Two best friends walk side by side down a path faced with several dangers and obstacles. Despite their deep relationship and bond, they experience the conflicting decision to choose their own life over saving their friend’s life, and their once unwavering relationship is now put to the ultimate test. The biblical Book of John demonstrates an intense testament between the relationship of Jesus and His disciples as they are faced with the difficult decision to either save or sacrifice their life for Jesus, therefore drawing parallels to the book Crime and Punishment as Raskolnikov’s best friend, Razumikhin realizes that his best friend is a murderer. Both of these texts represent the idea that no matter how much an individual may believe that they love and stand for someone, when faced with severe threats and challenges, it becomes easier to quit on them.
In the biblical Book of John, Jesus is in the garden with his disciples when he is arrested by a group of soldiers. As Jesus is interrogated by Pontius Pilate and the soldiers, his disciples dissociate from him out of fear for their lives. In fact, one of Jesus’s strongest disciples named Peter denies Jesus three times in a row, even after denying the fact that he would ever do that. When the soldiers asked Peter, “art thou also one of this man’s disciples?” Peter replied: “I am not” (John 18:21). This denial three consecutive times in a row completely contradicts Peter’s earlier promises to Jesus as Peter once told Jesus “though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny ye” (Matthew 26:34). When Jesus resurrected from the dead, some of his disciples were doubtful as Thomas expressed “except shall I see his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). Therefore, this describes the human tendency and nature to quit on relationships once serious conflicts and danger arrives.
Similarly, in the book Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov experiences an extremely stressful dinner with friends, his sister, and his mom as they disgust the murder suspects. Extremely flustered and stressed, Raskolnikov hesitantly rises from the group and awkwardly says good-bye to his friends saying things like “I am not feeling well, I am not at ease, I think of you and love you, leave me alone. Leave me! Whatever happens to me whether I perish or not, I want to be alone” (Dostoevsky 328). As these strange words are concerning for his friends and family, his friend Razumikhin runs after him to check on him. Standing in the corridor of the restaurant, Razumikhin locks eyes with Raskolnikov and realizes the honest look in his eyes (Dostoevsky 329). At this moment, Razumikhin realizes that his very best friend is the murderer and becomes weak (Dostoevsky 329). This is obviously a shocking moment for Razumikhin as he discovers this disgusting truth about his friend and it introduces a very interesting question: when is human loyalty unacceptable?
The bible shows strong evidence that humans can always place unwavering trust in their relationship with God. For example, in the biblical book of Psalms, it reads “thou hast trust sore at me that I might fall: but the Lord helped me” (Psalm 118:13) and “the Lord is my strength and song, and has become my salvation” (Psalm 118:14). Therefore, it is critical for humans to understand that the only relationship in their life that they can have full faith, commitment, trust, and safety in is one’s relationship with God. Because of God’s divine and ultimate love and grace, humans can always seek triumph and salvation in His love and guidance.
Leave a Reply