The Road to Damascus
Today is the day after what we used to call Kenyatta Day until our so-called “civil" society started asking why the day had been named after an individual.
Their point was that Kenya's independence was not the result of one particular individual who was jailed with five others by our colonial masters in a remote place called Kapenguria in modern-day West Pokot County.
The trouble-makers persisted and the government finally agreed to name the day after all the freedom fighters “irregardless" of where they came from. A nice strategic move, a moment of pure vision like another I knew about the Jews.
The Road to Damascus
One of the more celebrated stories in the New Testament of the Jewish bible appears in a book curiously named “Acts of the Apostles”. For those not familiar with this bible, it is the fifth book after the first four “gospels” according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
For those who are curious, the arrangement of the chapters in this part of the bible pretty much follows that of the Old Tes- tament style where the first five books attributed to Moses appear, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. But that is where the similarity ends.
As I am not a bible scholar, I will leave the reader with that tantalising comparison and go back to the Apostles. Some people even confuse the apostles with the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ but they are not the same.
Biblical Context
The mission of Jesus was operationalized during the rule of the Romans (31 BC - AD 1453) which initially occupied most of the territory from Rome through Greece, Turkey, Syria and on to Israel and Egypt. A truly remarkable enterprise comparable, in many ways, to the original Persian Empire (550 BC - AD 224) and, much later, the British Empire “where the sun never sets”.
The Jews, a proud people with an enigmatic history, tolerated being ruled by some Barbarians from modern Europe but one thing they did not want was to be forced to pray to some pagan gods unlike their almighty Jehovah who delivered them from self-created enslavement in Egypt. They were ready to do anything they could to return to their “promised land” in Canaan. Sadly, to this very day.
As it appeared that the Pharisees had conspired with the Romans to keep the Israeli people under Roman rule but with some freedom of worship, there was a cult that was totally opposed to this arrangement and that had sworn to overthrow it at whatever cost. And this is where Jesus came in as the high priest of this resistance movement.
But the Jews had a small but serious problem to deal with. This was their calendar system which was based on a belief that the world that was “created” some 5,000 years previously was edging towards its implied end with the approach of year zero. They had to do a thing about it otherwise they would end up with a lot of “monkey face” if their prediction failed to happen on the predicted 1 BC. Especially with their Roman conquerors.
The rest of the story you are familiar with so I will not bore you with the details.
The Road to Damascus
After the crucifixion of Jesus, his remaining 11 disciples had started selling their religion all over the Middle East starting with Damascus, a major centre in those days. This was after the realization that they could not convert the Pharisees to their new religious version. In any case, they had been given clear instructions that they had to spread the new message “to all corners of the world”.
One of those appointed by the Pharisees to hunt down these rebels was a man bearing the name Saul which, according to the Bible, was also the name of the first king of the combined kingdom of Israel and Judah. This second Saul born in a place called Tarsus and, an ardent Pharisee, used to travel to areas around Damascus on these punitive expeditions, no doubt with others like him and was feared for his ruthlessness.
One day, we are told, as he was headed to Damascus, he was struck down by a mysterious force that left him blind. Frightened, he asked whatever power was responsible, what the matter was. He was given the famous message:
“I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting”. (Acts 22:8)
He was instructed what to do and later converted to the new faith and even changed his name to Paul, a name meaning “small” or “humble” in Latin unlike the earlier one of the mighty king of the Jews. His conversion is the hallmark, in many ways, of Christianity.
Life after Conversion
The story of his escapades, troubles, imprisonments and all are well known to most Christians in surprising detail.
As I said, I am not a religious scholar but one thing I realised after reflecting on this event is what impact it had on the spread of Christianity, first to Rome itself then to the rest of Europe before crossing the seas to England, Americas and ultimately to Africa and Australia.
Somehow, this religion did not make it to the stubborn peoples of Asia. They had had religions of more superior and ancient heritage and were not prepared to accept a colonial religion which they considered inferior.
The significance of Paul’s conversion should be obvious by now to anyone interested in entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur is someone who sees an opportunity where others see serious challenges and impossible problems in whatever aspect of human activity.
In the case of Paul, my thesis is this: Upon realising that there was no way the Jews could defeat Romans in battle, the easier option was to convert those Romans from their relatively primitive religion and get them to accept the new version of Jewish religion that did not include all the vicious prohibi- tions and rituals in the Old Testament.
And he was enterprising enough to realise that the way to do it was by converting the military leaders before heading for the political leadership.
The rest of it you know: Rome is today the centre of the Christian form known as Catholic and the Pope is its world- wide leader. As for Paul, he went on to become a Saint and, give him credit; he did not want the accolades due to him. He considered himself to be just a messenger who wanted the lead disciple Peter to be recognized as the natural heir to Je- sus Christ rather than him as an apostle. Hence, the magnifi- cent Basilica (Cathedral) in Rome named after Peter and not after him.
Quo Vadis?
This brings me to my last point. There are few problems confronting humanity that cannot be solved by man himself. If Paul could defeat the mighty Roman Empire by focusing on their human weaknesses and showing them that there was a better way, surely, anyone with skill, courage and determination can also achieve their dreams. If you are prepared to take the risk, the whole universe will come to your aid. Even if you never get the glory.
In many cases, you will need that kind of divine revelation, the moment I refer to as “the-road-to-Damascus-moment”. It is the moment when the universe is challenging you to rise up to your full potential. It involves taking risks that may include loss of your own life.
Like Paul of Tarsus, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Bill Gates, Jack Ma and even our own athletics maestro Eliud Kipchoge. Not easy but it can be done if you believe in your potential.
Happy Mashujaa Day.
When you think about it, the fundamental story of human beings actually never changes. Two thousand years later, how many people really appreciate that the Jewish story about mankind is just another clever form of colonialism? With modern science, not many of their stories cannot be shown to be just another fake kind of story.
And I ask: How much longer are we going to continue to be duped?