Christians worldwide will, next Friday, December 25, celebrate the portentous event of the Incarnation; the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior whose life of virtue, revolutionary teaching and sacrificial death on the Cross of Calvary, form the basis of the over 2000-year-old Christian religion. The birth of Christ as prophesied marks the beginning of a short but remarkable life of commitment to love, truth, justice, humility, mercy, compassion and peace. Even in a world dominated by secularism and other social forces impacting negatively on religion and morality, a world witnessing an inexorable decline in Christian values and worship especially in western societies, the continuous influence of Jesus Christ in a global context is unmistakable.
Across the globe, Christmas has come to be associated with the festive spirit, reunions and the celebration of family and friendship with the exchange of greetings, visits and gifts. Christmas is the time when many are inspired to stretch out the hand of fellowship and solidarity in charity and thanksgiving to all who have survived the stress and the strains of the passing year. The legend of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of all generous people played out in the form of Father Christmas or Santa Claus, has always excited the curiosity of children.
For Nigerians, however, Christmas 2015 closes a year of pains and blood and tears. Even after the historic electoral victory of the change-promising APC, Nigerians are still confounded with bad governance, decrepit infrastructure, worsening economic fortunes and widespread insecurity. For a country deficit in many indices of human development, the unbridled craving for material acquisition, when a majority of the citizens are struggling to eke out a paltry living, is needless and wasteful. The ridiculous embrace of eating, drinking and merry-making during Christmas, though apparently well-intentioned, speaks to the licentiousness and perfidious gluttony of the country’s elite and constitutes an affront to Nigerians. Without prejudice for genuine aspirations to celebrate the birth of Christ, in a country that has an unsavory reputation for excesses, we question the penchant for shopping, even by the poor. This is nothing more than a manifestation of the endemic ostentation in the country.
In spite of the agony and the social chaos that have endured in the country, however, the celebratory spirit of the Nigerian will not be put down. The incurable optimism in the Nigerian is what has secured the prevailing graveyard peace amid the subsisting trauma of the Nigerian condition. Perhaps, in the view of many Nigerian Christians, Christmas is too important a milestone in the Christian life cycle to be abandoned to the vagaries of murderous Boko Haram terrorists and their hate culture of intolerance. Many Christians, even in the war-ravaged Northeast, will go out to worship and to celebrate, if only to demonstrate to Boko Haram that they cannot and will not be denied the peaceful conduct of their religious obligations and festivities.
Christmas is, however, the proclamation of good news. It is a celebration of joy and of hope. Christ whose birth is celebrated has given the world a roadmap to abundant life, peace and prosperity. Taken seriously, the values preached by Jesus, namely sacrificial love, justice, compassion, leadership by service, forgiveness, humility and purity of heart, will transform the society for the better. And so beyond the festivities, Christians in Nigeria are once again challenged to live up to the core values of their religion, and impact positively on their socio-cultural and political environment.
The birth of Jesus is for Christians the vindication of God’s love for mankind which made him to sacrifice his innocent son who died a vicarious death to take away the sins of humanity and open the way to eternal life for all who believe in him and in his message. Christmas therefore is a time for believers everywhere to rekindle hope in a God who would not allow evil to prevail, but one who would now and again intervene to vindicate his people. With the celebration of Christmas, the majority of Nigerians who have witnessed rampant corruption and widespread leadership profligacy should find consolation in the fact that the triumph of evil is only a mirage, and that all appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, good shall ultimately triumph over evil.
In the course of passionately preaching and speaking truth to power, Jesus would come in conflict with the status quo and those who benefited from it. He was betrayed by his own disciple, Judas Iscariot; denied by his closest associate, Simon Peter, handed over to the Roman authorities by the chief priests of his religion and condemned to death by Pontius Pilate the Governor. Death by crucifixion was the greatest symbol of the rejection of Christ and everything he stood for by the authorities of the day.
Nigerians can learn a lot from the spectacular life and the supreme sacrifice of Jesus. Perhaps the greatest lessons he taught are the practical lessons of his own life. He taught his followers that there is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends, and that is exactly what he did. He taught his followers that those who seek to be first must make themselves last and servant of all; and that is what he did when he washed the feet of his disciples and accepted a humiliating death in order that they may live. Though as Son of God he was rich beyond measure, he made a preferential option for the poor, whose circumstances he graciously shared. His life was consistent with his message.
These are powerful lessons, which Nigerians, particularly leaders, need to imbibe. Our experience of leadership in this country has often been one characterized by primitive greed rather than service and self-sacrifice. Far from denying themselves that their people may have the good life, Nigerian leaders have often stolen from the starving poor. Overwhelmed by the blind lust for power, Nigerian leaders have often manipulated, oppressed and abused their people. This notion of personal gain is repulsive and against the spirit of Christmas and the model of leadership and service demonstrated by Christ.
The spirit of Christmas therefore challenges Nigerian leaders of all creeds and in all spheres of our national life, to abandon the paths of selfishness and greed, and the inordinate ambition for power at whatever cost, which have been the bane of our society. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preached that it is the meek who shall inherit the earth. Indeed the life, death and resurrection of Jesus put together, are a powerful lesson on humility, self-sacrifice and true love, by which one is prepared to die not only for one’s friends but also for the higher values of truth and justice.
With Jesus’ commitment to a life of love, humility, service and sacrifice celebrated annually at this time by believers through the course of history, Christmas challenges Christians and non-Christians alike to embrace those higher values exemplified in Jesus that make for lasting peace and happiness.
In this period of merry-making and feasting, Huhuonline.com wishes all its readers, a very Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year 2016.
