Transcription
Well, every year we see some horrible photographs, uh, of Catholics, usually Catholics who are whipping their bodies, uh, in a very public kind of ritual, and and this year, uh, the Daily Mail, as you can see, uh, has a big article about it.
"Blindfolded Catholic devotees whip their bloodied backs in the Philippines as the world marks Maundy Thursday." We're going to look at some of these horrible pictures in a minute. What's Maundy Thursday? Well, it's the Thursday before Easter Sunday, commemorating what Christians think of as the Last Supper, uh, the institution of the Holy Communion, as they call it, and also Jesus washing his disciples' uh, feet. So, uh, Maundy, the word comes from the Latin word *mandata*, meaning command, referring to Jesus' commandment, "Love one another as I have loved, uh, you." But the Eucharist, the Holy Communion, is the central feast that they are celebrating.
So we look at these, uh, pictures. Um, we scroll past the advertising. Uh, Catholic penitents wearing black cloth cover their faces as they whip themselves for Maundy Thursday in, uh, the Philippines. Um, and it says here, actually, you know, blood dripping down their backs as they stumbled for miles with some lying down to be struck by bystanders and others collapsing in agony. Now, this is not just a gory, horrible thing. I want to talk about what Jesus actually taught about forgiveness of sins. How do we atone for sins? Because these people claim to be following Jesus, but are they really? And it says, "Despite strong discouragement by the Catholic Church, this practice continues in the Roman Catholic, uh, nation."
And some of these photographs are truly horrific. Actually, penitents lie on the ground, as you can see here, covered in blood outside the cathedral on Maundy Thursday. And here we have some more people, Catholics, Christians, whipping themselves in an act of penance. So, they're sorry for their sins, uh, allegedly. And then someone carrying a cross there and someone whipping them still. And this reminded me, this, this says here, "Filipino penitents perform self-flagellation." But this reminded me, I don't know about you, of Abu, the Abu Ghraib, the torture and the prisoners, you know, with their heads covered, uh, being tortured, uh, in Iraq. That's what that picture reminds me. There's nothing to do with Christianity at all.
We're going to come back to that in a minute. What did Jesus teach about forgiveness of sins? And also, what does Islam teach? Uh, more horrific pictures. A man wounds the back of a Filipino penitent. I mean, this is a deliberate, uh, you know, infliction of torture and pain. What has this got to do with the teaching of Jesus? Uh, and just looking more hooded people like Abu Ghraib, uh, whipping themselves, calling blood to pour from their wounds. Uh, and this flagellant face down in the dirt in the street to atone for his sins. Interestingly, what has this got to do? This is very pagan. I, I think another kind of Abu Ghraib moment here, or Guantanamo Bay, perhaps. Hooded penitents, um, and another man crucified there. They're quite horrible. I mean, some of these are truly, uh, you know, X-rated stuff. Horrible bloody pictures there.
And here's a, a hooded flagellant with bamboo sticks strapped to his arms, walking along a street as part of the rituals to atone for sins or fulfill vows for answered prayer. Again, what's this got to do with Jesus? And we'll come to this in a minute. Another, another person whipping their backs here. Horrific. And this last one is, is the most horrible one of all. The saddest one, in my view. This is a young lad, I think, judging by the photograph, a Catholic, uh, experiencing difficulty in breathing, is embraced by someone in, uh, in, uh, in the Philippines. This is horrific and extremely dangerous, uh, and arguably, you know, it breaks, this surely breaks a law, I would have thought, in the Philippines. But every year, uh, they do it, every year, religiously.
So, um, so what's this got to do with Christianity? Well, if you look at the early Gospels, how is sin forgiven? And Jesus teaches, if it's historically reliable, how we are to petition God directly in Matthew chapter 6, the famous Lord's Prayer. And he says, um, in verse 12, "This is how we're supposed to pray to God according to Jesus: Forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us. And don't let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins."
And this is something very interesting here about fasting, but it's relevant to what we're seeing in this Daily Mail article, and I'll link to it below. And when you fast, Jesus said, "Don't make it obvious as the hypocrites do, who try to look pale and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. See how that's relevant? I assure you that is the only reward they will get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face." Other words, don't give it away that you're fasting. Then no one will suspect that you are fasting except God, who knows what you do in secret. And God, who knows all, will reward you."
Isn't that interesting? Although it's about fasting, as I say, it really applies to these acts, so-called acts of penance, as well. You know, if you're fasting, you're not even supposed to let anyone guess you're fasting. You got to wash, you know, comb your hair, look very respectable. But these guys go on the streets, they wear hoods, they take off their tops, they flagellate themselves, they almost die gasping for oxygen like one of them. This is not how Jesus expected his followers to behave. "No one," he said, "will suspect you are fasting or doing penance except God, who knows what you do in secret. And God, who knows all secrets, will reward you." So this is true authentic spirituality, not these hideous, uh, whippings, people covered in blood, people in pain, people being tortured, very public. "Look at me. Look at me. Look at this man. Look, bleeding." And people are suffering. Uh, it's, uh, horrible, horrible stuff. Uh, and I would say this has, uh, nothing to do with the teaching of Jesus.
Now, I'm not saying the Catholic Church approves of this, at least not in the Vatican, I would imagine, but clearly they, they're doing it every year, and they're not being stopped. So, someone doesn't mind them doing it. And I remember, I'm reminded of other teaching of Jesus in Luke 15, the parable of the prodigal son. Again, another story about how we're forgiven. It's based on repentance and coming back to God, not public displays, wounding your body, getting covered in blood, nearly killing yourself. This is not the way of the prophets, and it's not the way of Islam and the last prophet of God, Muhammad, upon whom be peace, who taught exactly the same message that our sincerity before God is what counts. If we do, we do acts of, uh, penance, if we are repentant, we must be sincere and humble and submit to our Creator. This is authentic spirituality, not this ghastly blood-soaked self-torture, self-flagellation.
So, yep, this is Maundy Thursday for Christians. And some of them are celebrating it like that in these horrible displays there. I, I've seen in other years people actually crucify themselves. And I don't mean, oh, they just wrap their hands around, you know, the cross. They actually impale, uh, their hands, uh, which couldn't have been the historical case for crucifixion anyway, because the hand, the weight of the body would have ripped through the hand. It would have been in the arm, very likely. Not that, according to Islam, Jesus was, uh, tortured and killed that way. But, um, so it's not even authentic by the standards of first-century Roman torture and execution. Um, so even that is reenacted for real in some parts of the Christian world. And I'm not sure we saw that in those photographs, but it's truly, uh, horrific and has nothing to do with Jesus, and it's nothing to do with the authentic way of God that all the prophets taught, essentially the same message, and that's what we should follow at, uh, this Easter time.
Um, yeah, so just thought I'd share that. Have a look at the, uh, article in the description below if you want. Till next time.