Christmas and the Nigerian condition (II)

Continued from last week Second, Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem, the City of David (cf. Lk. 2:1-7). He was not born in the palace of the Roman Governor Pilate, or of the Roman Prefect Herod or of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas. Jesus came among us, not with power and might, but […]

Continued from last week

Second, Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem, the City of David (cf. Lk. 2:1-7). He was not born in the palace of the Roman Governor Pilate, or of the Roman Prefect Herod or of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas. Jesus came among us, not with power and might, but with the fragility and poverty of a little child. The remarkable lesson here is that God shows up in places where we least expect him: in the mangers of the Bethlehems of stench and misery, in the many Gethsemanes of tears, anguish, and hopelessness, in the many Golgothas of suffering and despair, and in the many Bethanys where tears fills the eyes of the bereaved. God shows up there in the poor, in the suffering, in the hopeless, in the destitute. He is waiting for you and for me. 

Thus, celebrating Christmas means that we become the compassionate hands and feet of Jesus to people around us who are in dire need of love and mercy. We touch the flesh of the living Christ by serving the poor and the marginalised. We are the hands, the eyes, the ears, the mouth, and the legs of Jesus Christ, to minister to the hungry in need of the food of love, to the thirsty in need of the waters of hope, to the naked in need of the clothes of dignity, to the homeless in need of the shelter of compassion, to the sick in need of a doctor of grace, to the imprisoned in need of freedom from guilt. We Christians are the ones to show them the love of Jesus. A welcoming smile, an attentive gaze, a simple word, a pat on the back, and a listening ear, can change the life of someone forever. As Jesus said in the story about the Last Judgment: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do unto me” (Matt. 25:40). This calls us each to do our part in building a society marked by equity and justice, where the needs of the poor are placed over and above the greed of a few.

Third, shepherds in the field watching their flock by night were the first people to be greeted with the angelic news of the birth of the Son of God (cf. Lk. 2:8-20). The shepherds were around when this astounding event in human history took place. They offered the hospitality and warmth of their manger to Mary and Joseph at a time when the weather was cold and unfriendly. Today, shepherds in Nigeria seem to represent the other side of shepherd-hood. We are all too familiar with the havoc wreaked in the body polity of our nation by rampaging armed herdsmen who not only destroy farmlands and livelihoods with their grazing cattle but also snuff life out of farmers and ravage whole communities that challenge their impunity. The sharp contrasts between the herdsmen who welcomed Jesus’ birth and today’s Nigerian herdsmen who are dealers in death and destruction calls us all, especially our government, to do something proactive to change the tide from hate to love, from death to life, from confrontation to dialogue, and from violence to peace.

Fourth, the news of the birth of Jesus brought some Wise Men from the East to Bethlehem. These sages, led by a guiding Star, came in search of the Prince of Prince, the Wisdom of the Ages (cf. Matt. 2:1-12). Their passionate restlessness in the quest for the God-child was fraught with a lot of difficulties and challenges but they never gave up the good fight. Today, many of our elders, statesmen and so-called sages in Nigeria have failed the younger generation. They neither possess wisdom nor search for it. They are bereft of truth and do not even want to seek it. They have misled us and plunged us into several crises. The situation is so palpable that a famous Nigerian octogenarian once said that he and his contemporaries belong to Nigeria’s “wasted generation.” A nation that wants to grow cannot despise the wisdom of its elders who are custodians of history and memory, but when the elders have eaten sour grapes why would the children’s teeth not be set on edge? This is an invitation to the coming generation to map out a new path different from the way many of their elders have followed. The Wise Men from the East remain a powerful example of what can be achieved when we work with sincerity of purpose, with passion for good, with commitment and dedication to the right cause.

Fifth, at the centre of the entrance of Jesus into our human condition are two remarkable human beings – Mary His mother and Joseph His foster father – who are bearers and custodians of the incredible happening that forever changed the course of human history. In spite of the difficulties surrounding the birth of Jesus, they both held on to each other and remained steadfast. Even after the birth of Jesus, Herod’s anxiety regarding the birth of the newborn King reached paranoid level. His desire to do away with a little child he perceived to be a rival, competing king led him to kill many children born at the time. However, Mary and Joseph obeyed the commandment of God and did for Jesus all that they were told to do (cf. Matt. 2:13-23). They remain symbols of poor people who trust God and walk the path of faith in the midst of the trials and difficulties of life.

Finally, with Jesus we see that every new child is a gift of God. The fact that God chose to come among us through the family means that the human family holds an important place in God’s plan for worldly redemption. In a culture where marriage has been bastardised and reduced to almost nothing, and where family values are rapidly going into extinction, the birth of Jesus into a human family calls us to reclaim the values of the family as a special dwelling place of God. Here, our government must pay special attention to homeless families and all those searching for a place to live. No one should be without a roof over his or her head. Christmas is also an invitation to protect and nurture life from its earliest beginnings to its natural end, in spite of the ‘culture of death’ that seems to hold sway all around us.

It is in the family that children learn the meaning of love, compassion, honesty, sacrifice, respect, hard work, forgiveness, decency and all the other virtues that make for a life of purpose. Parents have a responsibility to uphold the values of marriage and teach their children to do so. Many marriages are crashing today because young people have lost sight of the essentials and seem to focus on ephemeral excitements, temporary pleasures and fading euphoria. Christmas calls us to put the family on the path originally mapped out by God for humanity. Let us therefore make this Christmas season a veritable time to show love, visit our family and friends, speak words of peace to our neighbours, and learn to live in harmony with one another. Christmas is first and foremost a profoundly spiritual event. We need the joy and peace first of all in our hearts, and from our hearts the joy and peace of Christmas can radiate to others. As the fourteenth century English poet Alexander Pope says, “Christ may be born a thousand times in Bethlehem, but if he is not born in your heart, his birth has no meaning for you.”

Concluded

Ojeifo is a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja.