... about Honour
Honour is a word I struggle with, because it means so many different things in the various countries around the world I have visited. I have seen the negative side of it, with honour killings and trying to protect self because of ‘honour’, demanding people respect us or at least trying to get them to do so.
Some of the people we have least respect for are government tax collectors. They are the people we feel are robbing us of our hard earned money. The other people we often have little respect for are foreigners. Shop keepers will sometimes try to take advantage of a foreigner in the souk. And there are some foreigners we simply despise.
When Christ was on earth he attracted crowds of people and rather than pushing to the front an ashamed tax collector climbed a tree to see him. Christ stopped under that tree and called up to the man, inviting himself to a meal at that man’s house. Jesus, the one to whom honour should be shown showed honour to that man.
And Christ told a story that honoured a despised foreigner. The story was about someone robbed on the road left bleeding in a ditch. A religious leader saw the man and left him there. Then a second religious man came by. He too did nothing. It was the despised foreigner who stopped and cared for the man. Though Christ was showing what we all should do in caring for people he was also showing that in God’s eyes everyone has honour, God respects everyone.
So as followers of Christ, that’s what we do if we walk in his footsteps, we give honour to everyone not seeking honour for ourselves. That is pilgrimage of Christ.