Somewhere, right now in rural Nepal, someone is being blamed for
last week's earthquake.
Conservative estimates put the number of Hindu gods at somewhere right around 330 million. Yes, 330
million. Three hundred and thirty million deities demanding acknowledgement. Of those, nearly all require a constant stream of gifts, catering, worship, and appeasement.
Otherwise, they get angry.
Really angry.
Angry enough to, say, shake the earth and cause your house to fall down.
The Vedic idea is that Lord Shiva, who is the destroyer of all evil, becomes very ferocious and angry and performs “Rudra Thandavam”, or the “Ultimate Dance of Destruction” when man becomes selfish and greedy and disregards God and Nature.
Keep in mind that Shiva is just one of 330 million gods making the rounds through the Himalayan region. And remember, also, that each one of these gods expects a certain amount of tender loving care to be kept in his/her/its good graces. So, what, exactly, can provoke a god to such anger that an earthquake results?
Sadly, in the Hindu world, any number of shortcomings can cause calamity. Forgetting to ring the bell to wake the god. Being irreverent in the manner in which one presents offerings of food and drink. Showing pride in one's appearance. A woman shaking hands with a man who is not her husband, or speaking her husband's given name in public. Serving one's own food before that of a guest.
Village elders are charged with ensuring justice, lest the gods feel that a blind eye is being turned and decide to take matters into their own hands. Often, the punishment is both swift and severe--again, sending the message to the deities that no intervention is necessary.
All of this sounds familiar, in a certain sense, doesn't it? Seemingly small infractions with potentially disasterous results. Harsh retribution, often resulting in death?
It's the very stuff that Jesus came to free us from. He suffered, died, and was buried so that no one who chose to accept Him would ever have to face the righteous anger of God.
And yet, 2,000 years later, there are still those who are deceived. There are still those who live under the chains of a law they cannot satisfy--a law handed down not by a just Creator who desires to be in relationship with them, but a law written by millions of fickle powers intent on enslaving its followers in darkness forever.
Earthquakes, floods, mudslides ... none of these things are new to Nepal. There has been devastation in this country and hundreds like it before the current social climate or political setting. Disasters happen in this fallen world.
What I challenge you with today is this:
Somewhere, right now in rural Nepal, someone is being blamed for
last week's earthquake. Houses have collapsed, cows have been killed, a celebration has been tainted, a statue toppled. Awestruck at the suddenness of this disruption in their lives, the loyal Hindu observers began searching for the possible cause. And they settled on something or someone as the ultimate reason behind the disturbance. Maybe it was a woman who didn't seem quite as meek as she should in the presence of an elder. Perhaps it was the birth of an "imperfect" child. It could have been an old man whose dementia made him lose himself for a moment and forget to bow
just so in front of a statue.
Whatever the cause that was landed upon, a remedy was decided upon and carried out. It could more offerings. A new temple being built. A child being abandoned to the elements. A woman being maimed.
This, the villagers are thinking,
will show the gods that we are trying harder to live as they wish.
Someone, somewhere, is paying a price.
A price that will not set anyone free. A price that will not bring an end to the fear and the enslavement.
A price that means nothing.
We read the news of an earthquake, look at the death toll, shake our heads, and move on. In places dominated by darkness, upset and calamity is not so simple. There are 330 million gods to appease.
Three hundred and thirty million chances to get it wrong.
Think of this when you see that a disaster has struck a place that seems to hard to reach with the Gospel. Think of this, and pray that the light of Jesus will come and penetrate the darkness. That, after all, is TGM's goal: to bring light where darkness reigns. To open eyes to the beauty of Christ throughout Nepal by training church planters. And then, maybe, next time there's an earthquake, no one will have to be punished.
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Reading these facts make the smiles of the girls at Abba House that much more precious. Safe from enslavement to myriad Hindu gods, unfettered by the oppression of superstition and fear, these girls are being raised with the joy and freedom of Christianity. They are learning that they, too, are fearfully and wonderfully made in God's own image. They are told daily that children are a gift, that they are as entitled to the gift of salvation as any man or boy, and that the Lord who set the stars in the sky cares about their needs, large and small.