24 March 2023 Anno Domini, the Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide
“ Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; all scripture quoted KJV)
Christian Mysticism has seen its prevalence not only in The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross, but also in the east in northern India personified in the Christian teacher and missionary to his people. My father introduced me to this notable figure of the Indian Church when I was quite young. He was a man whose illustrative mastery of metaphor is only rivalled by that of the great Russian writer, Leo Tolstoi. I have never forgotten.
In the early years of the twentieth century there arose a Christian convert who became a great missionary of God in northern India – his name, Sadju Sundar Singh. Singh taught in the language understood of the people of his land as well as in beautiful parables that reflected the beauty of God’s Holy Word.
One such parable is nearly a paraphrase of the Parable of the Lost Sheep told by our Lord Jesus Christ:
“I remember, in Kashmir, there was a man who owned several hundred sheep. His servants used to take these sheep out for feeding, and each evening as they brought them back they found two or three missing. He asked his servants to go and look for them, but for fear of wild beasts they did not trouble themselves about them.
“The owner had a love for them and wanted to save them. If I go myself searching for these sheep they will not recognize me, as they have not seen me before. They would recognize my servants but the servants will not go. So I must become like a sheep – He took a sheep s skin and put it on himself and looked like a sheep. He went out and found some that had gone astray and some that had been wounded.
“They readily followed him thinking that he was a sheep like one of themselves. He brought them in and sat with them and fed them. When he had saved all the sheep and brought them home, then he took off the sheep skin. He was not sheep but man. He became a sheep in order to save those lost sheep. So God is not man, but He became man in order to save men.” Sadju Sundar Singh, spoken at Oxford College, 1912
This is an understandable picture to the herdsmen of Tibet and northern India that is a very clear illustration of our Lord and His purpose in coming down from His seat of Glory: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
On one occasion, the Sadju was traveling through the frozen mountainous regions of Tibet with a fellow believer. They came upon a man who had fallen some thirty feet down from the trail’s edge into a snowbank. Climbing down to examine the man, he was found to be frozen nearly to death.
Sadhu asked his companion to help get the man up and carry him between themselves to the nearest shelter, but the companion objected. “How can we manage to carry this man with us when we are in danger of perishing in these frozen snows ourselves? Leave him and let us be on our way!”
Sundar asked, “How can we leave this man to die helplessly in this weather! I will carry him myself if necessary!”
Sundar’s companion continued on alone while Sundar lifted the man and began to trudge in the same direction where he believed he could find a village. After a few yards, the warmth of Sundar’s body warmed his fellow traveler to the point that he regained consciousness and was able to hobble along together with Sundar. In fact, the mutual warmth of each along the trail helped to preserve the lives of both men.
A few thousand feet further along the way, another body was discovered by the two men frozen in the snow, but already dead. The dead man happened to be the first companion of Sundar’s who refused to help save the life of the first one who would have perished had Sundar not lent his aid.
“He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:39)
