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Only Let Me Pass Through On Foot

Keraza Magazine issue 49-50 December 19, 2014

When Moses the Prophet wanted to pass through the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon, he sent him a message of peace saying, "Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the road, and I will turn neither to the right nor to the left. You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot," (Deuteronomy 2:27-28).

In truth, those simple focused words summarize exquisitely the five-point criteria required of every true Christian, of the church also, to follow while passing through this world as a stranger. Sihon, the king of Heshbon resembles the wicked one under whose sway the whole world lies. That message by Moses to Sihon needs to be the message every soul, faithful in its struggle, sends to the evil one every morning. Naturally, this message will not be well received by the enemy, yet it persists every morning as a reminder for the soul to keep watch, always aware that she is not from this world, but only passing through.

1. Let me pass through your land: This carries awareness and a true confession that the land belongs to the enemy, and that the man of God do not possess any of it; his sole duty in it is to pass through.
   
   
2. I will keep strictly to the road: The struggling soul, and the church as a whole, does not have any other road by which to finish the days of its sojourn on earth, only one-Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
   
   
3. I will turn neither to the right nor to the left: Neither my thoughts, nor my heart, or my eyes will stray from the road, which is Jesus, not by right-handed blows caused by the ego, nor by left-handed blows caused by slackness, carelessness, and heedlessness.
   
   
4. You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink: The struggling soul does not accept any gifts from the world that appear to be free, which in the end entrap the soul, causing that person to thirst to drink of its water. The man of God, if need be, use the world, but in the most limited means to satisfy necessary needs. Moses did not tell Sihon, "We will buy houses, lands, possessions, fancy clothing , and women," but he said, "food and water." The consistent standard spiritual principle is, "Those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use this world as not misusing it" (1 Corinthians 7:30-31).
   
   
5. Only let me pass through on foot: I will pass through this world, not with my heart, or my mind, but only with my foot. Here applies to that struggling soul, and to the church, the words of the Lord: "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean" (John 13:10).

This five-point criterion is the very same criteria that the Lord Christ followed during the Temptation on the Mount, where He rejected all the appeals of the enemy: lust of the body, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. It is also the criteria Abraham followed: "By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob" (Hebrews 11:9). Oh, that every soul, not only the monastics and ascetics, struggles to dwell in tents, placing on the tent door a clear motto for all: "Only let me pass through on foot."

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States