THE MESSIANIC PILGRIMAGE

I remember sitting a few years ago at the Nile Hilton Hotel overlooking Tahrir Square in Cairo. I was in a business meeting with the owner of a company. He and I were talking about a project that his company might work on for me. Companies are not a democracy and as the owner of the company he could hire and fire workers and had the power over the lives of them and their families.

There is a proverb in English ‘Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely’. In the 1980s I remember visiting Oman and the UK and contrasting Sultan Qaboos with Margaret Thatcher: One a benign dictator, the other a cold-hearted democrat. Democracy is not always better as many poor in the UK would affirm. However, the Arab Spring suggests that in the heart of everyone in the world is the desire to control their own destiny.

All the Abrahamic faiths agree that God is one and is all-powerful. Indeed only God is all-powerful. Man serves God. There is a hierarchy in all life, from the company owner to the president of a country. In life we need to find our place. Life is like a triangle with God at the top, and more and more people as the layers go down to the bottom, each layer serving the layer above.

So it was confusing in some ways to see that Isa said this when referring to himself: ‘For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ [Mark 10:45] In every other instance in the world we know that the boss is the one to be served not to serve. Isa appeared to be turning the triangle upside down.

But Isa was only demonstrating the way that God’s promise to Abraham should be worked out. God promised Abraham that he would be blessed, and that as a result he should bless others.

When I questioned the owner of the company in Egypt about the power he had over his workers, his response was that it was a tremendous responsibility. He had the power to hire and fire, but he had the responsibility to look after and care for the families of all those who worked for him.

Isa invested His life into his disciples. He spent 3 years walking around the Middle East sharing what he knew with those 12 men who were his disciples. When He died they were crushed. They hid in houses and didn’t come out. Tens of thousands of people were in Tahrir Square and they succeeded in bringing liberation to the whole country. 12 men hiding in houses doesn’t seem like success. Isa might have given his life, but he could no longer serve them in any way. It looked a total failure.

But we know from history that followers of the Way, or Christians as they are more usually called have spread throughout the world. True followers of the Way are demonstrating Abraham’s blessing and Isa’s call by serving others wherever they can. I visited Iraq and saw with my own eyes them running medical facilities and caring for people. I asked them why?

Their answer was mystical. They talked about the Spirit of God coming close to them and, in their words, ‘living inside’ them. It was when they surrendered totally to God that they found His power to serve. This they described as true liberation.