Contextualized Christianity - the Life of Sadhu Sundar Singh.
Contextualised Christianity Sadhu Sundar Singh
India's prominent Christian "sadhu" of the early 20th century,
felt called at an early age to renounce home, employment,
marriage and family life to obey his Lord and tell others of
God's love. His lifestyle was identical with Hindu sadhus of his
day including dress, dependence upon others for his daily needs,
and in spiritual discipline.
Sundar Singh was born to Sher Singh of Rampur, Punjab in India
in 1889. His mother, a deeply religious woman, left an indelible
mark on Sundar and nurtured him in the traditions of the Sikhs.
Sundar often spoke of his mother with much love and respect
because of the good foundation she laid for his life to come.
Little did anyone know what God was about to do with this keenly
intelligent and disciplined young man.
When Sundar was about fourteen, his beloved mother and elder
brother passed away. This left the young boy in despair and
spiritually restless. Sundar hungered for peace. He sought
meaning for his life.
One night, a year or two later, after bathing in cold water in
preparation for pooja he asked God, 'the all-pervading,
impersonal, unknowable, incomprehensible universal spirit', to
appear to him as an avatar. He wanted a divine revelation that
would once and for all destroy his doubts and end his despair.
His spiritual agitation was such that he made a vow to throw
himself in front of the early morning passenger train that
passed by his village if God did not reveal himself. This vow
was not empty words! Shaped by the disciplined life of a devout
Sikh, this strong willed youth meant to do exactly that.
That night as he prayed he became conscious of a light shining
in the room. He looked outside to make sure it was not someone
shining a light. Gradually the light took the form of a globe of
fire and in it he saw the face of Jesus.
Jesus was the last person Sundar was looking for. After all,
Jesus was the 'foreign god' of the Christian teachers at his
school. A zealous Sikh, Sundar had publicly torn up a portion of
the Bible to protest its claims. Amazed that his vision had
taken the unexpected form of Jesus, Sundar was convinced in his
heart that Jesus was the avatar in whom God reveals Himself.
Did Jesus speak to him? No one knows for sure; however,
regardless of the nature of the 'conversation', Sundar threw
himself on the ground and surrendered His life to Jesus. At once
peace flooded his troubled heart. The weary struggle to seek
enlightenment and moksha was over for Sundar, for in Jesus he
found shanthi. This divine encounter with the Lord Jesus was to
Sundar a rebirth into a new life.
The following months proved to be very difficult for Sundar and
his family. Becoming a disciple of Christ was not taken lightly
by his family nor his community. Misunderstanding his new found
revelation to be a betrayal of all loyalty to his community he
was excommunicated. Sundar may have been ill advised by some
'Christians' to cut his hair, unnecessarily maligning an
honorable Sikh custom. Unfortunately, he followed their advice
and cut his hair, a gesture that did not make things any easier
with his family. His family was convinced he had renounced his
Sikh heritage. However, through this strife and turmoil God
cared for Sundar.
A month after he accepted the water baptism of Christ in the
year 1905, he took the vow of a sadhu. He gave away his meager
possessions, put on a saffron robe and became a barefooted
wandering man of God. Among Christians the world over, this
barefoot Sadhu was later called the `apostle of the bleeding
feet' because the soles of his feet were often covered in bloody
blisters.
The life of a sadhu is hard and entirely dependent on God. Sadhu
Sundar Singh's needs were met entirely through the kindness of
people he met wherever he went. His life story has been written
down for us by several of his friends and admirers. He also,
reluctantly, agreed to put his teachings and experiences in
writing saying that like His Satguru, he did not want to write a
word. Sadhu Sundar Singh reflected the character of Christ in
word and life; he had found peace in the abiding presence of
Jesu his brother and Lord.
Sundar also became a great missionary travelling perilously over
the mountains to Tibet where he was repeatedly persecuted as he
attempted to share Christ with them. He suffered much at their
hands but each year he would travel back to Tibet to show Jesus
conextualised for the Indian and the Tibetan. He has revealed an
Eastern God and taken Christ and made Him accessible to the
Eastern mind and thinking. Modern missionaries still have a lot
to learn from the missionary with the bleeding feet.
Some of his selected teachings can be found below. More details
about the amazing life of this contextual Christian can be found
in many books, some of which are still in print around the world.
The Teachings of Sadhu Sundar Singh (selections from his books)
The Unbridled Tongue It has often been noticed that the
woodlouse that eats and destroys hard wood and the insect that
makes holes in the rocks in the sea are very weak and delicate.
even so, they can penetrate hard wood and stone to spoil them
completely. The same can be said of the germs of evil thoughts
and habits. However feeble and negligible they may seem, evil
thoughts and habits eat into our lives to make us hollow and
useless human beings. Unless, with God's help we are able to
eliminate such germs, they can completely destroy us. Poisonous
as reptiles, evil thoughts and habits cause death by biting and
depositing their poison in the wound. Even bugs and flies,
though not considered poisonous, are in a way no less dangerous,
because they spread the germs of various deadly diseases and
many are destroyed through them. Many people are like this. They
do not outwardly appear dangerous, like murderous dacoits and
criminals, but by insidiously spreading the dangerous words and
poisonous influence to others with their unbridled tongues they
are just as much of a menace.
A Foreigner in a Strange Place When a person goes to another
place or to a foreign country the people consider him a stranger
and the dogs bark at the sight of him. So followers of Christ do
not belong to this world but are strangers (John 17:14, Heb.
11:13). Therefore they should not be surprised or downcast when
the dogs of the world take them for strangers, bark at them, or
frequently even attack and rend them. Having put our hand to the
plough we must not turn back, nor should we slacken our speed,
but press on like a caravan, because the dogs will turn back
after chasing us for a while; they will fade out into silence,
and we shall reach our destination in safety (Matt. 7:6).
A naturalist took the eggs of a nightingale to a cold country,
and hoped that when they hatched the birds would regard that
country as their home and remain there. But they came out, and,
after the summer, they flew away to their native home, and never
came back. Similarly, though born in this world, we are not for
this world. As soon as the time comes for us to leave the body,
we shall move away into our eternal home.
>From "The Real Pearl" by Sadhu Sundar Singh, CLS Madras 1966.
Who is really blind? If a blind man comes down the street the
onus is on the person who can see to draw aside so as to avoid
collision, and if by chance they collide he should not mind but
rather beg the blind man's pardon and help him. If he should get
annoyed that would only be proof that the blind man is really
not less but more clear-sighted than he is, because he is blind
with regard to both sympathy and intelligence. So if anyone
opposes and persecutes us because we follow the truth, instead
of taking it ill we must forgive, love and pray for him (Mat.
5:44, 45), and if he still does not repent and desist we are not
the losers, because we ought to do this for the Truth, who gave
us sight and is Himself is our reward.
>From "The Real Pearl" by Sadhu Sundar Singh, CLS Madras 1966.
The Reality of the Living Christ We see medicine for our eyes.
It is in a bottle, but when it is in our eyes we cannot see it.
The medicine cleans the eyes and still the eyes cannot see it.
They feel the presence of the medicine. You say: "I have
medicine in my eyes". So when Christ was in Palestine, in the
physical body, many people could see Him, but now when He is
living in our hearts we cannot see Him. Like the medicine. He is
cleaning our spiritual eyes from all kinds of sins. We are being
saved though we cannot see Him. We feel His presence. (I don't
mean by "feeling" a kind of physical sensation, this "feeling"
is not an emotion either.) By "feeling" I mean we realise the
reality of the living Christ and shall be able to bear witness
for Him and to say: "Now we are in the Kingdom of God and the
Kingdom of God is within us".
>From "Life in Abundance", CLS, 1986
Taste and see.... About four years ago I was talking to a very
learned man. He said: "It is very useful to know all about the
Bible, and also to analyse every part of it". Then, as an
illustration, he took a cup of milk: he was a chemist. "Now, is
it not so much sugar, and so many other things in milk?" He made
everything separate. I said: "It is very interesting, I cannot
go against it, but I should say that your little child of three
years of age is better than you. This child cannot analyse the
milk, but he drinks it and knows from experience that it is
sweet, and in doing so, gets stronger every day. He does not
know how many things it is made of, but he knows two important
things: first, that the milk is sweet; second, that by it he is
getting stronger. You have analysed it, and in doing so have
derived no benefit, and you have spoiled the milk." There are
many chemists who can analyse the Word of God. They say: "This
part belongs to Palestine, this to Greece." They can explain
many things about it in different ways, but they never drink the
spiritual milk. They analyse the Word of God but never drink it,
they have not strength enough to overcome temptation; that is
why there is great danger in criticism, and our Lord knew about
these things when He took a little child and said: "Of such is
the Kingdom of Heaven". You must be like a child who takes and
drinks.
>From "Life in Abundance", CLS, 1986
Sandalwood and the axe * The good and spiritual man will always
endure suffering in the world (2 Tim. 2:12), because people
cannot understand him; and as their conscience and their
feelings, by means of which they should find the truth and value
it, are desensitized and deadened through sin, whenever they
come across a good man they discover that his nature and his
ways are incompatible with theirs, and so are compelled to
persecute him. But those whose spiritual sensitivity and
conscience are alive and alert uphold the rut, and are
influenced by the upright man's fragrant and winsome life. The
life of a true Christian is like sandalwood - instead of harming
in any way the axe that cuts, it imparts its own fragrance to it.
The Rose and its thorns As long as we are in this world we have
to undergo both joy and sorrow. The bee not only gathers honey;
to serve a particular purpose it also carries a sting. It is not
without reason that beautiful fragrant roses are accompanied by
thorns; and Paul's 'thorn in the flesh' too (2 Cor. 12:7- 10)
contributed to the fulfilment of a lofty objective. In the same
way it is absolutely necessary for us too to go through such
experiences for the fulfilment of a final and eternal purpose.
Worse than the Ox Many live their lives like beasts of the
field. They have tongues, but no power of speech, and are dumb
as animals, with no message for themselves or for others.
Animals indeed have tongues, but have no ability to speak,
because they have nothing to talk about beyond the usual animal
feelings, which they express by sounds and movements. Those
without spiritual life are like animals; but in a sense they are
worse, for the ox knoweth its owner, and the ass its master's
crib: but man, who is the crown of creation, does not know his
Creator (Isaiah 1:3). His tongue is very swift to utter
falsehood, but is slow to speak truth because he does not know
the Lord his God (Jer. 9:3).
Suffering and being revived As in the world, night lasts in some
places for only a few hours, and in other places for several
months, so there are always seasons of joy and of sorrow to be
found in our lives, and all of us must at last pass through the
'valley of the shadow of death'. Those who in their lives bear
the Cross may truly say 'We die but behold we live' (II Cor.
6:9), and as the tree which in winter loses its leaves and seems
to be dying, in spring is infused again with new life and once
more shoots out its leaves, so Christians in time of persecution
seem to be ready to die, but again and yet again do their lives
revive. In spite of all their sufferings 'their lives are hid
with Christ in God'. As the Gulf Stream flowing up from the warm
waters of the tropics saves the coast of Europe from the rigour
of a bitter winter, so God's Spirit flowing through the lives of
true Christians keeps them always in the glow of spiritual
health and happiness.br> to read more great
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