blessings and woes in the cameron highlands

This weekend we made our fifth and perhaps final visit to our Malaysian Indian brother Jeshua in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia, the "cooling highlands" atop the mountain range which runs like a spine down the center of peninsular Malaysia. The highlands are accessible by a single winding road through the jungle which climbs higher and higher past waterfalls and thatch-roofed villages until it reaches Ringlet, Tanah Rata and finally Brinchang, the three scrappy towns which cater to farmers, tourists and Orang Asli, the indigenous peoples who inhabited these mountains long before the British built a hill station here some 90 years ago. Tour buses, trucks loaded with fruits, vegetables and flowers and hundreds of ancient land rovers share the roads here. Tourists, immigrant farm laborers and local people share the sidewalks, night markets and open air restaurants. It's a lively place, with breathtaking scenery and almost perfect climate. There is plenty of local color here - most of it bright green.


Monday morning I sat on a rusty, metal chair outside of "Peacehome," the bungalow where Jeshua houses the guests who come to visit and assist in his ministry. I studied the open-air kitchen on the side of the house - a roof but no walls. I took in the cracked, mismatched dishes drying in the deformed dish rack, the old dented pots and pans, the dull tin sink, the concrete floor and drains which collected the water straight from the hole in the sink; no drain pipe was strictly necessary, so none intervened between the drain and the concrete trough below. Beside the sink there was a newish washing machine, an old refrigerator, 2 gas burners and a dingy table. Scattered about were plastic basket-like covers, once brightly colored, which served to keep flies off the food. Inside the bungalow was clean and comfortable, but decidedly shabby.



I thought about bringing Jeshua new blankets, replacing the ancient "Smurf" sheets (you could probably sell them on e-bay), faded and pilled from years of washing; I considered buying some pretty towels and new curtains to spruce up the place. But I realized Jeshua wouldn't want us to spend money on that. He covets any donations to buy rice for the refugees hiding in the jungles nearby, to purchase socks, charcoal tablets, ibuprofen for village children who suffer from diahhrea and fever, who shiver through the chilly damp nights in unheated bamboo huts. He would prefer to purchase corrugated metal and concrete to build a tiny sanctuary in an Orang Asli village that requests a church building.



Unlike me, Jeshua lives in a place where he cannot forget that a few dollars spent on personal luxuries, however modest, takes rice away from hungry people or denies medicine to sick children. Unlike me, he must consciously decide each day whether to upgrade his house or try to save a child's life. Unlike me, also, he does not appear to experience this awareness as a burden, but as a joy. Nearly every sentence he speaks is punctuated with a chuckle or a "Ha-ha!" He laughs as he mimes the caning to which he could be sentenced for helping Burmese refugees who are considered illegal aliens in Malaysia. Jeshua cheerfully reminds us often of the blessings God promises those who love the poor such as those named in Psalm 41:1-3. The blessing of health is one he often names, though he reluctantly spends money on blood pressure medication made necessary by the stress of caring for endless needs with limited, uncertain resources. He finds 7 hour trips into "the deep, deep jungle, ha-ha!" increasingly hard on his 55 year-old knees, but he keeps going nonetheless.

This weekend with Jeshua I saw something I had never seen in my life -a community of homeless, stateless Burmese immigrants living in makeshift plastic shelters on the edge of the jungle. These men, women and children had escaped terrible persecution in their homeland only to live in fear of vengeful Malaysian vigilante forces who burn refugee campsites and capture any unfortunates who are not able to flee into the jungle. Babies as young as six days old have been taken to brutal detention centers. Refugees within weeks of being resettled in the US have been detained as illegals. Those not sent to detention centers may be deported or sold to human traffickers who prey on Asia's desperately poor. Yet this illegal camp was orderly, clean and well-run, established and maintained entirely by the "campers" as they called themselves. The children were bright-eyed and interested in visitors. They recited Psalm 121 together and sang the old chorus, "He is Able." The adults greeted us with smiles and handshakes, many spoke excellent English. Unable to work for fear of arrest, they were utterly dependent upon Jeshua and his supporters for rice to cook with the vegetables they harvested from the jungle.



I met the young man who has taken on the role of pastor for this group of nearly 100. We had only a little opportunity to talk in between our handing out blankets for the children and singing praise songs together. But he made a point of looking me squarely in the eye as we were leaving and saying, "Don't forget about us." His words were not spoken as a plea, but as a challenge, a charge. I felt as he might be just fine if I forgot about him, that he had supernatural resources I knew little of, but that I would never be fine again if I forgot what I had seen. I was reminded of the Old Testament prophets who pronounced Woes upon Israel if they forgot what God had commanded them or refused to obey His commands.


So I have in my mind today both the blessings promised in the Psalms and the woes pronounced by the Prophets. I remember the words of our Lord Jesus which seem to encompass both - the warning that at the end of the age the Father will welcome those who spent themselves and their resources to serve the least of these, but will fail to recognize those who failed to recognize His Son in the guise of the poor. He promises eternal blessing to the one, eternal woe to the other. I wonder which group I belong to.

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Psalm 41:1-3

1 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.

2 The LORD will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.

3 The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.

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Matthew 25:31-46

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."