Discipleship 2

The recent episodes in Malaysia have caused much concern. These have not gone well with many Malaysians, both those residing within and outside Malaysia. The issues of the death of the political aide Teoh Beng Hock, the protesters using cow-head, Perak State Assembly fiasco, the banning of Herald using the word ‘Allah’, the canning of Kartika for drinking beer, police action and non action on demonstrations, MACC high-handedness, judiciary blunder, etc. have brought much uncertainty and worry to the nation. I fear that many have completely lost hope on the government, police, judiciary, and political appurtenances, and there might not have any U-turn. People are disillusioned and confused with the 1Malaysia concept. On one hand, the loud proclamation of unity, oneness, racial harmony, tolerance, co-habitation of 1Malaysia but on the other hand, political leaders of the same group and government authorities acting in contrary to the chanting slogan of 1Malaysia which now is more like 1001Malaysia.

What can we do?

In all the Biblical accounts, with diligent eyes, we read that all the children of God were faced with similar situations as in today’s Malaysia. It was the same in the days of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, the judges, David, the Kings, Jesus, Paul, etc. with the happenings in our nation in the ethno-lingo-religio arena. There were constant struggles and unrest throughout the Biblical account. That’s why the first comforting words Jesus said to His disciples after His resurrection was “PEACE, I give to you, My Peace I leave with you.”

Ethnicity

The ethnic issue was very real in all the Biblical accounts. The Hebrews were ethnically sidelined by the Egyptians during the days of Moses. The Canaanites, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites and Philistines were ethnically discriminating against the Israelites. In the days of Esther, the Jews were almost annihilated by the Persians. The Romans during Jesus’ days were dominating and abusive towards the Jews. But Jesus was teaching “Walk the second mile”. This is not a task which was told to do to their fellow Jews but to the so called ‘enemy’ the Roman soldiers who were largely corrupted, unreasonable and abusive.

Multi-Lingual

The language of the people then was very much linked with ethnicity. Though there were many cases where one ethnic group learning the language of another ethnic group. In the time of Joseph and Nehemiah, we read about them speaking in one language and translating to another language. This is a common feature throughout the history of humankind. There was no problem in all the situations except in the case when the egoistic superiority was allowed to rear its ugly head. The people of Jesus’ days also spoke a variety of languages such as Aramaic, Greek and Latin (to certain extent), even the Bible was written in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. The Word of God was spoken and used in different languages. The importance is not on the language used rather on whether the message was understood properly.

Religiosity

Religion was then part and parcel of ethnicity. Baal deity belonged to the Canaanites; Chemosh deity to the Moabites, Molech was the Ammonites deity; Dagon was the Philistines deity; Rimon was the deity of the Sidonians, and Yahweh was the God to the Israelites. They don’t mix and have completely different style of worship and expressions. In many occasions, one was repugnant to the other.

As the days gone by, in the cosmopolitan cities, much toleration was seen as compared to the rural areas. Joseph, Daniel and Nehemiah were seen to have more toleration than the Egyptians, Babylonians and Persians respectively. They all served in the King’s courts yet holding true to their own beliefs while the Kings were of different faiths from theirs.

God’s Vision for the children of Malaysia

God in both the Old and New Testaments did not at one instant command His children to run away to another nation or find an escape route. Instead the opposite is true. In the case of Jonah who deliberately ran away from his own country, God intervened and he was brought to the very place he refuses in the first instant i.e. Nineveh city of the Assyrians. The second story was when Elimelech and Naomi leaving their home country to Moab for a ‘better future’. On the contrary, they were worst of in the foreign land. The exiles of the children of Judah in the days of Jeremiah happened because of the punishment of Yahweh God upon the nation of Judah. Everyone is expected to stay put until God says “Move”, as in the case of Abraham and Moses and the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night.

Today we in Malaysia should be seeking God for His direction and Will for us. Jesus and Paul while facing great disadvantage and discrimination did not at one moment contemplate of leaving their nation. However much dislike or hatred, Jesus has never instigated revolt or run away from the reality. Instead, He has been asking all of us to be ‘In’ the world but not ‘Of’ the world.

Global Village

We are living in a global village where mobility is easy and convenient. Many people move from one place to another seeking for jobs or earning a living or going for an adventure. This is precisely the reason that many will give when the environment gets tough and rough.

After the Independence of Malaya in 1957, many expatriates who were British left for their home country. The police force, army and civil servants were then largely ‘Orang Puith’. Obviously they had to leave. The first exodus began in 1957 until the late sixties. The ‘Orang Putih’ once considered this was their land and later found out that it was not any more. Of course, there were some who didn’t want to leave because they loved this land and people very much. They had to struggle with the question of ‘ownership’ which was caused by political decision. In the end, they had to leave.

The second exodus began after 1969 May 13 incident. The remaining ‘Orang Putih’ also left, for they suddenly believed that this land was not suitable for them and their children any more. At the same time, many locals also were fearful over the so-called racial riots which was in fact politically motivated. They too migrated to other nations; mostly to the western nations. They were the more able and wealthier ones. This happened in the seventies and it is largely motivated by racial unrest.

The third exodus began after the changing of the medium of instruction in the schools into Malay. This change has brought about much frustrations and distresses to many homes. They suddenly saw a gloom future for their children. With the legitimate excuse of securing proper education for their children, many migrated, this time again, to the western nations. Some to Singapore as well. The climax of this batch of migration was in the early-eighties.They were the learned and professional ones. This batch was affected by the medium of language used and, thus, education.

The fourth exodus was during the recession in the mid-eighties. Tin mines were almost completely closed. Rubber prices were very poor. Many people went overseas illegally to earn a living, hoping to earn some money for their family at home. This batch has created much family tensions and breakups due to the situation with one parent in foreign lands for an extended length of time while the other was at home with the children. There was vitually no father figure to this generation while they were growing up as children and teenagers.They were largely from the blue collar category. This is generated by financial wants.

The fifth exodus began after the 1987 ‘Operation Lallang’. Many chose to leave Malaysia purely for the reason of injustice and discrimination over ethnicity and beliefs. Racial, linguistic and religious considerations were manipulated by political masters for self gains and powers. ISA was indiscriminatingly used.

The continuing exodus is happening all the time since the nineties. Young people were encouraged to study overseas. For those who do not have the money, they were told to study in local private colleges that twin with foreign universities. On one hand, it is important to get a foreign degree which will be handy in jobs hunting; on the other hand, it can be a ticket to leave in case of any eventuality.

All these exodus have caused much brain-drains where today there are millions of former Malaysians who have become natural or permanent citizens of other nations. Still many are thinking and contemplating of leaving this nation for good. They have even told their children not to come back after their studies abroad.

What should the Church do now?

In fact, most of the people who took the exodus in the earlier incidents were mostly the so called good and faithful Christians. They are now serving in churches in their new found land as church leaders and pastors. The local churches are left struggling with poor financial and little personnel resources. The local churches have taken decades to grow and mature gradually. We thank God for being faithful and good to those who are left behind. Still many local Christians are talking and planning to leave but have not left yet. They are waiting to see whether this nation has any hope of turning around from deterioration before they take their final step.

Jesus’ teaching

When I look at Jesus’ teaching, I saw Jesus’ call for ‘Discipleship’. This is not a passive command as some theologians think so. Jesus’ teachings on ‘Turning the other cheek’ and ‘Walking the second mile’ can only come from one who has a true faith and complete obedience to Him. This is exactly the same as what Paul has constantly advocated with the concept of ‘Imitate me as I imitate Christ’ and ‘It is no longer I that live but Christ lives in me’.

Discipleship is not only knowing the Word of God but living out the Word of God through our lives. The author of the book of Hebrews affirmed that all Christians should not and ‘Do not just be hearers but be doers of the Word of God’. This is the process of sanctification.

Discipleship is knowing God’s Will for us in Malaysia and finding the right path and steps to trod on it. But God’s Will for all Malaysians clearly is to stay put in Malaysia and live as salt and light in Malaysia. Just as Jesus in His own days, He stayed to face the onslaught of the corrupted leaders both in the religious Sanhedrin and the civil Roman authorities and courts, and remained untainted.

Discipleship is speaking the truth in love but absence from violence and riots. It is doing good in the midst of evilness; giving to the needy in the midst of corruption; administering justice and peace in the midst of chaos; giving hope and courage in the midst of discouragement and despair.

Discipleship is reaching out and standing with the less fortunate ones, and at the same time ushering comfort and joy to them.

Discipleship is being prophetic to the interpretation of the signs of times and leading the nation to avoid disasters.

Discipleship is just becoming a plain human being who loves His creator and lives according to His desire.

Discipleship is “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”.

Discipleship is becoming a true Malaysian who loves the nation and her king, yet promoting justice, harmony and peace even while the leaders of the nation are not.

Discipleship is becoming ‘christ’ even when you know that there are others who want to persecute and crucify you for doing good and promoting peace.

Discipleship is duplicating oneself many times over.

(September 3rd, 2009 posted in another blog)