Blindsided by Familiarity

Humans have incredible capacity to adapt to adversity. Driven by inordinate fortitude, many make-do, and survive, when forced into near impossible situations. It doesn’t even take that much effort. Ironically, invitations for advancement are often greeted with stupefying resistance. For instance, four hundred and thirty years of tyranny didn’t prepare Israel for the liberty they craved. They couldn’t conceptualize its form. Or its cost. Egypt was a hell on earth. So utterly detestable was the hard labor, the whippings, supervision by cruel taskmasters, etc. Yet, when Moses showed up with freedom blueprints, they opposed him in a way they’d never done their oppressor. Not for love of slavery, but for fear of the unknown.

In this episode, I invite us to personal inspection. How do we respond when God attempts to rescue us from debilitating bondages?

Level of Maturity, Quality of Decision

At forty, Moses decided to break free from a fictitious social cocoon. By no means was it an easy decision. All his fortunes resulted from Egypt’s benevolence—his education, future prospects, and, indeed, his very life. The most learned individual of his time, Moses was heir to the throne of the greatest civilization on the planet. Until fate thrust him into a life-altering decision. To embrace his authentic self, the ‘son of pharaoh’s daughter’ had to discard his adoptee status. So long as Israel’s oppressor was his benefactor, Moses gained from the exploitation of his people.

Maturity brought the prince of Egypt to a crossroads. What would tip the scales between personal advantage and Israeli welfare? Scripture states, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, disdained to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer hardship along with the people of God than to enjoy the transient pleasure of sin.” Accountability and maturity are ethical twins; one complements the other. Accountability defines maturity. Moses detested the sound of his adopted title. Profiting at the ruin of other people is a ‘transient pleasure of sin.’

Like maternity labor-wards, social crucibles are the toil-rooms where hard decisions are birthed.

On his first attempt to defend Hebrews, Moses killed an Egyptian. The second day, he found a Jewish man mistreating a fellow slave. He was perplexed. How could a victim of ethnic persecution perpetrate cruelty against his brother? In dazed reflex, Moses verbalized his wonderment; ‘Men, you are brothers! Why would you want to hurt each other?’

What was Moses up to? Had he become a rogue meddler? A cadaver lay rotting beneath the Sahara sands while its slayer lectured wrangling slaves on integrity. Alas, Moses expected his own kin to understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t. Just because someone can diagnose a malady doesn’t make him a healer. Ability to point out problems is not the means to solve them. Without divine intervention, the best humanitarian efforts can make things worse. In God’s strategy, method and timing rank higher than personnel.

Invalidating God’s Messengers

“…The man in the wrong told Moses to mind his own business. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’

Mind your own business, Moses, you have no locus standi against me. But wait a minute! Israel’s liberation was Moses’ sole business, wasn’t it? That’s why he was born. It’s the reason he was spared from drowning in the Nile as a child. Why else was a Hebrew boy raised in the enemy’s palace? But someone bent on mischief didn’t want a liberator. To undermine God’s envoy, the transgressor faulted the emancipator. “You are a criminal. I know your secret sins. Your crimes disqualify you from your mission. I have sufficient evidence to have you arrested.”

Undoubtedly, Moses was guilty of a serious charge. But how did that absolve his accuser’s sin? Just because someone is guilty of an offense doesn’t mean s/he can’t or shouldn’t point out other people’s faults. Today, as always, folks use smart tricks to mute dissent. Blackmail is an old, insipid vice regularly used to demolish great causes. It’s perhaps satan’s best weapon to derail God’s purposes. Blackmail not only forced Moses into exile, it held Israel in bondage for another forty years! If society pegs its hopes on human perfection, nothing will ever be accomplished. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. In God’s justice, circumstances leading to sin are as relevant as the sin itself. God takes notice, not only of what we do, but why we do it.

Moses was not the only liberator to feel the heat of public coercion. Blackmail hardly relies on genuine claims; it usually fabricates them. Charges against Daniel and his Hebrew compatriots in Babylon were made-up. So were accusations against Mordecai, Ezra, Jesus, and an endless list of virtuous souls. Almost all the twelve apostles tasted its venom. The first Christian martyr bore its brunt. Casualties are innumerable. The next time a juicy story lands on your smartphone begging you to not douse the fires of its contextual urgency, ask yourself what role you are playing in hurting other people.

Unmasking the Ogre

The ultimate human liberation is rescue from eternal damnation. For that noble cause, the Son of God was executed in the greatest display of public humiliation. He was severely flogged. Crucified on a hill. Naked. In broad daylight. Between two criminals! Heralds of the good tidings of Christ’s salvation suffer blackmail, among whom, Paul—apostle to the Gentile world—was a prime target. We’ll look at one of his examples and consequently rest our case.

Paul and Cyrus …traveled through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. ² As was Paul’s custom, he went there to preach, and for three Sabbaths in a row he opened the Scriptures to the people, ³explaining the prophecies about the sufferings of the Messiah and his coming back to life, and proving that Jesus is the Messiah. ⁴ Some who listened were persuaded and became converts—including a large number of godly Greek men and also many important women of the city ⁵ But the Jewish leaders were jealous and incited some worthless fellows from the streets to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, planning to take Paul and Silas to the City Council for punishment. ⁶ Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers, and took them before the Council instead. “Paul and Silas have turned the rest of the world upside down, and now they are here disturbing our city,” they shouted, ⁷ “and Jason has let them into his home. They are all guilty of treason, for they claim another king, Jesus, instead of Caesar.” ~Acts 17:1-7 (LB)

Sound familiar? What’s creepier than being accused of plotting against a monarch? But what was the hullabaloo all about? The Passion Translation summarizes verse five thus, “many of the Jews were motivated by bitter jealousy and formed a large mob out of the troublemakers, unsavory characters, and street gangs to incite a riot.” Do righteous men hire ruffians to do holy business?

If those hypocrites were honest, they’d have stated their real concerns as plainly as did Demetrius when he fueled the wrath of Ephesian idol makers. “…Gentlemen, you know that our wealth comes from this business. ²⁶ But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren’t really gods at all. And he’s done this not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province! ²⁷ Of course, I’m not just talking about the loss of public respect for our business. I’m also concerned that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will lose its influence…” (Acts 19:5-7 ~NLT)

Arrival of enlightenment threatened Ephesian silversmiths. They stood to lose their illicit wealth, shady trades and pretentious charm. That’s what they were yelling about, not spiritual welfare of people in that vile city. As stated earlier, God sees, not just what we do, but why we do it. He judges the intents of everyone’s heart. Intent is the basis of all that we say and do. Always remember this, fear is not an incentive for just pursuits. Fear of loss. Fear of peoples’ opinions. Fear of the unknown! The only fear to worry about is that our finite human wit might think of God as someone we can dupe.