The true lessons of Easter

As Nigerian Christians join their counterparts in the Christendom to celebrate Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ after crucifixion and burial over 2,000 years ago, they should do so in moderation and in  sober reflection of the security, economic and infrastructural challenges confronting the country and offer special supplication for divine intervention.

 

Unlike what transpired during the festival in the past two years when the COVID-19 pandemic had its huge toll on the human race followed by governments’ appropriate response through imposition of restrictions on movements and large gathering including churches to deal with the disease, the good news is that this year’s observance comes with unfettered freedom for adherents to fully mark the occasion and practice their faith.

 

We, therefore, implore Christians to be mindful of not only the significance of Easter but reflect deeply on its lessons among which is a new beginning and renewal of their spiritual life journey to eternal salvation with a view to impacting very positively the larger society in their private and public conduct. Therefore, they should celebrate moderately still observing the coronavirus protocols.

 

Easter to the faithful, represents Jesus Christ’s overwhelming spiritual victory over death heralded by His sorrowful passion while His resurrection means the eternal life that is granted to genuine believers after their passing as well as full confirmation of the messiah’s teaching during His ministry on earth.

 

Significantly, to faithful, Christianity had its roots in the resurrection as Judaism the predominant religion of the Jews prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, could perhaps have prevailed globally if He had not risen from the dead but simply died and not been resurrected.

 

Therefore, at best, Jesus would have been celebrated as just another teacher or prophet like the major ones before him who were reputable pious men of God, healing the sick and performing many great miracles. In other words, in our view, His resurrection cleared all doubts and serve as impeccable evidence that He was actually the Son of God who suffered death on the cross and overcome it for the salvation of believers. It is also the central theme of the Christian gospel.

 

This is further corroborated by Saint Paul who, in the scriptures, notes that: “If Christ is not raised from the dead, then our preaching and hope are in vain (1 Corithians 15:14) as well as in the book of St. John 20:19, that “Certainly, without the resurrection, there would be no Christian preaching or faith. The apostles of Christ would have continued as the disheartened group which the Gospel of John depicts being in hiding for fear of the Jews. They were in total despair until they met the risen Christ”. Easter, no doubt, q further evokes in faithful and even unbelievers the resilience of the human spirit not to give up in the face of seemingly daunting challenges of life as exemplified by Jesus.

 

Before the glorious dawn, believers had embarked on 40 days of lent which entailed fasting, prayers, alms giving, penance, abstinence and were expected to have experienced spiritual rebirth and reconnect fully with their Creator by obeying His commandments. The Lenten season had climaxed in the last 72 hours beginning with the Holy Thursday, Good Friday (when Jesus was crucified) and Holy Saturday preceding Easter or Resurrection Sunday, the foundation of Christianity.

 

Having paid the supreme price for the redemption of mankind, we challenge Christians in particular and Nigerians in general to imbibe the big lessons from the exceptional virtues demonstrated by Jesus in seeking concrete and genuine solutions to the myriads of challenges threatening the existence of the country.

 

Specifically, we strongly charge the citizenry to emulate such attributes as sacrifice, humility, love, faith, obedience, truthfulness, tolerance, selflessness and endurance exhibited by Christ during his remarkable ministry on earth even as governments should intensify efforts at ameliorating excruciating suffering in the land.

 

Such attitudinal change has become imperative considering worsening insecurity across the country that manifests daily through insurgency, terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, cultism and violent crimes. And following reported killings of hundreds of defenceless citizens and the government’s apparent inability to contain the rampaging criminals, a total spiritual rebirth by the faithful at this season is also required coupled with volunteering intelligence information on the movement of the murderers to security agencies to address the massacre.

 

Again, it should be noted that closely related to these heinous crimes against humanity are the problems of hunger, poverty, unemployment, decaying public infrastructure, epileptic electricity supply, dwindling purchasing power of citizens induced by spiraling inflation which is pushing even food items outside the reach of the ordinary Nigerian and general hardship nationwide.

 

In our view also, this year’s Easter, which comes ahead of the 2023 general elections should be used by Christians to offer fervent prayers for the emergence of honest and God-fearing leaders with the welfare and greater good of the majority uppermost in their heart. Aspirants and the eventual candidates to be fielded by the political parties must also imbibe the spirit of fairness and sportsmanship during, before and after the forthcoming polls and shouldn’t see politics as a do-or-die affair but a game of numbers where a winner must emerge and losers stand the chance of winning in future.

 

We further challenge the Federal Government not to leave any stone unturned in catering for the financial, manpower and logistics needs of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to enable it conduct free, fair and credible elections where every vote will count and be counted. The electorate should similarly view the INEC staff as committed patriots on national assignment for the good of the country and not as sacrificial lambs to be slaughtered at the slightest provocation.

 

Similarly, on their part, the electoral staff must shun all forms of malfeasance capable of compromising the contest and elicit negative or even violent reactions from the people. They must not allow themselves to be willing tools in the hands of unscrupulous politicians who are bent on winning elections at all cost and disrupting the process even as we challenge the Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu-led INEC not to let Nigerians down but serving as unbiased umpire as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act.

 

In view of the current suffering in the land,  it is our position also that public office holders at levels in the spirit of the season should use the joyous occasion of Easter rededicate themselves to selfless service to fatherland by implementing provisions of the 2022 budgets at the federal, state and local government levels with integrity and accountability in order to alleviate the heavy burden on the people.

 

A situation whereby members of the ruling class including representatives of the people in the legislative arm of government who, ought to be seen as true servant leaders are seen swimming in affluence while the masses are enjoined to embrace belt-tightening in form of austerity measures should be totally rejected.

 

We further demand that both the Federal Government and striking lecturers under the umbrella of Academic Staff Union of

Universities, ASUU,  should immediately resume dialogue with a view to finding a permanent solution to incessant industrial actions that had become the lot of public universities in the country. This is in the interest of all Nigerians as no nation should jeopardize the academic pursuit of her youths who are the leaders of tomorrow.

 

And considering the primacy of peaceful atmosphere, law and order to the continued existence, unity and stability of the nation, in addition to her socio-economic and technological advancement, it has become expedient for the citizenry to fully support the government, the Armed Forces and the Nigeria Police Force in the ongoing war against criminality by promptly informing the appropriate authorities of their nefarious activities and hideouts since they are humans and not spirits.

 

Similar, due to the endless killings of armless citizens by these murderers, we implore all faithful to offer special supplication to God in their various churches for divine intervention in the growing security challenges and economic woes while policemen should provide tight security along the highways for people travelling to parts of the country to celebrate the occasion with their loved ones.

 

To this end also, though we are encouraged by President Muhammadu Buhari’s admonition that Nigerians should be emboldened that the current spate of uncertainty and insecurity in the land which had claimed hundreds of innocent lives will soon herald a season of triumph of good over evil; hope over despair, and light over darkness, the Federal Government should as matter of national emergency not hesitate to seek help from other countries in fighting the terrorists.

 

The President’s charge also in the Easter message that people should “increase our love for one another rather than hate, and show more patriotism, as this is the only country we have”, and “to live out the eternal words of Jesus Christ on the cross: ‘‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing’’ and shun all vices, must also be taken seriously by all for the common good.

 

Above all, we believe that public office holders at all levels of government should in the spirit of Easter begin to lead by example especially living out what they preach and embracing a new era of probity and accountability in the public space, shun bribery and corruption, making integrity and good governance their watchwords and ever conscious of the Christ’s injunction that ‘What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and loses his own soul’. It’s only by so doing that they can be viewed to have fully imbibed the true lessons of Easter.

We wish our numerous Christian readers happy Easter celebration.

 

For a better society