Paradise Lost?

About the hour we landed in the Bali International Airport, on Sept 9, the bombs shattered the morning hustle and bustle in Jakarta in front of the Australian embassy. 9 people were killed, all Indonesians, and hundreds injured. The Indonesian TV channels in the hotel room were all on the scene the whole afternoon. It brought back sharp memories of the Oct 2002 bombings in the Kuta nightclubs in Bali. Asta, our tour guide, did not take us to see the bombed out site.

Everyone tried not to think too much of the bombings everywhere and somehow managed to have a pretty good holiday. We enjoyed the clear skies and seas, the abundant flora and fauna, the handmade artistic products, the spicy and fingerlickin' seafood, and the cheerful and gentle but tough and resilient islanders.

Read Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)'s Anecdotes of Destiny, which includes the story Babette's Feast. The movie of the same title is beautifully made and received the Academy Award in 1986 for Best Foreign Film. I have watched it more than once, each time savouring even more the art and the message. It is quite faithful to the written story, one of hope and redemption, of seeing beyond life here on earth, beyond a life of missed opportunities, unfulfilled dreams and ambitions.

Achille Papin writes to his love, Philippa, who is gifted with an angelic voice but misses the chance to become a famous opera singer: "... As I write this, I feel that the grave is not the end. In Paradise I shall hear your voice again. There you will sing without fears or scruples, as God meant you to sing. There you will be the great artist that God meant you to be. Ah! how you will enchant the angels. ... Babette can cook. "
And later, Philippa echoes his words to Babette: " Yet this is not the end! I feel, Babette, that this is not the end. In Paradise you will be the great artist that God meant you to be! Ah!" she added, the tears streaming down her cheeks. " Ah, how you will enchant the angels!"

Fair is foul, and foul is fair

"How goes the world, sir, now?"
"Why, see you not?"
"....Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Hover through the fog and filthy air."

This is the world we live in: where the rich and privileged are admired and feted, the poor are despised and shunned; the handsome and beautiful are sought after, the plain and ugly not worth a second glance; the strong and powerful rule and lord it over others, the weak, young, old, disabled, female, are neglected, taken advantage of, or worse, oppressed and subjugated.

This is the world we live in: where possessions maketh the man, things are more important than people, self-advancement and fulfilment than relationships, and one is judged by his colour, clothes, his outward appearance, not his heart.

I forget who now, but someone wrote about we humans being in a state of amnesia. We have forgotten who we are, who made us, who our Creator is, why we were made, why we are here on earth. So this is the upside down world we are in: where things are opposite to what they should be, where fair is foul, and foul is fair, as Shakespeare put it in Macbeth.

We lie and rationalise it (harmless white lies), we lust, we seek to possess more and more, we hurt each other in anger and hatred. We kill in a rage or in jealousy, in revenge, in the name of a god or in delusion.

I suppose that's why when the Son of God came to earth, we couldn't recognise him. As the prophet Isaiah said, many years before Jesus came and fulfilled his prophecy,

"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry groud: he hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53: 1-6

And when Jesus came, He came to turn the world right side up. He said things which shock our amnesiac brains: love your enemies, bless those who persecute you, blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, it is more blessed to give than to receive, the last shall be first, and the first last, whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it, whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all: For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And He laid down his life for those who had rejected and despised Him, and He rose again. Thank you, Jesus, for coming to turn us back to our Maker and to turn us right side up to become who we were meant to be.