For a short time, David Warner's Aussie cricketing mates called him 'The Rev', short for Reverend, after he announced his intention to moderate his combative on-field behaviour. Over the last year that's gone out the window, and now he has been caught cheating along with some other team-mates and banned for 12 months. So definitely not 'the Rev' now. Much less a prophet.
Still, I can't help noticing the resemblance with Moses, the Hebrew stolen generation kid who ended up leading his people out of their Egyptian slavery.
There's a lot to Moses' story but you could see it as a spiritual journey in four phases. In the first, he is oblivious to his true identity. Not that he is necessarily ignorant of his Hebrew heritage, but he has grown up in a high-status Egyptian household and can confidently look forward to a career in the Egyptian hierarchy and a comfortable, successful life.
In the second phase, he is awakened to the plight of his people, identifies with them and attempts to respond to their oppression. He begins to understand that his life has a purpose beyond himself. However, he goes about it all wrong. He murders a lowly Egyptian official, becoming a dangerous pariah in the Hebrew community and a fugitive from Egyptian justice. He ends up having to flee for his life.
In the third phase he lives in exile with a Midianite priest, looking after his sheep, marrying his daughter and learning to be humble and patient. After his years in the wilderness he is called by God to return to his people, this time as a mature leader, and help free them from their oppression in earnest.
In the final phase, filled with the Spirit, he confronts Pharoah himself, with the backing of his people and with a clear strategy for negotiating their release, and leads his people out of Egypt and to the border of the promised land.
Despite being 'The Rev' Warner may not understand himself as being on a spiritual journey, but he is on one nonetheless. We all are. The question is, what sort of journey will it be? Will we do the good in the world that God has appointed for us? Or will we refuse the call and instead end up floating in the sea of danger and chaos, or living a life of selfish oblivion?
Like a young Moses, Warner has just reached the gut-wrenching, fear-inducing transition from Phase 2 to Phase 3.
As a young man, he had prodigious gifts and used them as he pleased. He attacked the ball with gusto, abused his opponents with gay abandon, and enjoyed all the perks and temptations of a travelling sports star. It seemed that his talent and good fortune meant that he could essentially please himself.
As he got older he started to see himself as having responsibility to others and so entered Phase 2. He met his wife Candice and became a dad, so he had a responsibility for the lives of others. He shifted from young up-an-comer to senior player, and started to seek and fill leadership roles. He coveted the role of captain. He became, along with his brother-in-arms Steve Smith, the abrasive, combative face of the Australian cricket team.
However, like Moses he went about it all wrong. He thought his responsibility was to win at all costs, for both his team and his family. On the field he became increasingly aggressive and abusive to opponents. When his wife was subjected to personal attacks as a form of retaliation he thought his responsibility was to aggressively defend her, with his fists if need be. He decided that any measures, even cheating, were justified to bring his enemies down a peg or two.
As a result, like Moses, he now has to go into exile. His own team, and the country he tried to represent, has rejected him. He will no longer play alongside his team-mates, with whom he is now apparently persona non grata. He will no longer enjoy the luxury of his huge income as both his playing contracts and his various product endorsements are withdrawn. It is likely he will have to sell his harbourside mansion and move to the suburbs, where he will need to get an ordinary job. Like Moses, he will become a nobody in a strange land.
The question is, what lessons will he learn in the wilderness? Moses found a wise mentor in the Midianite priest, and eventually he encountered God himself and came to understand his mission more clearly. He left a well-intentioned hot-head, he returned a wise, Spirit-filled leader. We are told little of the process he went through to get to this point, but we know his time in the wilderness was essential for the success of his subsequent mission.
This is the case with so many prophets. Elijah had to flee to the desert to escape Ahab, and to suffer through drought and famine. Jonah had to get thrown into the sea and be swallowed by a giant fish. Jesus had to fast for forty days and forty nights, after which he had to face the Devil himself. Muhammad and his followers had to go into exile in Medina before they could triumph in Mecca. This testing was essential to strengthen them for what was to come. John of the Cross tells us we must pass through our Dark Night of the Soul before we can emerge into the light of God.
Warner will have to discover this for himself in the twelve months or longer he will spend in exile. Right now all he will be feeling is bitter grief and regret, but life must go on. When one pathway is blocked our eyes can be opened to many more we never knew existed. What is important is that he doesn't shirk the challenge. It would be easy for his life to spiral downwards from this point, in which case he would be of no use to anyone, even himself.
What will emerge in the fourth stage of David Warner's life? No-one knows. Warner himself doesn't know yet. It could be that he will return to the top of the cricket world a chastened, more mature person and become the type of leader and role model who does genuine good in the world. It could be that he and his young family will do something completely different, away from the spotlight. Perhaps he will even become The Reverend in earnest. Whatever the outcome, I wish him well, and trust he will learn, grow and prosper.
As a result, like Moses, he now has to go into exile. His own team, and the country he tried to represent, has rejected him. He will no longer play alongside his team-mates, with whom he is now apparently persona non grata. He will no longer enjoy the luxury of his huge income as both his playing contracts and his various product endorsements are withdrawn. It is likely he will have to sell his harbourside mansion and move to the suburbs, where he will need to get an ordinary job. Like Moses, he will become a nobody in a strange land.
The question is, what lessons will he learn in the wilderness? Moses found a wise mentor in the Midianite priest, and eventually he encountered God himself and came to understand his mission more clearly. He left a well-intentioned hot-head, he returned a wise, Spirit-filled leader. We are told little of the process he went through to get to this point, but we know his time in the wilderness was essential for the success of his subsequent mission.
This is the case with so many prophets. Elijah had to flee to the desert to escape Ahab, and to suffer through drought and famine. Jonah had to get thrown into the sea and be swallowed by a giant fish. Jesus had to fast for forty days and forty nights, after which he had to face the Devil himself. Muhammad and his followers had to go into exile in Medina before they could triumph in Mecca. This testing was essential to strengthen them for what was to come. John of the Cross tells us we must pass through our Dark Night of the Soul before we can emerge into the light of God.
Warner will have to discover this for himself in the twelve months or longer he will spend in exile. Right now all he will be feeling is bitter grief and regret, but life must go on. When one pathway is blocked our eyes can be opened to many more we never knew existed. What is important is that he doesn't shirk the challenge. It would be easy for his life to spiral downwards from this point, in which case he would be of no use to anyone, even himself.
What will emerge in the fourth stage of David Warner's life? No-one knows. Warner himself doesn't know yet. It could be that he will return to the top of the cricket world a chastened, more mature person and become the type of leader and role model who does genuine good in the world. It could be that he and his young family will do something completely different, away from the spotlight. Perhaps he will even become The Reverend in earnest. Whatever the outcome, I wish him well, and trust he will learn, grow and prosper.
Comments