The Cries Of Men
Two men cried in front of me in the past 4 days. Two grown up men. One in his fifties, another in his eighties. This is not a regular experience for me. Quite the contrary. And before anyone gets the wrong idea, it was not because of anything I said or did to them, or to anyone else for that matter. And neither did it have anything to do with the Olympics.
No, they both cried when talking about their country. Our country. Malaysia. And what is happening to it. The man in his eighties bemoaned the fact that inter-religious civility between peoples of different faiths was fast disappearing. That Christians did not seem interested any longer in participating in inter-religious activities, working with people of other faiths in promoting inter-religious harmony, and praying for them in such settings. The man in his fifties “choked” when he was sharing about his work in the political arena, and cried as he spoke of both his hopes and concerns for the future of this country in the light of recent events.
I too have to confess that events of the last few weeks have occasionally caused me to throw up my hands in despair. It is as though we as a nation are intent on not wanting to celebrate 51 years (45 for our friends in Sabah and Sarawak) of independence, and instead wanting to stamp our independence of and from each other.
Prophets in the Old Testament also did a lot of crying, and also about their nation. But there were also prophets who didn’t cry but who had the courage of their calling and conviction to stand up to the king/ruler of the day and tell him he was wrong. My favourite is Nathan, prophet at the time of David. He, Nathan, is known to many of us today as the person who first coined that very trendy phrase, “You the man!” Only for Nathan the expression “You the man!” was not accompanied by “high fives” all around, or whoops of joy and delight. Or by people jumping and banging their stomachs together in a high bounce. No. If we read the story of David and Nathan in 2 Samuel 12 (and especially verse 7), we will know that “You the man!” was the climax of an accusation of lack of integrity against David. David had allowed his personal (and in this case sexual) interest to influence and interfere with his administrative judgment. He had arranged one of his military officers to be killed in battle so that he could take his wife to be his own.
David was not the first ruler to be guided by his “other head” in decision-making, and will neither be the last. Nor was he the first person to be guided entirely by personal self-interest in making a “governmental” decision, and again neither will he be the last. But what is important is that we must be prepared to hold our leaders to account for their misdeeds, whatever the personal cost to ourselves.
Nathan could well have been punished for his forthrightness. The risk was very real. In another time and in another place the prophet Nehemiah approached Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2) for a request on behalf of the exiled Israelites that they be allowed to return home. We read that Nehemiah had felt it necessary to wait 4 months to find possibly the right moment to approach the king. Nehemiah writes of his fear (Nehemiah 2:2). There was great anxiety on his part, which was reflected in a less than cheerful disposition when serving the king (Nehemiah 2:3). But God honoured Nehemiah’s integrity of service to a (non-Christian) king, thorough which Nehemiah had found favour with Artaxerxes, and the king granted Nehemiah’s wishes. Whether Nehemiah subsequently advised his followers to, “Don’t worry, be happy” (which Bobby McFerrin turned into a reggae-style hit song some years ago) was not recorded and is therefore now lost to posterity.
Today in Malaysia Christians around the country are being called upon to stand up for the truth. It may mean writing articles to tell the true story. It may mean speaking up for the truth. And we do it in the face of all manner of oppressive laws, and in the face of the self-interest of one or more persons, or collections of people. It is not easy. But we must find through our on-going relationship with God, brought about by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and emboldened and empowered by the Holy Spirit, the strength and courage and commitment to do so.
And even as our attention is drawn to two electoral events this week, one in Permatang Pauh (on 26 August 2008) and another in Denver, Colorado, United States of America (the Democratic National Convention from 25-28 August 2008), I leave you with this quotation from Robert Kennedy. Some of you will recall that Robert Francis Kennedy, Senator from New York and one-time Attorney-General of the United States in his brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s administration, was about to be made the nominee of the Democratic Party for the presidential election at its National Convention to be held in Chicago in 1968 (yes, 40 years ago) when he was assassinated on 5 June 1968 by Sirhan Sirhan.
I remember as a university undergraduate visiting the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library at Columbia Point, Boston during my summer vacation from London. The Library has a section devoted to Robert Kennedy. And in one of the displays was an excerpt from a speech given by him which read as follows:
“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
I subsequently found out that this was actually taken from George Bernard Shaw (an Irish playright who wrote, amongst other things, the play “Pygmalion” which was subsequently made into the movie “My Fair Lady”), who wrote:
”Some men see things as they are and say ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’”
And from Joel 2:28-32 (NIV):
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”
May God bless Malaysia and all her inhabitants, citizens and non-citizens alike. Selamat Hari Merdeka.
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