THE ARROGANCE OF STIGMA
My dictionary defines “arrogance” as: overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors. Adjectives thereof are: haughtiness, hauteur, high-handedness and lordliness.
It really doesn’t take riches for one to look down on fellow men, seriously. You don’t have to be a millionaire before you display this despicable attitude towards your own kind. I believe that if all of us could only take five minutes staring at ourselves in the mirror; that mirror will always trigger your heart to speak directly in your face.
I don’t know about you, but I believe that there’s something divine about mirrors: something that propels our conscience to speak to us. God somehow, in His own way decides to spite us and to break our pride; by using mirrors to communicate His voice to our hearts. God believes in mirrors because unlike us: mirrors don’t lie, never lie and always tell the truth. Hallelujah, mirrors are better than us! Can I get an amen? I believe my own body has gone way out of shape since the last time I was 28. But, trouble is; when I was 28 I really didn’t realize what a beautiful body I had; I only realized this years later after looking back through my pictures. What about the mirror, didn’t you use it then? Oh, I did, except for the fact that I agreed with it wholly and; since there was no denial: I forgot to celebrate my true status.
What a bummer I was...now years later, how I wish the mirror could tell me the same story about my out of shape body. If I could, I’d bribe the mirror to only say good things about the way I really look. But hey, the mirror knows that after gazing at myself I have to face the real world out there; the reality of how I truly look in the eyes of many. Some old friends look at me and in a jest say: Oh Syd, you look so fat, what happened to you? And in a split second of the same forked tongue brush it off and say: No man, I was just kidding you look great! Liars…
But my old friend the mirror does not lie to me, every time I stand before her: she politely points out at some hanging extra flesh which shouldn’t be there on my body. I love my mirror, more than I love most people because she never lies to me. How about you, my friend?
Don’t you sometimes wish you looked 25 years younger today? Do you feel comfortable living inside that heavy body of yours which always feels painful even to run a short distance of 50 m? What about those sagging cheeks, what are you gonna do with them, stitch them up? Are you happy with your insatiable appetite, which keeps you nibbling and eating every ten minutes?
Well, some people think it is fabulous to be fat, while others believe it’s good to look thin and anorexic as if you just got resurrected by prophet Lukau! Some people think it’s not a problem to let their bodies all hang out and obese, just as long as they could find the dress that accommodate their bodies. Well, if having the right size for your heavy body is the answer, why then do you get angry when passers-by stare at you? Don’t worry, be happy; says the famous song.
It’s our God given responsibility, to take care of our bodies, control our appetite and don’t eat every whim we see food within our easy reach. Your body is the temple of God, or maybe in reality; it is your temple and house wherein you live. Treat your body just like you would treat the house you live in and the bed you lie on.
The mirror has been trying to preach this Gospel of Self-Awareness throughout all these years, to you and me: trying to instill the sense of worthiness and confidence without fear before the world dared us to venture out our bedrooms!
If any of you out there, lacks confidence; I hereby prescribe for you to stand before the mirror and gaze at yourself at least for ten minutes: without praising yourself; how well you look,etc. Don’t lie to yourself. Wait for your heart to speak and to whisper to you the correct diagnosis of what you need to do in order to look really great and win the approval of your mirror and the public.
Do the 360° spin while fixing your eyes to the mirror; that is, four turns, focusing on your front, sides and back: and you will never go wrong. After this daily exercise, always remember what the mirror said was wrong with you. Believe me, you don’t need a life coach to teach you these simple facts about your body: the answer is right there inside your bedroom. The Mirror…
“If all of us believed what the mirror tells us, none would dare venture outdoors at all.” I said that.
Please take another look at our picture above, it’s there for a reason. Remember, this is actually a sermon, not some kind of motivational talk: I am serious. What do you see? If you cannot see fellow South Africans living in squalor, then consider yourself blind. Perhaps you’re thinking: what about thin people, you never said anything bad about them? Oh, you’re right, some people are so thin that most passers-by find it impossible to give them another look: most people don’t stare at them. Some do this because they think they are cool, while others believe they’re too insignificant and almost invisible to their critical eye. Does this answer your curiosity? Thank you..
Remember the old adage: beauty lies in the eye of the beholder? But, I say to you, not everyone sees you through the same lens. Different strokes for different folks. How did she/he marry such an ugly person? Well, it’d make more sense if you asked the same question from the person who married this individual you have condemned to ugliness. Ahoy, to all my My Zim friends out there, what happened to the annual competition dubbed: Mr and Miss Ugliest?
Matthew 26:6
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
Oh finally, here’s our verse for the day. Jesus was in the house of Simon the leper and had lunch with him and His Disciples. It is important to understand why the writer insisted on identifying Simon as the leper; Jesus did not see Simon as the leper: He saw a lost soul for which He came to die on the Cross of Shame. Whilst it was a written decree in the Law of Moses for all people to avoid contact with anyone suffering from leprosy and treat them as outcast: Jesus did not recognize this rule to abide by.
Numbers 5:2
Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whomsoever is defiled by the dead.
Lepers were supposed to be kept outside of the camp. What is the camp, was it the Tabernacle or campsite in which the Israelites lived for forty years in the desert? It was the campsite. The lepers were not allowed to mingle with the rest of the population, they were castigated and ostracized for something which was not in the making; their own fault. Sad case, isn’t it?
What about everyone with an issue of blood, who are these people and what did they suffer from? These were women having their monthly menstrual cycle. What? For real now, you just read the verse above. What about those who were said to be contaminated with the dead, undertakers? I don’t know. Perhaps those who had contact with the deceased person; they too had to wait outside the camp until they were cleansed by the Priest. Tough rules, don’t you think? I agree.
So, of the three victims listed above, only two had the most chance of making it back into the campsite: women having their periods and those contaminated by the dead. The leper had least chance as most of them went to their graves without having had their leprosy cleansed and healed. A lucky few made it back to the campsite and lived normally again.
Oh God, what a stigma!
God yells back at me: shut up Sydney, I made these rules and gave them to Moses to pass them onto my people! What were the reasons for this, I interjected? Shut up Sydney I said, reasons were all mine. Me: okay Lord, if you say so, your will is my command.
As you can see from the Old Testament Bible, lepers were the most stigmatized in the population of the Children of Israel because leprosy was a communicable disease, it was deadly contagious but. But Jesus didn’t feel the same way as the rest of His fellow countrymen, even His Disciples were taken back by this dastard act; they didn’t find any virtue or need for their Master to risk their lives by going into the house of a leper. Everybody knew where Simon lived and everyone did their best not to come into contact with him; worst off going into his house. The stigma was alive and kicking in the hearts of these people.
Jesus invited Himself into Simon’s house and even sat at the table with him and had lunch. Now, according to Jewish culture, it took a lot more closeness for anyone to share their table with others. It meant that Jesus had to break the same bread that was touched by Simon the leper, right there at the table. I believe His Disciples did everything to avoid touching the same bread as Simon; they avoided it at all cost: I don’t know how. Because the order of eating in every sitting always began with the head of that family hosting his guests; then he would pass the same bread after breaking his piece and; so the bread got passed around the table to the last person. Oh, the Disciples hated this and Jesus knew what was going on in their hearts and minds.
Jesus sitting at the table with the leper, to Simon, was Heaven sent; but, more than anything else: Jesus was teaching His own Disciples how to win souls in their society destroyed and ravaged by the stigma; show them love which leads to God’s Saving Grace. If you studied the Gospels like I do; that is the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John: you must have noticed that Jesus didn’t win more souls from His actual preaching, but through His love and compassion.
COMPASSION IS THE MISSING INGREDIENT OF THE GOSPEL OF TODAY: WE DON’T REALLY LOVE THE PEOPLE WE PREACH TO!
I have heard these despicable lines coming out of the so-called preachers of the Gospel, a zillion times over: If you don’t accept Jesus today, Hell fire is waiting for you on the other side of the grave! It’s either Jesus or the Devil, Heaven or Hell, the choice is yours! All your filthy riches won’t be able to save you when you die! Even if you live in a mansion today, one day you will go down in the grave like the very poor people you despised! Oh God, STOP….
I have read the Book of Acts, and I can’t recall reading any verse where the Apostles preached without compassion in their Gospel. Is it any wonder why the Early Church Fathers could heal so many people, raised the dead and led millions to Christ; while signs and wonders followed them everywhere?
Look at our picture above again.
What are the chances of finding the luxurious car of Pastor Ray parked in front of these shacks today? What are the chances of finding Bishop Mosa’s car parked in this downtrodden, dilapidated neighbourhood? What about prophet Bushiri’s car, prophet Lukau, any chance at all? Does your famous pastor ever visit these forgotten areas in our “New South Africa”? Stigma is the disease that’s eating the heart and soul of our land. We, Christians, are failing God when we deny Christ the right to love, reach out and touch the people from all walks of life with the Gospel: because our hearts are not right with God.
The Apostles passed this test with flying colours and God was able to win and add 3000 souls every single day into the Church because these guys loved, walked and had compassion like Christ. The hearts of the lost were won over through the selflessness they displayed before the world
What are you gonna do today with your being “christian”, is it reaching out to the lost and do you express the same compassion Christ and His Apostles displayed?
Do you see yourself as more blessed than the less fortunate who live in total squalor and informal settlement? Do you think God loves you more than He loves the poor and the downtrodden of our society?
How can the modern Christian know anything better when the false prophet is preaching the false gospel of people, bent on seeing your destruction: and of your enemies? And you have ignorantly bought into this lie and sold your soul to the Devil, that your neighbours are out to get you through witchcraft and by all means because your Heavenly Father has “blessed you more than them”? You are just as lost as the false prophet who feeds you with lies and garbage gospel of haters from Hell.
Listen to me now…
GOD LOVES YOUR WORST ENEMY JUST AS MUCH AS HE LOVES YOU! YOUR SO CALLED ENEMIES, ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE ENEMIES OF GOD TOO!
GOD ISN’T THINKING 24/7/365 ABOUT YOU OUT OF MORE THAN 7 BILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD….YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL TO GOD MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE, INCLUDING THE DOWNCAST AND THE LESS FORTUNATE!
Did you not read in your Bible that: For God so LOVED THE WORLD? And you are certainly not the whole world. Start walking, loving and having compassion like Christ had for sinners. Live the Light, Life and the Way...
BOOK of Thoughts - a Subsidiary of Manna Titbits Ministries Inc. ©2019
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The author would really appreciate your constructive comments based on how you understood and interpret each poem. Poems can mean different things to different persons and all views can be correct as long as they conform to the contents thereof. This is the beauty of Poetry.
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