7884716_sI am at that stage of life where I check the obituary everyday. Saw an obituary for Professor Ragunathar Kanagasuntheram in the June 24 issue of the Singapore Straits Times. I checked on-line and found one with more details.

 

Obituary Notice

 

Professor Ragunathar Kanagasuntheram
Emeritus Professor of Anatomy, National University of Singapore
Born in Karainagar, Sri Lanka, On 14 October 1919
Passed away peacefully in, Adelaide, Australia On 19 June 2010

He lived an exemplary life of dedication to God, and to medical education, as Head of Anatomy Department, National University of Singapore; Dean of Medical College, University of Jaffna and inspired everyone who came into contact with him. He leaves behind his loving family and friends to mourn his passing, and celebrate his life. Beloved Wife: Sornam, Devoted Children: Narendran, Rajendran, Pathmini, Bhavani and Panja, Loving Grandchildren: Gayathri, Sharavanan, Kanesan, Rayan, Anand, Prakash, Kailash, Yasotha and Ramana Caring In-laws: Parameswari, Rathi, Shreya Parasivam, Nathan and Raja, Many nephews and nieces.

I had the privilege of having Prof Kana teach me anatomy in my first year of dental school in the then University of Singapore. Here was a master teacher, one who had the two indispensable qualities of those teachers who truly shape lives. He loved his discipline and he loved his pupils.

I had a hard time in my first year in dental school. I failed three of my four subjects in my first professional exam, including anatomy. It just so happened that Prof Kana was visiting Penang (my home town) during the holidays. He met my dad and dad subsequently told me that Prof had told him that “it was going to be ok.” Prof knew the concerns of students and their parents.

He and his team really worked on us, all the students taking supplementary exams. Thank God I passed all my subjects at the second go. Prof let on that I have done quite well for anatomy. This was a special teacher. Many doctors and dentists will mourn his passing. We owe him a great debt.

I wasn’t sure as to his religious convictions. I suspected he was Hindu. Whatever his religious affiliations, here was a man who thought deeply and who cared for people. He was always bemused at all the Christian freshmen running around sharing the gospel with their fellow students. Those who were bolder tried to share the gospel with the profs as well. When we had the chance to discuss religion with Prof Kana, he would gently ask us: “how can the finite hope to understand the infinite?” We agreed that God is infinite and that human beings were finite. How could finite beings, and surely undergrad dental and medical students were as finite as they come, go around, so certain of their convictions about God?

I wasn’t able to give him a satisfactory response to his query then. It was a reasonable observation. Indeed how can the finite hope to have accurate knowledge of the infinite? I often wished I had a chance to meet Prof Kana again in the years that passed. And now it seems I will no longer have the chance. If I had had a chance to meet Prof again, this is the response that I would have volunteered. Indeed it is impossible for the finite to understand the infinite unless the infinite takes the initiative to reveal Himself.

Here is the apostle John’s testimony about Jesus:

Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory — the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.'” For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known. (John 1:14-18 NET)

“No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the father, has made God known” (John 1:18). And in case we missed the point, John would later tell us that Jesus said: “The person who has seen me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9).

Were those young undergraduate students running around confronting everyone with the Four Spiritual Laws and other evangelistic tools, young, brash and naive? Yes. Did they have accurate knowledge about God? Yes. Because the infinite has chosen to reveal Himself in the person of Jesus, in a revelation now contained in the bible.

No, we do not have exhaustive knowledge of God. Indeed how can the finite ever have exhaustive knowledge of the infinite. But we do have accurate knowledge about God. It is knowledge that among other things, tells us who we are, where we came from, the reality of sin, how we can relate to God through repentance and faith in Jesus, how we ought to live, and our eternal destiny. We do not know everything but we know enough. Above all we know that God loves us and that He wants us to share that love with others.

I wish I had met Prof Kana again. I would have thanked him for teaching me so much about anatomy and about life. I would have tried to tell him again about Jesus and give him what I hope would be a more satisfactory answer about knowledge of the infinite. But it is too late now. I do not know what his spiritual journey was in the years since. I know he is with an Infinite who does not make mistakes.