I completed my seminary education in December of 1979 and was ready for my first congregation. I was called to Christ Lutheran Church in Lignite, North Dakota. Lignite is in the far northwest corner of that wind-blown, barren state. On a windy, 30 degree below zero day in January, my wife and I and two small children moved into a crooked old parsonage that would be torn down a few years later. I remember we felt a little bit sorry for ourselves way out there in the middle of nowhere. However, it turned out that the people were wonderful, and pretty soon we felt very much at home.
Several years earlier, in 1962, Don Richardson (1935-2018) began his ministry in a place even more remote than North Dakota. Don was called to serve as a missionary to the Sawi tribe whose home was far up river from civilization, deep in the jungles of Dutch New Guinea. The Sawis had not yet advanced beyond the Stone Age, and, they were cannibals and headhunters. But still Don went there, taking along his wife Carol and their seven month old son. The Sawis did not eat the Richardson family, but they did continue to make war on their neighboring enemy tribes, feasting on their slain foes and lining their huts with enemy skulls.
Don and Carol worked hard to learn the complex language of the tribe, and they began to teach them about salvation in Christ Jesus. There are always barriers to communicating the Gospel to cultures very different from one’s own, but the Sawi presented some particularly challenging problems. For example, the Sawi culture placed a high value on treachery and deception. It was a mark of distinction for a warrior to be able to deceive an enemy into thinking he was a friend, and then, when they least expected it, betray and kill and eat them. So when the Sawi heard the story of the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus they were impressed, especially by the part about the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. But it was Judas, not Jesus, who was their hero. To them, Judas was a clever deceiver to be admired, and Jesus was a fool to be laughed at.
It appeared this would be an impossible barrier to overcome. But one day, Richardson learned of the Sawi concept of the ‘Peace Child.’ Even the Sawis and their enemies would at times get tired of killing each other, and for those times they had a ritual for making peace. War had broken out while the Richardsons were living with them, and after weeks of fighting, the Richardsons began to talk about leaving. The missionaries had been helpful to the Sawis in many ways, and the Sawis did not want to see them go. Thus motivated to stop the fighting, the chief of the Sawi tribe agreed to pay the traditional price for peace. In a generations old ceremony, the chief took his own infant son and placed him in the arms of his enemies. The child would live with the enemy tribe for the rest of his life, and as long as he lived, there would be peace between the tribes. The chiefs of other tribes then also did the same, giving up a Peace Child of their own to their enemies.
Don wrote: “If a man would actually give his own son to his enemies, that man could be trusted.” Through this analogy of Jesus being the ultimate Peace Child who will never die, Don was able to reach the Sawi with the truth of the gospel. They came to believe that this God and this Jesus could be trusted. Eventually the New Testament was published in their language, and many villagers placed their trust in Christ. (continued…)
*****************************
Matthew 26:21-22 — When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
Luke 22:47-48 — While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Romans 8:31-32 — What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Romans 5:10 — For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life.
*****************************
Merciful Father, your kindness caused the light of the Gospel to shine among us. Extend your mercy now, we pray, to all the people of the world who do not have hope in Jesus Christ, that your salvation may be made known to them also and that all hearts would turn to you. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. (Lutheran Book of Worship, p.45)
Related Posts
