We are gradually rounding up the great season of Lent. By next week we will begin the Holy week festivities and ceremonies, another wonderful moment of divine encounter. For me as a priest, the week is my most cherished week of all the weeks of the Year. The entire liturgical ceremonies reminds us of the vain glory and the ephemerality of life and the pursuit of emptiness and shadows that most of us are engaged in. The forth coming Holy week will present and remind us of the ever real drama of life, that consists of Praise singing; Trust; Betrayal; Injustice; false accusation; death of the innocent, and eventual triumph. As we journey in these remaining days of Lent; let us become more like Moses, who is known for his great intercessory role in the life of the people he once guided. “But Moses begged the Lord his God and said, O lord why does your burn hot against your people whom you have brought out. Of the land of Egypt with great power and with mighty hands. Why should the Egyptians say with evil intend he brought them forth, to slay them in the mountains? And to consume them from the face of the earth, turn from your fierce wrought and repent of this evil against your people (Exodus 32:7-14).
There are many lessons that we can learn from the life of Moses. In this article, we will look to learn from Moses’ role as both a spiritual and political leader, and try to understand what the role of the leader is fundamentally about. Although the initial call Moses received was to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, that task was only the start of his leadership. Through the journey in the wilderness, Moses’ role shifted from being an inspirational, revolutionary leader to leading a reluctant people on a depressing detour of their own making, away from and not toward the better future originally envisioned for them. As we will see in this article, Moses was instrumental in acting as a mediator between God and the people; in the institutionalization of values and practices; and, finally, in serving the people by preparing for a successor to lead in his inevitable absence. At the heart of all that Moses did was the recognition that his leadership was not about self-glorification. Instead, it was about serving one greater than himself and joining in his work.
To understand the role of the leader, it is important to first establish what lies at the heart of leadership. Through our collective experience in politics, we’ve come to see that leadership of any kind and at any level invariably involves the reconciliation of conflicting interests. In Moses’ case this meant not only mediating disputes among the Israelites themselves, but also acting as a mediator between God and his people. Initially, of course, Moses acted as a mediator between God, the Israelites, and Pharaoh. But once the Red Sea had been crossed, Moses began to face intense criticism from the people he was leading. Despite being freed from slavery, they resented the hardships of the desert journey toward the Promised Land and frequently demanded a return to Egypt. Most often their criticisms were directed at Moses as God’s representative, forcing Moses to stand in the gap between God and his people.
For example, when the Israelites (after receiving the negative report from the spies) refused to enter the Promised Land, God threatened to destroy them and start all over again by creating a new nation from Moses’ own descendants. But Moses interceded as a mediator on their behalf, reciting back to God the promise he had declared to Moses on Mount Sinai: “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion” (Numbers 14:11-19).But perhaps the most striking example of Moses as mediator occurred when venomous snakes were sent among the people in response to yet another outbreak of rebellion. Again Moses interceded in prayer for the people, and God responded by instructing him to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Whoever looked at the bronze snake, after being bitten, would live (Numbers 21:4-9). In the New Testament, Jesus specifically refers to this incident as analogous to his own role as a sin bearer and his mediatory death on the cross—“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14).
This appeal for intercession is borne out of my latest pastoral trip to Faskari Local Government area of Katsina State, one of the Local government that has been taken over completely by the bandits and the people are living under constant threat of violence and attacks. Faskari like Jibia, Kankara, Dandume and over three hundred communities in Katsina state alone have recorded unprecedented attacks by the bandits unchallenged, and unstopped by our security forces. Moses in the scriptures remains a central figure, in the grand plan of our salvation history by God. He was the central figure at the reception of the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20:1-17. In Exodus 32:19, we see another side of him that was very “violent”: When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. In Psalm 106: 22-23 the Psalmist, talking about the virtues of Moses said: For this he said he would destroy them but Moses the man he has chosen stood in the bridge before him, to turn back his anger from destruction.
After over ten years of constant attack by Boko Haram, Killer Fulani Herders, Bandits, and Kidnappers; many Nigerians are almost concluding that the Lord has abandoned us to our enemies. And we need Moses to once again rise on our behalf. But the most important Moses we appeal to, to rise right now, is the one in government. The one that is commanding the troops in Faskari, and other troubled parts of the country. In our interaction with the Muslim and Christian Communities in Faskari. One thing that was very clear on the lips of every man and woman on the street of Faskari is: They feel abandoned and unprotected, by the military and the security forces. Without the slightest intention to cause any dissention in the hearts of our security agents. We appeal to the Moses in their midst to speak in defense of the people they are constitutionally design to protect.
God’s children in Faskari are in bitter tears, there are hundreds of families who are homeless and driven out of their ancestral homes by Bandits, and many lost their farmlands and farm produce. God’s Children in Faskari, are without food. We met a family during our trip who were still mourning the kidnapping and brutal killing of their son, whom they have paid over three million on for ransom. The list of the pains in Faskari is endless. The Divisional Police Officer who received us was just recuperating from the bullets he sustained from the bandits. The Emirate Council in Faskari was thrilled by the fact, that we could risk coming to them in this most insecure times. We have too because they too are God’s creatures and His Children.
As Christians, no matter what position we occupy in society or in an organization, we are called to practice the ministry of reconciliation. In doing so we are acting out one of the most central doctrines of our faith (II Corinthians 5:17-21). And while this is not the place to expand on all that the ministry of reconciliation involves, it is nevertheless instructive to recognize that mediation was one of the central tasks of Moses the political and spiritual leader, and that in this regard he models leadership in the spirit of Christ.
Fr Stephen Ojapah is a priest of the Missionary Society of St Paul. He is equally the director for Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism for the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, a member of IDFP. He is also a KAICIID Fellow. ([email protected])
