By Sonnie Ekwowusi
Whether in plenty or on empty stomach or in foreboding forlorn or in distress or anxiety, we are electrified and enraptured in the magnificent allure and frenzy of Christmas amid the rendition of beautiful Christmas carols, festooning of public highways, public parks and personal houses; exchange of Christmas gifts, social parties and family Christmas gatherings.
This year’s Christmas ought to be celebrated with pomp and pageantry. It is the first post-COVID Christmas. The last two Christmases were marred by the COVID-19 lockdown. You will recall that families, friends, relatives and acquaintances were forcefully separated from one another during the COVID lockdown. Social, family and communal interactions and socializations were paralyzed. Even public religious worship centres were banned during the lockdown. Now that the COVID lockdown and social restrictions have been lifted, I say, happy survival! Let us make merriment and celebrate as we thank God for graciously sparing our lives at all times, especially during the ravaging COVID years. From where I am seated at the moment and scribbling this I could hear resounding in the horizon the traditional Christmas carols in celebration of the dies natalis of Jesus Christ. I could feel the festive mood of the different people around me. I could sense the inner peace and joy encumbering the hearts of many people even though they have little or nothing to eat and drink.
At the Nativity of Jesus Christ, we are invited to re-live and deepen our understanding of the unfathomable Christian mystery which took place on the first Christmas more than 2000 years ago. When peaceful silence lay over the surface of the earth and the night had not run its full swift course, God chose to be born in a relatively humble city of David called Bethlehem. As St. Josemaria Escriva aptly puts it: “when the fullness of time comes, no philosophical genius, no Plato or Socrates appears to fulfil the mission of redemption. Nor does a powerful conqueror, another Alexander, take over the earth. Instead, a child is born in Bethlehem. He is to redeem the world”. Poet William Butler Yeats writes that at the appointed time God caused what he dubbed the “uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor” to take place in the relatively obscure town of Bethlehem. You and I should marvel at the magnanimity of a God who took flesh in the ever-virgin womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary in order to be born among us. We live in a society in which anybody who by any chance has accumulated some material wealth or has lots of money in his personal bank account wants to make a big statement about it with his big car, a gorgeous dress and the quality of his shoes. Just take a studied look around you. What can you see around you? Noise-making, trumpeting thunder, grandstanding, flamboyance, colours, titles. Humility, in our clime, seems to be a vice. Self–effacement is a scarce virtue in our world. If you are doing any good work, the society expects you to boast about it in public, otherwise, you could be accused of revelling in religious obscurantism or secrecy. Our affinity for titles is unprecedented. These days some even wear badges so that the society may not lose the good opinion they have about them.
But Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and life, is humility personified. “Christ triumphed through humility”, writes St. Josemaria Escriva. Jesus is the Creator of all the alluring material things on this earth. He could have chosen to be born in the most expensive hospital on earth run by the best gynaecologist on earth. Instead, he chose to be born in a stable, a place where animals are kept. Can you imagine? Christ, the saviour of mankind, choosing to be born in a place where animals are kept. The Bible tells us that there was no place for him, his mother Mary and foster father Joseph in the inn. Reflect on this paradox; whereas there is room for the materially rich of this world; there is room for those clothed in fine apparels; there is room for every traveller who has travelled far and wide. But there is no room in the inn for the Creator of the universe. He was laid in a manger not in a golden bed. Animals not only witnessed his birth but surrounded him after his birth. Prior to his public life, he spent a gargantuan 30 years in obscurity working as a carpenter with St. Joseph, his foster father. For our salvation, he allowed himself to be arrested and crucified on an ignominious cross.
Following the exemplary humble life of Jesus, let us learn to be humble. We should reproduce Christ’s exemplary life in our individual lives. Jesus came to serve not to be served. He allowed himself to experience suffering, want and deprivation. In assuming human nature, he bore our burdens. Seeing the sufferings and distresses and deprivations and deaths of the people around him, he felt sad. He fed the hungry. He cured the blind, leper, the deaf and dumb and the infirm. Seeing the woman of Naim in tears for losing her son, he felt sorry for her and restored her son to life. Following the exemplary social concern of Jesus the Saviour, our political officeholders should bring light to the dark land; hope to the hopeless; justice to the oppressed and integrity to the wasteland. At the moment life seems to have lost its meaning in Nigeria. There is untrammelled hunger in the land. Our streets and alleyways are littered with many walking corpses whom we mistake as human beings. There is tension in the land. No peace in the hearts of many. We continue to live in fear; fear of our neighbours; fear of the air we breathe; fear of unknown gunmen; fear of our shadows and fear of our surroundings. There are many Nigerians who have refused to travel to their respective country homes and villages to celebrate Christmas for fear of being kidnapped. Others will be spending Christmas at the petrol stations trying to re-fuel their cars.
Therefore President Buhari should be reminded, perhaps for the umpteenth time, that protection of lives and property of the citizenry is his primary constitutional responsibility which he cannot contract out. In fact, if there is one Christmas gift Mr President can give to Nigerians this Christmas it is to protect their lives and property. It makes no sense that President Buhari is trotting the world and telling all who care to listen to him that he has done his best for Nigeria when in fact the country is now worse than he met it. When a government has failed to protect the lives and property of the citizenry it is an indication that the government has woefully failed.
At the individual level, we need a new humanism in Nigeria. President Buhari is not the cause of all our problems. Part of our main problem is the problem of political followership. As we speak, many Nigerian voters have been bought over by many fraudulent politicians. These fraudsters want to use them to try to rig the 2023 elections. Many of us do not love our fellow human beings. Therefore we must learn to see our neigbours as human beings not mere objects to be used to satisfy our selfish interests. The self-sacrificing service of Jesus, Mary and Joseph at first Christmas is a spur to us to be less self-centered and attend to the needs of our fellow men and women.
Now that we have reached the threshold to the 2023 elections, we should get our PVCs ready to vote for competent and credible political candidates of our choice. Don’t tell me you are waiting for the miracle of God to salvage Nigeria from the doldrums of failed political leadership and failed political followership. I know that God works miracles but God needs the cooperation of you and I in order to work his miracle in Nigeria. He wants us to get our PVCs and go out to vote on Election Day. God can only work his miracle in Nigeria if we shun election rigging, PVC buying and vote buying. God can only work his miracle in Nigeria in 2023 if we refrain from voting for the incapacitated and fraudulent presidential flag-bearer simply because he comes from our tribe. Therefore this Christmas calls for a deeper reflection. We must only cast our votes for morally-upright political candidates. We can no longer vote for “419” persons, imbeciles and thieves. And if our votes must count we must wait to defend them after voting on Election Day.
Christmas underlines the importance of the family in nation-building. The Nigerian crisis is also a crisis of failed parenting. Most of the increasing societal crimes today such as rape, incest, money ritual, juvenile kidnapping and so forth are symptoms of failed families. Therefore parents should rediscover their parental responsibilities this Christmas. Jesus was born into a family of Joseph and Mary. Everything in the Holy family of Jesus, Joseph and Mary bespeak family values of concern, service, dedication and altruism. The family is the nucleus of society. The family plays a vital role in the upbringing of a person. All the things that shape the life of an adult are what he/she learned from his family or from his parents in childhood. Any wonder the family has been dubbed as “the shaper of values”. The values, which the family institution imparts into the child eventually form the superstructure around which the child’s future behaviour will revolve. And for us in Africa and Nigeria, the family viewed from the historical and cultural context essentially doubles as the provider of those “social safety nets” which a person needs to grow up to become a responsible member of the society.
Finally, Christmastime is a time to regain our laughter and optimism. Everything may be collapsing; politics and politicians may be synonymous with hypocrisy; your bank account may be empty; you may be unemployed; your landlord may be chasing you to pay your house rent; you might have lost your loved ones; your means of livelihood might have been destroyed; you or a member of your family may be struck down by a fatal illness. But nothing is gained by giving in to despair and despondency. Don’t lose hope. Although we live in a sad world, do not lose your cheerfulness and sense of humour. Let me wipe away the tears from your eyes. Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, is born among us. Weep no more.
Merry Christmas
