Excerpt from Hebrews 11:23-26 

". . . not afraid of the King . . ."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

South African Albie Sachs wrote a prize-winning book called The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter. In 1988, an assassin found him in Mozambique, where he was exiled from South Africa, and blew up his car.  Sachs missed death but lost a leg and an eye.  Upon return to South Africa, he met the man who ordered the bomb.  The man offered to shake his hand.  Sachs said no.  “I will shake your hand after you go through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”  Sachs went on to become responsible for constitutional protection for equality of marriage in South Africa. Why did he refuse the hand of his would-be assassin?  Because, in his words, "seeing a future, that has a process by which to arrive at it, is much more beautiful than ordinary punishment.  It is to bet on a huge transformation of our country that will validate everything we went through." 

What does a South African have to say to readers of this devotional?  He joins our early Christian friends in not being afraid of the King.  If Jesus is our Lord, then no king can have his throne.   Jesus is Lord, therefore no king can co-brand.  Not the police, not the President, not the Congress, not even the Transportation Security Administration.  If we are not afraid of kings, we may develop alternative structures that have processes that move us to truth, reconciliation and handshakes.  You don't just go from lack of fear to the presence of security.  Steps are required.

Many of us declare we are unafraid of kings but then don’t know what to do next.  If a man in a uniform orders us to take off our shoes at a "security check point," we usually do.  That decision may be pragmatic.  It may also be participation in a kind of dog training.  Doing what people in uniforms tell us to do is not always a good idea.  We may take off our shoes to go through security checkpoints in the mid-term.  Long-term, to truly be unafraid of kings, we need to create processes that design an end game to terrorism and its fear, security and its "mid-term" surveillance procedures that involve people in uniforms telling us what to do.

Jesus is Lord.  And that means that his reign is also our destination.

Prayer

When we bow down at the wrong times, remind us, great reigning God, to take off our shoes at the right altars. Alter us. Amen

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press. Check out her work at www.judson.org.