His predecessor had kept up a tense war of nerves with neighbouring Venezuela but the first thing the new man did was arrange to talks things out. For us, who are far away, it does not merit headlines but for those who have to live in the shadow of civil war and drug cartels it is big news. It is a moment of hope.
A gesture, a simple act, can be the prelude to a turn around that changes everything. Zacchaeus, in Luke 19, made a simple step that he hoped would not be noticed. Too ashamed to mingle with the crowd he climbed a tree just to have a look at this Jesus he had heard about. What he hadnt foreseen was that Jesus was well aware that he was a troubled man clumsily searching for peace with his own conscience. When Jesus was passing near the tree he looked up at Zacchaeus and spoke to him. He didnt say, Zacchaeus, you are a crook! You are a corrupt oppressor who should be dispossessed and driven out of town. No, he simply said, Zacchaeus, come down! I must stay at your house today.
The result was electric. It was just a gesture and a few words but it totally altered Zacchaeus. He knew instantly that, far from being judged, he was forgiven on the spot. And this experience gave him the courage and the freedom to decide to change his life and, for example, to pay back four times the amount where he had cheated people.
Recently in Derry, in Northern Ireland, they put up a huge screen in the centre of the city and people gathered to hear and see the prime minister as he responded to the report on the killing by British troops of 13 unarmed civilians in the city in 1972. It had taken 38 years for an impartial enquiry to come to its verdict. And that verdict was that the action was wrong and unjustifiable.
How would the leader of the country, David Cameron, react? Would he make excuses? The troops were under pressure. They were provoked. These things happen in times of civil strife. He said none of these. He simply accepted the report, we were wrong. It was unjustified.
Camerons few words moved the whole centuries-old struggle for peace and reconciliation forward. It was a Zacchaeus moment. It is Heroes Day today and what is happening at Heroes Acre?
Post published in: Opinions