In memory of Hatuey ...

I promised a while back that I would write something concerning Cacique (Chief) Hatuey. Below is an excerpt (ok maybe the entire entry) of an entry that Wikipedia has concerning him :

"Hatuey (d. February 2, 1512) was a Taíno Cacique (chief) from the island of Hispaniola, who lived in the early sixteenth century. He has attained legendary status for leading a group of natives in a fight against the invading Spanish, and thus becoming the second fighter against colonialism in the New World after Anacaona. He is celebrated as "Cuba's First National Hero."^[1]

In 1511, Diego Velázquez set out from Hispaniola to conquer the island of Caobana (Cuba). He was preceded, however, by Hatuey, who fled Hispaniola with a party of four hundred in canoes and warned the inhabitants of Caobana about what to expect from the Spaniards.^[2]

Bartolomé de Las Casas later attributed the following speech to Hatuey. He showed the Taíno of Caobana a basket of gold and jewels, saying:

Here is the God the Spaniards worship. For these they fight and kill; for these they persecute us and that is why we have to throw them into the sea... They tell us, these tyrants, that they adore a God of peace and equality, and yet they usurp our land and make us their slaves. They speak to us of an immortal soul and of their eternal rewards and punishments, and yet they rob our belongings, seduce our women, violate our daughters. Incapable of matching us in valor, these cowards cover themselves with iron that our weapons cannot break...^[3]

The people of Caobana could not believe Hatuey's message, and few joined him to fight. Hatuey resorted to guerrilla tactics against the Spaniards, and was able to confine them to their fort at Baracoa. Eventually the Spaniards succeeded in capturing him. On February 2, 1512^[2], he was tied to a stake and burned alive at Yara^[1].

Before he was burned, a priest asked him if he would accept Jesus and go to heaven. La Casas recalled the reaction of the chief:

[Hatuey], thinking a little, asked the religious man if Christians went to heaven. The religious man answered yes... The chief then said without further thought that he did not want to go there but to hell so as not to be where they were and where he would not see such cruel people. This is the name and honor that God and our faith have earned.^[4]"

^-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatuey

So some of you may be asking yourselves now, why I would post the life of this individual, when he clearly did not express Christian virtue. Whether or not he did is a matter I will leave in the hands of GOD, but for the time being I think we should take some time to reflect on his words.

"Here is the God the Spaniards worship. For these they fight and kill; for these they persecute us and that is why we have to throw them into the sea... They tell us, these tyrants, that they adore a God of peace and equality, and yet they usurp our land and make us their slaves. They speak to us of an immortal soul and of their eternal rewards and punishments, and yet they rob our belongings, seduce our women, violate our daughters."

"[Hatuey], thinking a little, asked the religious man if Christians went to heaven. The religious man answered yes... The chief then said without further thought that he did not want to go there but to hell so as not to be where they were and where he would not see such cruel people. This is the name and honor that God and our faith have earned."

I realize his words aren't exactly earth shattering, but what he says is just as relevant today as it was back then. How many times do we use GOD as a facade for when we try to obscure our true intentions ? Sure, once we play the "I'm doing this to witness" card no one dares contest our motivations and we are praised as being righteous. But when our intentions are indeed questioned, how many of us are abhorred that someone would dare question our motivations. So what do we do, we get defensive and project our insecurities (masked as righteousness) onto the fallen individual who we have made it our personal cause to "save" ( Luke 6:42 anyone ?). But if we really get down to the nitty gritty of it all, we are not trying to save anyone, but ourselves. We fail to recognize our own sinfulness and put on airs of being holier than thou, even going as far as justifying our "charitable" behaviour. In doing so we are being nothing more than hypocrites who profane the name of The LORD our GOD (Exodus 20:7).  

I am going to sidetrack here for a moment and recall what my Melkite confessor once told me and apply it here, "You must purify your intentions". Take a moment and ask yourself, what does it mean to purify our intentions ? The answer to that is simple and was commanded by our LORD as recorded in Matthew 5:43-6:8. Within Our LORD's command to us, we are told that to truly be servants of GOD, we must be willing to love Him above all things and love our neighbours as we ourselves would want to be loved (Matthew 22: 37-40). At the core of Christ's message is love and sacrifice and thus purifying our intentions would ultimately mean imbuing our actions with love. Righteousness being born forth from love and ultimately from GOD who is love, should thus conform to the criterion mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:4. 

But what kind of love should this be ? The answer to this is found in John 15:9-13, particularly verse thirteen. Love is thus defined as a selfless sacrifice for others (whether they love us or not) and what sets us apart as disciples of Christ (and ultimately what puts us in communion with The Trinity). But then how does this relate to the figure of Hatuey and the words he spoke ? Very simply, when we forget to preach and live in accord with The Gospel.

Hatuey had no problem with Catholicism as evidenced here (read only the italicized portions) :

They tell us, these tyrants, that they adore a God of peace and equality, and yet they usurp our land and make us their slaves. They speak to us of an immortal soul and of their eternal rewards and punishments, and yet they rob our belongings, seduce our women, violate our daughters."

HOWEVER he did see a contradiction in what they said and what they did in practice (read the passage in its entirety). Where was/is that lived Christian virtue they/we were preaching to The Natives and by extension in our age to sinners, who by extension includes us as well ? How many people refuse The Gospel, not because they disagree with its message, but because of the example we give by the lives we lead.

Before he was burned, a priest asked him if he would accept Jesus and go to heaven. La Casas recalled the reaction of the chief:

"[Hatuey], thinking a little, asked the religious man if Christians went to heaven. The religious man answered yes... The chief then said without further thought that he did not want to go there but to hell so as not to be where they were and where he would not see such cruel people. This is the name and honor that God and our faith have earned."

This has nothing to do with vilifying or exalting one group over another, but rather in demonstrating how we fool ourselves through THE DISEASE that is SIN. We in effect are no better than our first parents Adam and Chava, who not only shifted the blame to one another, but ultimately onto GOD Himself (Genesis 3:12). Would it not be better that we would admit our faults, not only to GOD (whom we do not fool as He knows ALL) or ourselves, but to those we are seeking to preach unto (Proverbs 28:13). It would be better that we lose ourselves to the world and all its pomps than to be lost before GOD (Luke 17:33), or by extension lead others to their spiritual demise by our lack of Christian example.

For CHRIST who is SINLESS chose to take upon our humanity for the benefit of ALL mankind so that we might have a chance at ETERNAL LIFE. Let us not repeat the past mistakes of our spiritual brethren in leading others to meet the same fate as Cacique Hatuey, for to quote a particular graphic I once happened upon the internet, "You may be the only Bible some people will ever read.". Perhaps in some way Cacique Hatuey is the ideal example of Christian witness. Perhaps not by the life he lead, but rather his courage to call us out on our hypocritical ways as we wallow in the facade of our so called Christian lives.