CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS AMID ECONOMIC DISTRESS

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, our Messiah, who was part human and part divine. He was born more than two thousand years ago of lowly parentage. His father being a carpenter; and the mother, the virgin Mary. His birth was called the immaculate conception. And Christ, whose teachings revolutionized the world, is reputed to be the founder of Christianity. 

Christianity is one of the religions in the world. But we have other religions such as Taoism, Hinduism, Bhudism, Confucianism, Shintoism, African Traditional Religion, Islam, and others. These religions each have their teachings. And, they have their festivals, which their adherents celebrate. 

But it is said that Christmas is the most widely celebrated religious festival in our today’s world. Truly, it is not only in the Christendom that Christmas is celebrated. Christmas is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians in many countries of the world, starting from such far country as Australia to China, and from Ghana to America. The fact that non-Christians participate in the celebration of the Christian festival called Christmas makes Christmas a unique and revered religious festival. 

But Jesus Christ, whose birthday we celebrate on every December 25, deserves the great honour that is accorded to Him in each year. Not only was he great a teacher, but he was also a miracle-worker. It is recorded in the New Testament of the Bible that He stilled tempestuous waters, walked on water, fed 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, healed the sick, and raised people from the dead. 

Jesus Christ, a great religious figure, who walked the earth more than 2000 years ago, was able to perform those miracles and extra-ordinary deeds because he was part human and part divine. Christ’s immaculate conception and nativity story underline His divinity or divine nature. 

His earthly parents, Joseph, a carpenter and Virgin Mary had no coitus before Jesus Christ was conceived in Mary’s womb. In fact, Joseph was contemplating putting her away when an angel of the Lord appeared to him and advised him not to take that course of action. 

Jesus Christ’s birth was foretold long before His birth. He is one of the triune God, that is, God the father, God the son, and God the holy spirit. Jesus Christ was the son of God, who took human form and incarnated on earth to become a ransom for our sins. So it is said that whosoever that believes in Him, confesses his or her sins, and exercises faith in Him shall inherit the kingdom of God. 

While on earth, Jesus Christ’s teachings riled the earthly rulers and irked them to no end. His revolutionary teachings sought to overturn the existent laws on earth, then. His religious iconoclasm was one of the reasons he was impaled on the cross and crucified. But he rose from the dead on the third day of His death and ascended into heaven. 

Though he died more than 2000 years ago, His teachings, especially the ones that centre on love, have found resonance among millions of people that profess the Christian faith. It should be noted that the doctrinal base of Jesus Christ’s teachings and sermons is love. 

But love or charity is a very scarce commodity on earth now. A majority of people are unfeeling; and they are not their brothers keepers. Here, now, in Nigeria, people do not set store by the virtue of love, anymore. For example, it is not love that motivates or impels Nigerians to become insurgents, bandits, and terrorists, who embark on the execution of homicidal deeds to achieve their ethnic and theocratic goals. And it is not love that actuates kidnappers, who abduct well-heeled Nigerians for ransom. 

More so, our political leaders, who loot our public treasuries, thereby impoverishing us do not abide by Christ’s teaching on love. It is ironic that some looters of our financial tills and wreckers of Nigeria are ardent Christians, who bear such Christian names as Joseph, Michael, Stephen, Peter, John, and others.

While the thieving plutocrats and oligarchs, who occupy exalted political positions in Nigeria, will celebrate the Christmas festival in a lavish, extravagant, and profligate way, millions of other Nigerians will go to bed on empty stomachs on that day. Those impoverished Nigerians, who walk in stocking feet and scavenge in the refuse dumps do not bask in the euphoria of the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. They have become the flotsam and jetsam of our country, and the rejects of the earth through no faults of theirs.  

It is against this background of excruciating poverty and security challenges in Nigeria and our milieu of lovelessness that Nigerians will mark the birthday of Jesus Christ, our redeemer, saviour, and Lord. It is obvious to us, saddening, and lamantable that Christ’s teaching on love is lost on us. Do we abide by His lofty teachings on love? 

The non-existence of love among us calls for sober reflection. But it is the path we should follow so as to become morally equipped for the task of nation-building. Once we imbibe Christ’s teachings covering diverse areas and start abiding and living by them, Nigeria will become a better place in which to live. 

Only then can we sincerely mark Christ’s birthday; otherwise, our celebration of Christmas will be an exercise in hypocrisy since we have jettisoned His teachings, especially the ones on love. 

Chiedu Uche Okoye,

Uruowulu-Obosi

Anambra State