In search of influence.

Have you ever met anyone famous?  Do you have a good story about that?

Through an unusual set of circumstances, I met the President of Costa Rica twice and the President of Ecuador once.  In Costa Rica, Sharon’s language coach was helping organize a World Vision “Salute to the Nations” banquet.  Each represented nation was allowed to invite a few ex-pats to enjoy the evening (and raise funds!).  The President was there, and he took the time to thank the World Vision staff that organized the banquet.  Our friend kept us close to her side so we could meet the President when she did.  

Later that year, my language coach - a chaplain with the National Police Force - invited me to accompany him to the dedication of a new Police Chapel.  I went with him and was totally surprised when I was told to fall into formation with the officials from the National Police.  I was presented to the President as a “visiting Canadian police chaplain.”  A bit of a stretch, but once again I shook the President’s hand.  No, he didn’t remember me from the World Vision banquet.  I’m sure that now he doesn’t even remember those two events.

In Ecuador, there were occasions when the government would use the mission’s broadcast facilities to address the nation.  Because I was part of the administrative team, I again stood in a line and shook hands with the President.  And again, I’m sure he has no recollection of the Canadian to whom he didn’t even speak.  But these are great stories to tell.

It is one thing to meet a famous person in passing.  It is quite another to have a relationship with one.  As the cliché says, “It isn’t what you know, it’s who you know.”  Life can go a lot smoother if we have the right connections.  People with influence can provide us with useful information, clear obstacles, and help us sail through the sea of red tape which threatens to drown most mere mortals.

Jesus leveraged this reality when He told the disciples a story about prayer (Luke 18).  A widow who had suffered an injustice knew that only a person of influence - in this case, a corrupt judge - could help her cause.  She pestered the judge day after day until finally, out of frustration, he ruled in her favour.  The judge gave a ruling not because it was right but for the pragmatic reason of getting some relief from the pestering widow.  Jesus point is NOT that we need to pester God in prayer so we can get what we want (and wrongly believe that otherwise we would be ignored).  This is NOT a theology of “the squeaky prayer gets the answer.”  Rather, the emphasis is on the contrast between the righteous and the corrupt;  if even a corrupt judge can bring justice to a situation, how much more will Almighty God who is just and righteous?  Luke says the point of this story was to teach the disciples to persevere in prayer and not lose hope.  

Why should they have hope?  Because they have an intimate relationship with a “famous” Person of influence - their heavenly Father, the Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth.  Not a bad connection to have.  It certainly trumps my accumulated 90 seconds of interaction with two Presidents.

This dynamic of creation-to-Creator was unique amongst all the religions of Israel’s day.  That’s why Moses so frequently stressed the personhood of God - a living being who loved and cared for His creation.  He wrote, “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?  Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?  To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him” (Deut. 4 ESV).

Is that not the ultimate connection of influence?  All the other voices and personalities clamouring for attention and influence are insignificant compared to the eternal greatness and “nearness” of this Creator God.  When we are overwhelmed by the rhetoric of our day, we remember that God is aware of what is happening in His creation.  Our hope is in the WHO whose compassion, grace, and care for us is eternal and beyond measure.  In this case, the cliché is true: “It’s not what you know, but Who you know!”