The will to survive is a primal force within our human experience. Extreme stories of survival fascinate us, such as the 2006 “Great Escape” of two miners buried 925m below the surface in Beaconsfield, Tasmania. It is an almost mythic story of human courage and the drive to survive, a legendary tale to be placed alongside others of popular imagination such as that of Stuart Diver and the Thredbo landslide, and the Granville rail disaster.
There are many reasons that such stories fascinate us. The human spirit longs for experiences of triumph over and against the odds. We crave the reassurance that there are still people in this world who will put self-interest aside and put their own lives at risk to rescue those in need. There is an innocent hunger for hope that, in the end, things will be OK.
But, overlaying all the various reasons for fascination with such stories of survival, is the awareness of our own personal struggles to survive. Our struggle may not be writ large like these other legendary stories, but our own drive to ‘keep body and soul together’ is just as real.
In this study series we will have an opportunity to reflect upon the stories of people who, like us, are just trying to survive. Some of these stories come from developing nations such as West Timor, South India and Zimbabwe where projects supported by Lent Event are making a real difference. Some of the stories come from our own Australian context. And then again there are the stories that emerge from the Bible. Many of the lectionary texts set aside for this year’s season of Lent speak of people who are uncertain of the future, facing hunger or thirst, suffering or violence, poverty or insecurity, meaninglessness or oblivion. They, too, are survival stories.
Against the backdrop of such survival stories we will hold up our own personal drive to survive for examination. For while the will to survive can bring out the best in people (the heroic), it can also sometimes bring out the worst (the demonic).
Meaning “to survive”, the expression “keeping body and soul together”, comes out of the long-held belief that the moment of death is marked by the departure of the ‘soul’ from the ‘body’. Therefore, survival relies upon keeping body and soul together. In this study series we may recognise a deeper dimension to this idea by acknowledging that survival is just as much a spiritual activity as it is a physical or material activity.
_____________
Finding a ‘lost’ tribe
Meenakshi is a young girl who lives in a jungle village called Mundakunnu, in the Nilgiri Hills of South India. She is one of the Adivasi people - the indigenous Indians, who live in tribal villages and follow traditional lifestyles. Her ancestors have lived in India for thousands of years but have had little contact with mainstream Indian society. Illiterate and poor, they have been unable to prove that they owned the land on which they lived and have been forced off their land and deeper into the forest.
About six years ago, Rev Jacob Belly from the Church of South India (CSI) went into the forest to meet the Adivasi people. On seeing him, the people ran away into the forest and hid from him - such was their misunderstanding and distrust of mainstream society. Things are much better now, thanks to the Integrated Tribal Development Program established by the CSI and supported by Lent Event.
The Adivasi people had become trapped in a terrible cycle of poverty and disadvantage. The children generally did not have the skills expected of a child when starting school, setting up a pattern of failure from the first day of their education. Poor nutrition and health care made the situation worse. Also children often had to leave school and start work at a very young age to help provide for the family.
The CSI has set up a preschool in the village where the children are taught the skills needed for a successful start to school life. The children are also given a nutritious meal and the vaccinations and health care that they need. Eight young children in Mundakunnu, including Meenakshi, now attend the preschool. Six older children walk 3 km through the forest every day to the nearby school. They are assured of a more secure future.
When Rev Jacob Belly visited the village again in 2006, Meenakshi and her friends came running to meet him. “Aren’t you afraid of me any more?” he asked. “We are not afraid of anybody now” they replied.
___________________________
Dean’s Story
When my son Dean was born blind, my joy was tempered with sadness. I was worried for him then and in the years to come. Caring for Dean was a full time job. I had to help him learn everything, by guiding his hands to play, his feet to crawl and walk. I had to watch him all the time.
When Dean was three and old enough to go to preschool I went too, every day, to be his helper. At five Dean went to the Blind School. He was collected by a taxi each morning and brought home again each afternoon.
But all too soon, Dean was eighteen and it was time for him to leave school. His school years seemed to have gone by in a flash. What would Dean do now? Where would he live? What would happen to him when I was no longer able to care for him? It was a very worrying time.
Then something wonderful happened. With the help of three teachers, a group of parents joined together to set up safe places for their adult children to live. We called the parent group ‘Forsight’*. Working hard, fund raising, talking, promoting, we opened our first home, then two more. Now we have eight homes to provide for our adult children.
Dean’s dad is dead now. I would not have been able to care for Dean alone. He has his own place, friends and activities. I have peace of mind.
* FORSIGHT was the first organisation in the world to be established by parents of Blind and Deaf/Blind children (often also experiencing a range of additional disabilities) to provide an environment for their young school leavers where they could live as independently as possible.
___________________________
Despite the distinct differences in the contexts of these two stories, the striking similarity is a concern for the future of the children. Deeply engrained within our human drive to survive is a passion to see that the next generation is looked after and has every opportunity to prosper.
Perhaps it could be said that by securing the future for our children we achieve a sense of surviving even death.
When you consider your own upbringing, can you identify the ways in which your parents took steps to secure your future? What were they?
When we come to the Old Testament text for this week we find that this is the clear concern of Abram.
Read Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
see http://tinyurl.com/2wxcvr and http://tinyurl.com/35hj6m
The issue in verses 1-6 involves the continuing inability of Abram and Sarai to bear a child. The issue in verses 7-12 and 17-18 revolve around the promise of land. The need for descendants in order to secure a future is obvious.
What do you imagine the promise of land means to the future of the descendants of Abram? Does it have a meaning beyond that of economic security?
In contemporary Australian society we no onger ‘live off the land’ in a subsistence lifestyle. What might we be concerned to pass on to our children so that they might have a secure future?
Does the future survival of us and our descendants require more than economic sustainability? What else?
Helpful Hint
The strange ritual described in vss 9-11, 17-18 has its basis in the treaty practices of the ancient world. The partners to the treaty would walk between the sacrifices cut in half, in effect declaring “may I be cut in two like these animals should I not honour my promise”. Thus the expression, “to cut a deal”. Note in this case that God is symbolised by fire, and that God is the only party to this agreement.
Read: Luke 13:31-35
see http://tinyurl.com/3ccnh5
It would seem that despite being on opposite sides of the political fence both Herod and the Pharisees share a common desire to see Jesus removed from the picture. While their preference would be for a non-violent means of achieving this goal (thus their less - than - veiled threat intent on frightening Jesus away), we know that the risk is real, for Herod has already disposed of John the Baptist. And yet Jesus has merely been intent on ‘driving out demons and healing people’ - acts of compassion and caring which restore dignity to people.
Why then was Jesus such a threat to Herod’s survival that he would wish to dispose of him?
Why was Jesus such a threat to the Pharisees’ survival that they would wish to dispose of him?
One theory is that the actions and teachings of Jesus and John the Baptist were holding up the policies and politics of the religious authorities to criticism, and so in silencing these opposing voices the authorities were seeking to safeguard the survival of their temple and their faith (and perhaps their own position and privilege also!). However, with the warning that “Your Temple will be abandoned” Jesus is in effect declaring that, their preoccupation with protecting and shielding themselves from critique for the purpose of ensuring the survival of their temple and their faith, will have the completely opposite outcome. The failure to reform ultimately led to the downfall and destruction of the temple in 70 CE. Not all alternative perspectives and critiques lead to chaos. Some can bring renewal and hope.
Helpful Hint
Herod Antipas had oversight of the unstable eastern flank of Caesar’s empire and needed the goodwill of the religious leaders to maintain relative calm and order. Conversely, if the religious authorities were to retain a degree of autonomy to practise their religion without the interference of the Romans, then they needed to keep a lid on ‘dissidents’ opposing Caesar.
Helpful Hint
Luke is writing his gospel possibly in the 80’s when people would have regarded the destruction of the temple as God’s judgement. The phrase “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” comes from Psalm 118 and was originally applied to any pilgrim arriving in Jerusalem, but here it refers to the vision in Luke’s writings of a messianic kingdom of Jesus in the fullness of time, based in Jerusalem.
When it comes to our own drive to survive what might be the lessons in this for us as we go about seeking to secure a future?
In contrast to the self-protective stance of the authorities, Jesus pays no attention to the risk he places himself in as he continues on towards Jerusalem. Using the motherly image of a hen, Jesus gives us an insight into his motivation for setting aside his own personal will to survive.
How would you describe Jesus’ priorities and motivations?
Helpful Hint
Luke 11:49 is closely related to our passage. Scholars argue that Jesus is being closely linked to both the tradition of the Prophets and that of ‘Wisdom’. In some of the Old Testament writings, the ‘Wisdom’ of God is almost personified as God’s beloved companion who brings God’s Word.
Helpful Hint
The word for wisdom in both Hebrew and Greek is feminine in gender (eg. Sophia in Greek). The image of the ‘hen’ is consistent with the strength, compassion and feminine quality of Wisdom. These traditions of recognising other expressions of God’s presence and activity ultimately developed into the concept of the Trinity.
___________________________
Concluding
Such is the power of the human will to survive that it would be easy to conclude that ‘survival is everything’. And indeed, our Bible texts affirm that our survival and our concern to secure a future are concerns also shared deeply by God. After all, they are the basis for God’s promises to Abram and Sarai, and are expressed in Jesus’ yearning to gather God’s people under God’s protective wings. Nevertheless, there is a critique of our will to survive implicit in the gospel text. It is found in an awareness that the ‘survival strategies’ of the Roman and Jewish ruling authorities are self-defeating and harmful towards others. And it is found in the example of Jesus who rises above concerns for his own personal survival, challenging the idea that ‘survival is everything’.
There is a powerful drive in our culture towards survival through securing one’s future. Can you identify ways in which our society, though intent on survival, is acting in self-defeating or harmful ways?
In your own personal struggle to keep body and soul together and secure a future can you identify any practices that might be self-defeating or harmful to others?
If it is not true that ‘survival is everything’, what motives should have an even higher place in our living than the will to survive?
___________________________
