notes from the arena

Fiction has a way of bringing out truth in strange ways -- остранение (os-trah-nen-ya). It forces us to look through a different lens so we can see things we hadn't noticed before. That's why when people say they only like true stories, I smirk. Every good story is, on some level, a true story.

Katniss, when you're in the arena... don't forget who the enemy is. 

                                                     -Haymitch Abernathy (Catching Fire)

That line left me winded.

Just like traveling abroad, teaching ESL can show you that the world is both bigger and smaller than you'd imagined. And like a good book, it allows you to see through a different lens than your own. There's a strange land far away that your students call home, yet here it is standing right in front of you and asking what "beyond" means. Beyond -- on the other side of something, going past it. Just like your home is beyond the ocean. 

Then you find out that a woman you once met hasn't been heard from in awhile, and that a man she knows was recently arrested for leading a church service. Then it hits you: This happened in the country your best student calls 'my country.' Your jaw hangs for a little while and your heart sinks, because you love that student. You've invested time in learning about that culture, asking questions not only to help you understand, but also to show that you care. Just like you care about that missionary who's in prison right now. Your student follows a religion that puts your brothers and sisters in jail. 

And that's when you have to stop and ask yourself, "Who is the enemy?"

Is it the government? Is it the religion? The policemen who enforce the laws and could possibly be friends or relatives of my students? Is my student, the one I'm so fond of, the enemy? Or are we just caught in the same arena as part of a greater conflict that's going on, one that we can't see with our eyes, with only one of us having found the winning team?

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:11-12)

I think Paul makes it pretty clear who the enemy is. We're not just standing against the schemes of a foreign government. We're not struggling against people of other religions, who've exchanged truth for a lie. Our enemy is the father of lies who was defeated on the Cross -- and he's their enemy, too, whether they know it or not. I think about Saul, a ruthless persecutor of early believers, and realize he's the same man who penned the verses you just read. He changed teams; he was not beyond saving. Christ died for the persecutors, too.

But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die... Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (Ezekiel 18:21, 23)

I'm not trying to preach pacifism. I'm certainly not defending the actions of anti-Christian governments or their misplaced faith in false religions; I believe they will be held accountable one day. What I am saying is this:

Don't forget who the enemy is.