Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 4-6; Matthew 2:1-22
The Return of Christianity: Restoring God’s Fatherhood of Humanity
When one sees the number of church structures and church goers in the southern half of the geographic location called Nigeria, one is full of praises and admiration for the legacies of all Christian missionaries who brought Christianity to Africa in general, and Nigeria in particular. The missionary enterprises of the past leave behind them solid and visible vestiges of their passage on the terrains of Nigeria – visible church and school structures. These vestiges, I dare say, are virtually becoming effigies of Christian past, although they are not relics yet. This last statement needs explanation, and to it I’ll return presently.
Missionaries built schools, hospitals and started businesses for Nigerians towards an economically viable Nigeria, despite the colonial politics of economic exploitation and economic drain of Nigeria. Confessional schools within the country were citadels of enviable moral and academic excellence. There was something like work ethic and discipline. There was something like the fear of the Lord, the knowledge of the Lord, and respect of teachers and parents. In fact, to be a teacher or parent was the in-thing. The roles of lawyers were celebrated, elders and old people were repositories of wisdom and respectability, not to say models looked upon with awe. Despite all, there was a semblance of a land flowing with milk and honey, epitomized in the oil boom – that was my Nigeria!
Where is my Nigeria today? Where is my land flowing with milk and honey, when one Naira was two American Dollars? When jobs and car loans awaited university graduates, and Nigerians were proud of their green passport and motherland? When school uniforms were harbingers of a great future, and medical facilities were at the beck and call of Nigerians? Yes, confessional schools were taken away, under Christian watch, micro-mini skirts replaced uniforms, greedy politicians replaced our colonial masters, sexual predators took over schools and pulpits, shameless old-age becomes a repository of lies and cover ups, leadership is now thievery and patriotism means the singing of national anthem by economic vampires turned ex-presidential choristers and choir-band. This is the effigy I now see, which I described above.
Oh yes, today is Epiphany – the public manifestation of God, when we celebrate the fact that God is the God of all peoples; that Nigerians got it wrong when they ingrain it in their psychic that “I better pass my neighbour,” the Nigerian equivalent of homophobia and economic discrimination. You know what, Christianity is a way of life and not a set of rules and regulations! To be a Christian is to live like Christ, not just talk about him to others. Indeed, Epiphany is the public manifestation of God, and an opportunity to show the whole world that we are all sons and daughters of God irrespective of racial, linguistic, gender and economic differences.
If today’s first reading comes from Isaiah 60, there is a reason for that – Israelites were no longer in the Promised Land, where milk and honey flowed; they were in exile in Babylon, like the many Nigerians who fled their homeland of milk and honey and preferred slavery abroad – United States, Canada, United Kingdom, etc. Isaiah 60 is a roadmap toward identity recovery – the return of God or the installation of God among his children Israel. For us today, it is the return of Christianity to the Nigerian effigies of our missionary foundation. This is only achievable by the restoration of a solid moral and spiritual principles, guided by Christian practices. It is not the singing of national anthem by past looter-presidents, as we see in Nigeria, but the kind of restoration and repentance exemplified by Zaccheus, who gave back fourfold of what he stole to the poor. Let the singers of patriotism freely return stolen wealth to national treasuries without the roguish intervention of EFCC. The idea of Isaiah 60 is that of revised exiled or, in the Nigerian context, it is the Nigeria-must-Return, instead of Ghana-must-go!
As a matter of fact, Israel died after the Babylonian Captivity and she needed to be reinvented, just as Israel was reinvented again in 1948. Nigeria and the whole world need just that kind of re-invention today. The irresponsible elders, thieving political class, collapsed academic system, kleptomaniac church leadership, marauding youth and harlotry womanhood, we all need identity change; only then can we celebrate the epiphany – the public manifestation of God among his people. The decay seen in every sector and the moral stench oozing out of irresponsible living are indicators that Nigeria is in exile and that authentic, not church-goer, Christians are in short supply.
Perhaps a point not to overlook on this Epiphany day is the fact that God meets people where they are. The Scripture of Israel contains the revelation of God to them, the fact that God’s knowledge was not wanting among them. Today’s gospel makes that much evident – Herod assembles the teachers of Israel to inquire of them about the veracity and locus of the birth of the child-King. The response he gets agrees with that of the Magi, even though Nature – a guiding star – and knowledge of astronomy, was the GPS that leaded the Magi to God. Here, the knowledge of nature and Scripture are guides to God. In other words, a Nigerian does not need to become American to enjoy “exceptionalism”; a return to Nigeria flowing with milk and honey suffices, through the adoption of a lifestyle which exudes virtues. Traditional values of honesty, moral rectitude, disciple, responsibility, fidelity, are universal values not limited to any religion. The practice of virtues is what saves, not just the knowledge of virtues.
If God meets people where they are, meaning that God supplies the wherewithal for salvation for people where they live, they too should meet God halfway. In order to possess the knowledge of God, studies of Scripture and nature are indispensable. The advise of Paul, in the second reading, is instructive in this regard. God takes the initiative to make all humanity realize its common identity as children of God. However, do we live as his children or slaves and aliens to God? Irrespective of our religious creeds, Pope Francis argues in Laudato Si that the planet earth is a common home to all the living upon it. In other words, the responsibility to care for the earth was not based, at creation, on particular creeds but on the basis of humanity and human responsibility. Paul calls it a mystery, something God reveals so that the knowledge of the mystery of God may shape human behaviour.
The two paths available to human beings, faced with the knowledge of God’s mystery, are the two paths depicted by the Magi and Herod. While the Magi used their knowledge of God’s mystery positively, Herod attempted to frustrate God’s plan, the consequences of which led to the killing of many innocent children. More importantly, Herod’s life ended in a tragedy, which he brought upon himself. This simply means that every knowledge is useless without praxis. If we must experience the return of God among his people, the restoration of lands flowing with milk and honey, we must imitate the Magi and Paul. Paul became an apostle to the Gentiles because he wanted them to profit from their new identity, which they were not aware of. Paul became a missionary to make known to non-Jews that they too are children of God. Likewise, the Magi took back the good news of salvation to their countries, after meeting the child-King.
The milk and honey flowing in every land dries up, and the inhabitants of such a place go into exile for want of the knowledge of God’s mystery because authentic preachers of the right thing to do in God’s services are wanting. The first step towards a “return exile” or restoration is the provision or availability of missionaries/Christians announcing the power of virtue and the fragrance of knowledge. According to our gospel reading, the Magi returned home rejoicing and praising God because their knowledge of the mystery of God stood them in good stead. As for Herod, his anguish only started because he felt betrayed.
Assignment of the Week:
All week long, speak out about the benefits of a virtuous life in order to make Christianity great.