Unless it Had Been Given You from Above

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Keraza Magazine issue 9-10 March 10, 2017

While we celebrate the Feast of the Cross we remember the silence of Jesus Christ before Pilate which pushed him to warn Him saying, "'Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?' Jesus answered, 'You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.'" (John 19:10-11).

Many times, the sufferer thinks that others are responsible for putting the cross on his shoulders. He then feels agony and distress towards them thinking they are the main reason lying behind his suffering. But Jesus Christ, whose steps we follow, taught us at the time of His crucifixion that the only one who takes the decision to hand us to crucifixion is God himself, and that tyrant unjust killing people are nothing but a tool that implements God's will for our life. This is exactly what Amos the prophet emphasized when he said, "If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?" (Amos 3:6), and Jeremiah in his Lamentations when he said, "Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it?" (Lamentations 3:37).

While Copts are subjected nowadays to murder, tyranny and compulsory immigration, some of them take an angry disgusted attitude towards the attackers in their tyranny, and towards the authorities in their reluctance and passivity. They attack both groups with all possible verbal weapons whether in person to person conversations, in chats through social media, or in written articles. While they are doing this, they do not realize that anger and hatred towards their crucifiers enter their hearts maliciously and hiddenly even if they proclaim the slogans of love and forgiveness. As for the one who is guided by the Holy Spirit, who realizes well the mystery of the Cross, as soon as he enters into its shadow, he quickly, "sits alone and keep silent, because God has laid it on him" (Lamentations 3:28). He realizes well that, "the Lord has said to him, 'Curse David.'" (2 Samuel 16:10).

May be the real cause lying behind the repetition of such painful events is our failure to grasp the spiritual lesson we are required to learn, and our failure to succeed the test that heaven requires us to pass. Therefore, if we want to stop these events, we must stop draining our energy in a wrong battle field. We are fighting on the wrong side of the battle!! This is exactly what Daniel meant when he said, "All this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth" (Daniel 9:13).

Of course, I do not mean for us to be passive and reluctant not benefiting from the available legitimate channels to defend ourselves. St. Paul, actually, appealed to Caesar. What I mean is that taking these legitimate actions must go side by side with a real fight with God as long as He is the only One who commanded it and it came to pass. This fight must not be like Job's fight with Him which was charged with grumbling and accusations of God's injustice, but it must be the fight of the repentant whose heart is contrite and who cries unto Him like Daniel saying, "O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act!" (Daniel 9:18-19).

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