In Vain (Part II)
A chief was burned at the stake for this
CONTEMPLATION
Author's note: This contemplation is part two. Click here to read part one.
In the 1500s, Spanish sabers flooded the Caribbean islands with the blood of natives.
Guerrilla warriors led by Chief Hatuey resisted the conquistadors in Cuba, but spears and clubs were no match for European steel.
Hatuey was captured and sentenced to be burned at the stake. Before the pyre was set aflame, Hatuey was approached by a priest.
“Accept Jesus as your savior,” the priest began, “And see yourself welcomed into heaven.”
Hatuey gazed into the eyes of the enemy soldiers surrounding him before replying with a question.
“This heaven you speak of – will you Spaniards go there after you die?,” he asked.
The priest nodded, ‘Yes.’
“Then I prefer hell,” the chief declared.
The fire was lit.
Smoke and flames dragged the chief to his excruciating death.
Hatuey was no fool. He had seen through the lies of the conquistadors.
Before his capture, Hatuey had given a speech to rally the native chiefs of Cuba against the Spanish.*
“This is their god!” he is said to have proclaimed, tossing a basket of gold to the feet of the chieftains. “They are servants of greed and wealth. They are here to enslave and kill us, to take our land and everything we are!”
Hatuey understood why the Spanish had arrived on his shores. He recognized in their actions who their gods really were. Above all others, their god was mammon – worldly wealth and riches. That is what they wanted, and he knew they would show no mercy in obtaining it.
So, while the Spaniards spoke of Jesus and held their banner of Christianity high, their actions revealed the truth. One cannot serve two masters. The conquistadors left no doubt as to whom they truly served.
Hatuey’s tragic story is not an anomaly...
Wherever cruel men perpetuate violence for their own gain, God’s name is often proclaimed as the reason for the atrocities committed. It has been this way for the past thousand years, it remains this way right now, and it is likely to continue in this manner for the next thousand years:
Creation destroys itself in the name of its creator.
Those who claim divine authority prove to be the greatest incarnation of evil.
Is this what Christianity is about? … Using God’s name in vain to add divine authority to the ideas of men?
Perhaps that is simply the reality of the world in which we live:
We humans exploit whatever we can get our hands on in order to get our way.
Perhaps it is in the nature of man for him to crucify the Truth and then obscure its real message with dogmas and rituals.
Perhaps it is in the nature of man for him to create symbols and traditions that cloak Jesus’ original teachings; to conquer kingdoms and kill savages; to take the name of God and twist it just enough so that it still appears to be divine. All the while, they become servants of the world, wealth, power, pride, status – servants of anything but the Creator who sent His Son.
And then, man grabs hold of his creation, an abomination that does not even remotely resemble Jesus’ original teachings, and he hurls it at others as if it were the lightning bolt of Zeus. Out of scripture, man has forged a weapon intended to harness divine power.
And somewhere in this process of God’s message getting distorted, languages are regarded as holy, scripture translations are believed to be the word of God, faith is institutionalized, creeds replace teachings, days and objects become sacred, and nations create their own versions of Jesus that align with their political interests.
And somewhere in this process, of God’s message getting distorted, tradition overtakes the original and fully engulfs it.
Jesus, the real Jesus, has been forgotten.
He has been abandoned for creeds that are easier to understand than His parables; for crucifixes that are easier to bear than His cross. The Jesus with dusty sandals who taught his students in ancient Israel was abandoned at Golgotha in search of a construct of Him that was more warlike, more political, and less forgiving.
I ask myself: How could the conquistadors burn Hatuey at the stake in the name of Jesus?
- Because it never was about Jesus.
And I wonder… how often is the name of Christ used to perpetuate evil today?
*I found reports and summaries of this speech, but was unable to find the words recorded by Bartolomé de las Casas himself.