The President’s Speech
Much
ado has been made of the President reading the wrong speech. It prompted me to
recall the first time I heard him speak 41 years ago. You could “hear a pin
drop” in the hall as he caught our attention with his crystal clear analysis of
the situation then (1974). “If we have to go into detention again we will!” Ten
years later, as Prime Minister, he landed by helicopter in a swirl of dust on
the playing field at St Paul’s Musami and addressed the thousands at the
Catholic Youth Congress. Again we had a clear and inspiring message about
becoming involved in development.
But
then, over the intervening years up to the present – though the speeches
continued – my attention lapsed. The gulf between the spoken word and action of
the ground widened. There are many reasons for this and I do not go into them
here. Suffice it to ask how it is that our high ideals often get grounded in
the sand. We run into obstacles and we do not know how to work through them. We
either avoid them or bash our way through them. Either way leaves the roots of
the obstacles intact.
If
we turn to the gospels we see how Jesus dealt with obstacles. He never wavered
but “set his face like flint.” He neither avoided them nor did he force his way
through. He suffered them. The greatest obstacles he met were the leaders. They
listened to him but only in order to trap him in his speech. They were not open
to his message. So what did he do? Call down fire and brimstone from heaven?
Not at all! He endured the consequences of their opposition. He showed that
endurance, even if it meant death, would bring new life, new energy and a new
vision.
In
fact, a new person emerges from the “seed dying”. It is the central point of
Christian faith that “losing one’s life leads to finding it” while those who
“cling to life lose it.” If we have not understood that we have understood
nothing. This has often been missing in our post-Independence history. People –
far from being prepared to “lose their life” - have been intent on “enjoying
the fruits” of that life. We have centred on ourselves, our relatives or our
group and ignored the many at our door also hoping for a taste of the fruits.
The result is we have lost the plot, lost the vision and we are swirling around
like the water in the boiling pot at Victoria Falls.
The
disciples didn’t like it when Jesus told them “the Son of Man will be delivered
into the hands of men.” They couldn’t take it. But he never wavered. He went
straight up to Jerusalem and faced all the implications.
20 September 2015 Sunday 25 B
Wisdom 2:12…20 James 3:16-4:3 Mark 9:30-37
