Brothers

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, ….." (Gen 1:26)

Man has always struggled with man. We are fully aware that we do differentiate, at every turn and on every human characteristic; color, gender, age, height, weight, society, status, class, clan, culture, country, intelligence, literacy, knowledge, wealth, possessions, tastes, interests, sports, etc. So mired is the human race, that it takes much for man to set aside his positive, and negative prejudices. On this slippery slope, our sincere efforts to differentiate have often veered out of bounds. Meritocracy is still discrimination, only presented in a more sanitized form. It is easy to forget that scripture has always prescribed special preference for the weak; the lame, the blind, the widows and orphans, the prisoners,the sojourners, especially when our choices are tainted by self-interest or plain fallen depravity. Old Testament principles like the year of Jubilee are not understood or often expounded in our materialistic age. The Micah mandate is scarcely remembered. The world professes that that every man is born equal, having the right to be an individual, yet castigates those who are born or dare to be too different. In the furore over meritocracy, we despise the scriptural beacon of faithfulness. Is it ever possible for humankind to be in absolute unison? Since the Rebellion, we have moved away from the true brotherhood of man; Cain started the ball by slaughtering Abel over, of all things, the issue of a perceived lack of regard for his gifts by the Almighty. Was it pride or insolence, that so clouded Cain till he, as mere man, would not allow for the sovereign prerogative of the LORD; the option of favoring one gift over another? Esau would continue to hate his twin, Jacob, though it was his father’s blessing that so grated him. Brother will chase brother; but not always in love. It is no simple task, to see that ‘other’ as my brother or a person made in His image. To accept and to love him as scripture prescribes is a stretch.

Our beloved country, Malaysia, is undergoing turmoil. There is much that strain relations between us. Beneath the veneer, many issues seethe. There are a recurrent few, on both sides of the divide, who make statements or exhibit demeanors with a blatant disregard for civility. They continue to push the envelope in word and action. Racism, bigotry and brinksmanship rear its ugly face, making salient and obnoxious, their indiscretions. Left unbridled, we find ourselves awashed in spin, spit and spew, and with the approaching possibility of blood. We, who are enmeshed or ensnared between them, are presented with difficult choices and positions, which we would be compelled to take, when push gets to shove. Champions have arisen to carry and acrimoniously raise the baton. At the other extreme, under the guise of magnanimity, tolerance, or long-suffering, many are hypocritically or cowardly silent. We attract the guilt of either commission, or omission. Complicity by default, would make for a sorry excuse.

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. (Jas 2:8)


With our current backdrop, the injunction as set forth in the ‘royal law’ is stupendously onerous. How can we love, our neighbor, as ourselves, when we are not able to recognize and accept him as one, made in the image of the LORD, and who is, at the most fundamental, my brother really.

Consider further the exhortation to ‘love your enemies’? We cannot give, what we do not have.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (Joh 13:34)

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (Joh 15:5)

May the LORD remind us, that we are all His creatures, made in His image and valuable to Him. He can enable us to love our neighbors as our brothers; by His love, by His strength, and by His grace. All glory, praise, honor, and dominion, belongs to the LORD.

God bless.



/ckh