November 19, 2008

Merry Christmas Everyone,

It is becoming that time of year that I love best. Even most of our students have a great fondness for this time of year. I like to think that there is a stirring of something deep within that draws them toward that momentous event that still shines to this day. If asked, they will talk about the feelings of love and peace and concern for the condition of the world that Christmas evokes. If asked what Christmas really is, they are rather at a loss. Christmas may be some sort of community or family celebration, but it is not personal—not personal in the sense that their lives center around the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are of course the exceptions. The exceptions make mission and ministry a joy to do in this country.

For one of my students, Buddhism and Shinto (the Japanese religions) do not answer any of the really critical questions about life. Buddha appeared around 500 years before Jesus. While there was no special heralded birth, his life and teachings affected many people’s lives. But Buddhism emphasizes a search for the cessation of suffering and pain in living life, not an explanation of why it exists. Buddha’s search led to a contemplative path to reach a state of “nirvana” in which suffering ceases. Unfortunately, this depends upon the individual and their willingness to endure the rigors of following this path. What about the average person who cannot endure the “Way of Buddha?” And even if a person has “succeeded,” how do they know it? And what is there beyond death? If Buddhism clings to Hinduism in the belief of reincarnation, then how does one really stop the perpetual cycle of birth and rebirth, etc.? My student pointed out that she has no prior knowledge of previous lives. What’s the point of enduring suffering in order to ease and eventually erase suffering, when one has no idea if this really is the approach that merits nirvana in the first place? Buddha never came back to tell us.

Isn’t it a question of authority? Who decides when one has had enough of the endless cycle? Who decides if one has reached the point where all ceases to be and nirvana sets in? In fact, the teachings ultimately explain that in the end there is a great nothingness. But if there is a great nothingness, then who has come out of this nothingness to say that there is a something-ness to it all? And how do they know? And who exactly is “they?” Plus, modern science has learned that the earth and all life does not live in a steady state. How it all began is extremely vague and starts arguments at the very mention of it, but it is dying out slowly, and once gone it will never return. There has never been a perpetual cycle of life on earth. There was a time when there were no people, not even insects. And the time will soon come when it will be just as it was.

Now some may say that my student doesn’t have a full appreciation of what Buddhism is and what it actually means. She has over-generalized the seeming pointlessness of it all. But still, if one doesn’t ask the questions then how can one learn? If it really is true, then there should be a real sense of purpose and direction, shouldn’t there? Present day Japan, is truly a materialistic society that has little connection in practice to its religious past, but a deep connection to its societal and cultural past. As people like to say, Japan is an enigma. If you don’t challenge it, Japan seems to be very spiritual, without being spiritual. You have to sense it, rather than go find it. To search for its essence is to come up empty-handed. So many people are left staring at a rock garden to comprehend the meaning of life.

One challenge to Christian missionaries that is always set out by Japanese is to explain how Christianity is compatible with Japan. “It is not compatible,” they say. “We can’t relate to it. Christianity is Western, we are Eastern. Our thought patterns are too different. Our cultures are too different.” And so it goes. But my student and the members of the Japanese church I attend do not readily accept this. To discuss Christianity in this manner, is not discussing Jesus the Messiah (Christos in Greek). When you wonder where all the great religious leaders came from, you don’t need to wonder about Jesus’ origin: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” Many may not believe it, but it is set down in Holy Scripture and has been for almost 2,000 years. Many challenge it, but they cannot deny that it was an essential teaching of Jesus’ nature from the very beginning of the early church.

Where many are curious about the origin of earth and the universe and the origin of humans, we Christians do not need to wonder. “Through him (Christ [the Logos] ) all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” We are here, because we were put here on purpose. We each have individuality (our minds, fingerprints, eye prints, blood veins, and DNA) and this is enough viable and circumstantial evidence to deny reincarnation or appearance by chance. Where many find humanistic effort and technology a comforting approach to the future, we find the life of Jesus becomes our own life in a very real sense. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” Even materialistic Japanese understand that the world seems to be in real trouble. They do not dwell on the pessimism that is sweeping the globe like a tsunami, but it is never far from their thoughts. They use terms in the media like “global crisis” to describe it all. For my student, the questions so critical to life for her are found in the great light that is Jesus. There is no doubt that in the darkness sweeping over the planet, there shines the Christmas light that is Jesus. God came to earth as one of us, grew up, and gave himself up for our sake, that we might have not only real life, but that we will keep this life forever.

The joy of Christmas in this land does reside in the hearts of a few. We are constantly at work to gently open more and more hearts and minds to the true, historical reality that is Jesus, the Living God. Please keep the Japanese who are desperately searching for meaning and purpose in your prayers. The gospel of Jesus awaits them.

Rev. William Geppert
Nagoya, Japan