The Journey 288: Caves in Syria

Read: Ruth 1

One of the countries that is going through a huge internal crisis because of the unrest and war is Syria. An armed conflict is still ongoing in Syria between the forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad and those opposing the president and wanting him to step down. The Syrian government has taken extreme steps to quell this opposition and government soldiers have been given rights to even open fire on civilians. This has led to opposition forces becoming more organized and armed, with reports that rebels now get military aid from foreign countries. This internal war has taken a huge toll in the life of Syrian citizens. According to the United Nations report, more than 1.2 million people in Syria has been internally displaced, hundreds of thousand Syrian refugees have fled to the neighboring countries. As the whole country is slowly collapsing, CNN news agencies reports that there are few people in the country who are taking painstaking effort to get going. One of the area that these individual focuses is in the field of education. Syrian government itself has confirmed that more that 2000 of countries school has been damaged or destroyed as government forces have targeted even education institution because the government believes that rebel forces are hiding in those schools. Thus the major casualty is in the education field where students have been denied the right to study because of internal crisis. But amidst these crisis are simple people who love teaching with a resolve to help the children move on with their academic life. The news agencies reports of a school that is held in a cave, where both student and teaches sit on floor and the teacher is in the process of imparting education to these children. According to these teachers, the students have a real desire to continue their education but with the present crisis their whole future look bleak. But it is the resolve of these teachers in Syrian who is willing to take risk and help the next generation to be consentized, is a model for all of us. When the majority of people are fleeing the country, here are a few individual who are not only staying back, thus risking their life, but also consciously taking steps to challenge and overcome the crisis and also do whatever they can to lead the next generation and their country forward. These teachers stand as a model to all of us showing that in life, one needs to sacrifice ones interest, ones comforts and do whatever one can do, so to help in the process of transformation and change. I think this is the truth that Word of God also teaches us. Are we also people of God, who flee from crisis or do we dare to plunge into midst of crisis not only to overcome it but also become a catalyst to help others overcome the crisis?

We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Ruth 1. This is one book in the bible that is so poignant and a book that is epitome of what a true and genuine relationships are all about. In this portion one encounters the difficulties that a woman named Naomi faces. Because of famine, she along with her husband are displaced from their home land of Judah and are forced to sojourn to the land of Moab, along with her husband and her two sons. Displacement is a huge crisis to the family as they have to not only adjust to the alien setting but also rebuild every aspect of their life from the beginning. The crisis of Naomi is compounded further with the death of not only her husband but also her two sons. This leaves Naomi not only as a widow, but without the support of her two sons, her whole life is shattered and the future dark and dim. Soon the news comes that famine is over and Naomi with her daughter in law returns to Bethlehem. It is at this juncture that she tells her daughter in laws to return back to their families. The first daughter in law Orpah readily agrees but the second daughter in law Ruth is of a different mould. She tells Naomi that she will not leave her during her crisis hour and she will stay with her. The words that Ruth states are the most powerful words that characterizes what true relationships are made of- “I will go where you go, Your people will be my people, where you die, I will also die…….”. I think there is no powerful words of hope and words that helps a person to overcome crisis in life. Here is Ruth teaching that in crisis what is needed is not to run away, but to stay in the thick of action, may be suffer, but through participating in the suffering of others, bring hope, comfort and transformation in the life of others. If the teachers in Syria can do that, why cant we as Christians also creatively involve in the life of people going through crisis so as to be channels of hope and transformation in their life?

Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla

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