Usually people identify themselves by their name, title, nationality, gender, religion, family, tribe, etc…
To the question “who are you?”, you will probably hear answers like this: I am Bill, I am Indian, I am muslim, I am the Program Manager, I am a single guy, I am an actress, etc…
Two thousands years ago, in a fertile land on the shore of the mediterrranean sea, a man was asked: “who are you?”.
His answer was: “I am the Light of the World”
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Wow.
What an extraordinary and formidable answer.
But what is more extraordinary and formidable is that this man was not joking at all, and he would pay his life for what he believed.
The man name is Jesus. After his death, temples will be built for him across the four corners of the planet. Magnificient churches and humble huts still celebrate his name to this very day. And more than half of humanity, people from both christian and muslim faith, believe in his triumphant return.
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What an incredible story.
And yet it is here, it is there, it is everywhere. In the scriptures, in churches, in prayers, in paintings hanged on walls, in necklesses and tatoos, on t-shirts and scarfs, in cities and in villages, in xmas gifts and eastern eggs, in the memories of previous wars, in current wars as well, and in the sound of ringing bells…
Something must have surely happened two thousands years ago, in this fertile land, on the shores of the mediterranean sea!
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The picture above is taken by Asri in Manusak Village, a community of ex-refugees, in West Timor, Indonesia. As part of my work with Austcare, we were implementing a support program in the community, and we made a visit from Aceh to Timor in order to launch the support program.
The community consists of refugees who had to flee the violence in East Timor and take refuge in West Timor. They were given a land to settle, but the land is dry, and they lack everything: food, hygiene, water, and sanitation.
In this dry land where everything is missing, the community built itself a humble church, so humble that without the hanging wooden cross you would never guess its actually a church. In this simple hut, there are no ornaments, no golden altars, no fancy priests clothes and jewel crowns. And yet in this desolate place, this chapel stands more magnificient in its poverty than any other.
I can imagine how one day someone from this refugee community gathered two tree troncs from the surrounding fields and shaped a cross with them. He planted the cross in front of the wooden hut, to remember and to remind himslef and everyone around him, that one day a man once claimed: “I am the Light of the World”, and paid his life for it.
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And so, now I will ask you again the same old question. But before you rush and answer, please take a pause, and think again.
Your answer will determine everyhing in your life.
For this question is the most important of all.
“Who are You?”
Jihad Saad - Expand Your Awareness, Transform Your Life 