What a Life! for May 23-27, 2007

In war-torn countries like Afghanistan, the death of a single individual rarely stands out in the news. However, the death of a 65-year-old grandmother and provincial Minister of Women’s Affairs has received an unusual amount of attention. Recently, the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban gunned her down in retaliation for her long and untiring work for girls and women.

Safia Ama Jan lived the kind of life Jesus spoke about when he said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” She knew she was risking her life every day that she worked to promote the active participation of women in government and business.

During the Taliban’s oppressive rule from 1996 until 2001, Ama Jan ran an underground school for girls. In Kandahar alone, Ama Jan had opened six schools where almost one thousand women learned how to bake and sell their goods at a market. She also taught them to use computers.

After the U.S. invasion and the creation of a democratic Afghan government, she became a provincial director for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in the southern province of Kandahar. Under Taliban rule, women were routinely beaten, mutilated, and killed for disobeying their restrictive edicts. Five years after the fall of the Taliban regime, women, in particular working women, are increasingly being targeted by extremists. Ama Jan’s family had urged her to quit her work. Her reply was, “It is my country, I will not quit my job. I want to do this work for our women, for our country.”

In Jesus’ day, many of his disciples did not understand his teaching about sacrificing for others. They figured that a leader like Jesus would, eventually, take Jerusalem by storm and become some type of hero. Maybe he would be a celebrated religious authority in the temple, or a be a political revolutionary who would throw out the Romans and restore Israel’s autonomy and become a bona fide king of the Jews.

The disciples’ focus was what mattered most to them: what’s in it for loyal disciples who follow Jesus all the way to Jerusalem? They did not want to hear Jesus’ thrice-repeated prediction that the end of the Jerusalem road was condemnation, passion, and death.

Modern disciples are not much better at hearing Jesus. We listen to the gospel message that suits us: the heavenly banquet for those who believe, forgiveness of sins for those who ask, comfort in time of affliction, and other pleasant ideas. Sacrifice, serving others, willingness to suffer and lay down our lives for our friends are not our idea of good news.

Many of us do not even want to provide basic hospitality to others, much less give our lives for them. We do not want to deal with the outsiders who do not speak our language or deserve the benefits of our citizenship. Service and sacrifice were not our high priorities when we signed up to follow Jesus.

There are signs of hope. Almost 35% of all volunteers, about 22.6 million people, offered their time and energy to religious organizations. The three most common activities for all volunteers were (1) coaching, tutoring, or other mentoring; (2) fund-raising; and (3) food collection and distribution. Almost 28 percent gave between 100 and 499 hours of their time per year.

God calls all of us to serve the needs of others. May we follow the example of Safia Ama Jan who could not remain closemouthed when faced with the terrible injustice and oppression in her country. May we give our time and energy in imitation of Jesus Christ who said, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.”