The Revealing Statue

November 9th, 2009 by yohan abeynaike

Walking along the Galle road in Mt. Lavinia the other day I came upon the following statue (see picture on right). It was erected in 2004 in “appreciation of the working class”. On closer inspection we see that the name of the person unveiling the statue is written in larger font than the persons to whom the statue has been dedicated to. How is it that the statue called a ‘workers monument’ has relegated the working class to second class status? Is this an innocent typo or does it reveal something deeper about the society that we live in? Does society have an inherent bias towards the rich and the powerful?

Doesn’t it appear that if you want to send your children to the more popular schools you need to have a sizable ‘donation’ readily available? Isn’t it easier to get a bank loan if you can show that you have enough assets at your disposal? How hard it is to get a job these days if you do not have some ‘connections’ in addition to your educational qualifications to back you up. Yes, society is biased towards the ‘haves’ isn’t it? But are religions any different? If you look at most major religions in the world, divine power is always associated with a successful military leader, priest or king who ‘happens’ to be a male. Doesn’t this show a bias towards those who hold power in those societies?

The God of the Bible, however, is infinitely different. Right from the beginning he takes his stand with those most vulnerable in society i.e. the orphan, widow and stranger. He purposely works with the ‘nobodies’ in society in order to debunk the theories of the powerful and ‘wise’. He enters into the world as a vulnerable baby and identifies himself with all those who were marginalized in his society. However his influence doesn’t stop there. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross reveals how God tackles the root cause of suffering and injustice in the world by taking upon himself the problem of sin. Secular philosophers like Karl Marx, who advocated the revolutionary empowerment of the workers against those holding power, fails inspite of their noble intentions precisely because their solutions don’t deal with this root cause. The resurrection of Jesus also stands as evidence that the hope for justice and peace in the world is not wishful thinking but something that will come to pass when Christ returns to bring about God’s rule.

In the light of this don’t we need to ask ourselves who we take our stand with? Does our friends list show a ‘bias’ towards those who are weak and vulnerable? Does our work involve empowering the poor and marginalized or does it sustain or promote the status quo? Does our lifestyle and attitudes embody the message of identification with those less fortunate? Are we able to discern the biases of the ideologies in our generation? To believe in the God of the Bible and to not have a radical counter cultural lifestyle is a contradiction in terms. It reveals the worship of an idol far removed from who God really is. The statue was very illuminating wasn’t it?

Entry Filed under: Articles