism and false humility, though his words had an appearance of reverence toward God, his religious actions and teaching showed superstition, whereby his god became a means to an end rather than total submission and obedience. Jesus taught that when we are merely a disciple of the one true God and King, and obedient to his will, we are submitted to his sovereign plans, purposes, and intentions for us. God is not a puppet to be swayed by our penance or good deeds. If we think we can change our god's mind or actions because we flail our bodies or wail our remorse loudly enough, then our god serves us, we do not serve our god. God does not demand our lifetime of good deeds against our bad in order to judge us worthy of being forgiven. This would make him a frightening tyrant, and also reduces the severity of sin and the impossibility of righteousness. Jesus teaches that our sin, which is any way in which we have missed the mark of God's holy perfection, is so reprehensible to God that it permanently separates us from him in every way. In this, the laws of God come between us and God and point a condemning finger at our unrighteousness. We can't penance our way back to acceptance in this scenario, unless we also reduce our god to merely "very good" instead of perfectly holy.
The clear teaching of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount that Gandhi loved so much is that Jesus, called God-With-Us, reversed the order when he came as God and fulfilled the law among us. Jesus now stands between us and the law of God, God's perfect and impossible holiness. The condemning finger of the law is now pointed at him, not us. He turns us back toward the law as those who have now been made righteous through his life.
Our discipleship is obedience given to a God who has purchased us with his very life, and has the legal right to demand of us our lives as servanthood for all eternity. We belong to him. It is a testimony to the goodness and love of God that he does not just call us his servants, but friends. Not just friends, but family. He has adopted us, and loved us as his own. We cannot control, manipulate, or coerce this God. We can only receive. We can only give thanks. We can only humbly obey. We can only be free.
After watching this movie, I did a short search and research into some of what Gandhi had to say about Jesus and his teachings. It is sad that it seems that it was Christian's example of Jesus was the stumbling block for Gandhi to becoming a true disciple. I hope that before the end of his life Gandhi was able to transcend both the example of those unchristlike Christians, as well as his own self-righteousness, and truly find the freedom and fulfillment he so badly wanted by submitting himself completely to Jesus.
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