Taming the Jew – Part 1

Dear God,
Lost and Found, Right? I know. I missed you too.
(Smile)
You know Lord, some things happen and I find myself questioning my depth with You.
However, what gives me immense joy is not the depth of my love for You, No. It’s the depth of Your love for me. It validates me always.
I know You will smile….. Wait for my story first.
So I went to see Nonye. She has been on me to visit and I never could squeeze out time, so eventually I made it.
She was with her sister-in-law who was spending some time with her five children so the house was running on full throttle.
I didn’t mind, I sometimes run a full house too. So I was comfortable with the noise and chaos.
In the course of our conversations, I noticed that her sister-in-law was quoting scriptures in almost every sentence she made.
At first, I liked it, I felt she was religiously informed. However, after some time, it began to feel like a burden.
When I casually mentioned that her son Joel was handsome and tall, she quickly replied.
“Aaah, thank you, my sister, the bible says that Children are a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is a reward from him.”
Yeah, it made sense right? Okay.
Eehm, in what context now? So the people who don’t have children have no heritage and have no reward from You, Yes?
I felt I was overthinking it so I tried another line of conversation.
“The amazing thing is how quickly they grow, before you know it now, they will make you a grandma. What my little sisters have been doing to me lately is not fair, booming up babies who plan to call me grandma……Can you imagine?”, I added laughing
“You should be happy, my sister”, she said, “ The Bible says in Proverbs 17:6: “The children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.”
“Crown to the aged kini?, I am still young and supple, they should have mercy on my reputation” I laughed, still trying to ease the mounting tension.
“My sister, the bible says in Proverbs 18:21 that we are ensnared by the words of our mouth. Don’t say such things, what reputation do you have if they do not have children? Do you not know what the Lord said in Isaiah 54:1? Thus saith the Lord, “Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labour; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,”.
I was confounded. I had no idea where that came from.
Nonye and I looked at each other.
“Aunty, Nonye laughed, trying so hard to ease the tension, “My friend was joking, she meant it in a good way…….”
My dear, these are the end times, there is no room for jokes, and we must be spiritually minded. The Bible says in Romans 8:6: “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
The Word of God never sounded so brutal to me like this ever! What da——-?
We generally became cautious with our words and struggled to communicate in our usual boisterous manner. We couldn’t dare make the kind of light jokes and self-laughs that we enjoyed because every sentence we made became a Sunday school lesson.
Maybe she didn’t intend to, but each of her sentences came with emphasis and sounded judgemental.
Was this what Nonye has been living with since? How can any sane person, Christian or not, live with this constant reminder of brutal eternity?
Was I overthinking it or overreacting? Why would we feel out of sorts because someone is quoting many scriptures? Was it the use or the context it was used?
Should the word of God edify or condemn?
I didn’t like the feeling, so I decided to leave before I got Nonye into more trouble. From the look of things, she was standing judged and unrighteous before this singular religious adjudicator.
As I stood up, Nonye pinched me and held my hand tight under the table.
She didn’t say one word, but her eyes spoke volumes.
The message was very clear.
Nonye has been married for 10 years and has only a beautiful girl Kachimra, who is 8 years old. Her in-laws despite their alleged deep faith, gave her a hard time.
They have subjected the girl to every manner of fanatic religious rituals to help her situation and in her gentle and humble disposition, she had complied without success.
Because their reputation as “good Christians” would not allow them to be damn-right nasty, they have fashioned a religious way to bully the poor woman.
And it became very clear to me why Nonye wanted me to visit. She needed a shoulder to cry on. Her sister-in-law’s visits have become more frequent than was acceptable and each time, she erodes her self-esteem and mental balance with her overly religious displays.
I have been in this space before with religious bullies. People who weaponise the word of God to suit their purpose and I have the answers to their questions.
The hidden part of my unsaved-radical nature (the part that is seeking forgiveness every day) would have gone to war and told that lady to take a hike but the goody-two-shoes-Me wanted a peaceful intervention.
So I submitted to the voice of reason from the “Good-Girl-in-Me” and sat back quietly.
(It’s okay to smile Dad, Your heart knows my heart)
I sat quietly beside her searching for a way to get into her religious soul without knocking it down.
“Let me get you something to drink, Nonye said quickly, I have a bottle of your favourite Amarula chilling somewhere in the fridge and some very delicious moimoi”, she laughed.
“No, sweetheart, let me do chilled water for now, we can do that much later…….
She didn’t let me finish….
“Water is good for you my sister, Proverbs 20:1 says “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”, she finished with a mock smile.
I counted to ten backwards with my eyes closed.
“I will get you water then”, Nonye giggled and disappeared before I could react.
Father Lord, what should I do with her? The roar in me was rising so high.
“Well done my sister, It is well”, she said slapping my lap as soon as Nonye left.
I looked at her and smiled. If only she knew how unsisterly my heart was.
For some reason, I saw through her. I knew she wanted to talk. Now that Nonye has left, she would spill whatever end-time scriptures she had reserved for my friend.
And I was ready…………” Shoot”, I said silently waiting for the bait to bite.
(Dad, I know that look)
Honestly, I would never take Your Love for granted nor take Your Words lightly, but I will also not accept Your Words as a weapon of judgment from anyone.
You are Love, and Your Word is Love.
I strongly believe that if the Word of God coming from us hurts others, it is no longer “The Good News”. It’s Man-News.
I will tell you how I tamed the Jew but for Now:
This is your daughter, and I am checking in smiling.