Christmas and the Nigerian condition (I)

The annual celebration of Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race. For this reason, Christmas is not an exclusive Christian celebration, even though it has its deepest resonance in Christianity. Jesus came for the whole of humanity, including those who do not know Him or acknowledge Him. His birth was prophesied many centuries before He came and the circumstances of His birth were already well known to ancient historians, prophets, priests, kings, and commoners. On account of His birth, some Wise Men journeyed from a distant land to find Him under the guidance of a Star – a sign that even the world of astrology was already familiar with the prophecies of His birth (cf. Matt. 2:1-12). As Christians today, we run the risk of trivialising Christmas because of its annual recurrence. The maxim that “familiarity breeds contempt” can have its impact on our attitude towards Christmas, unless we make conscious effort to make each Christmas matter. In spite of its annual commemoration, every Christmas speaks to us anew with its freshness, originality, and depth. We only need to apprehend this event with new eyes.

Over time, many Christians have engaged in a war on whether to say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.” Some Christians see the option of “Happy Holidays” as a deliberate ploy by anti-Christian secular forces to subvert the intrinsic religious meaning of Christmas. In a startling new response to this ‘war’ on Christmas, Jesuit Father Kevin O’Brien, Dean of the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University in California, notes that the debate can sometimes be a real distraction: “I don’t think Jesus would care much about whether we say ‘Merry Christmas’ or not, because he was not concerned about promoting himself, but promoting what he called ‘the reign of God.’ This reign – this community of justice, peace and love – that, to him, was more important than any title for himself.” Father O’Brien adds that, “more important than just saying ‘merry Christmas’ is to live it. That is, to live as Jesus did, to live a life of simplicity, a life of generosity, a life of service, a life of welcome and hospitality to others.” This is indeed what the conversation should be about.

For us Nigerians, as it is for citizens of the world, Christmas is a time to re-live the memory of the greatest event in human history, God becoming man (cf. Jn. 1:14). Although the teaching that God became a human being is an exclusive prerogative of Christian faith (since no other world religion believes that God ever became man), many other religious believers nonetheless accept that something remarkable happened in history with the birth of the greatest biblical personage, Jesus of Nazareth. This offers us a common ground for promoting the values and ethos that Jesus Himself stood for while he lived amongst us on earth: the values of love, truth, honesty, justice, equity, compassion, humility, modesty, sobriety, frugality, and sacrifice. These are the values that make for a meaningful life; they are also the values that promote social good. But sadly, these values are the missing ingredients in our quest to build a Nigerian society that is inclusive, just, and fair to everyone. Celebrating Christmas thus offers us a new opportunity to renew our commitment to these values that cut across all religions and cultures.

In the social, political, economic, and religious circumstances that we have found ourselves today as Nigerians, the event of Christmas speaks to us anew. Across many frontiers of our national life, things are not just working. The hopes that many Nigerians had in the present government have been dashed and whittled away by abysmally poor leadership that seems helpless in fashioning our ways to resolve our many national conundrums, from poverty, hunger, starvation, and joblessness to corruption, insecurity, and lawlessness. Millions of Nigerians today are living under the vale of tears, with no hope for light at the end of the tunnel. It would seem that every new day brings harsher realities to their lives than the previous day. The ineptitude of government and the lack of a clear agenda of social transformation are remarkably evident everywhere. Nigerians are still dying today from trivial illnesses that the rest of the world conquered many decades ago, even as high profile public officials resort to appropriating public funds for their medical treatment abroad. The brazen stealing of public resources has only assumed a new magnitude with the so-called war against corruption.

At no other time in our national life do we find a people so polarised and divided on the basis of ethnicity and religion than now. The rise of new forms of social restiveness among young people is only a symptom of a larger national malaise: the epidemic of hopelessness and helplessness that is blighting the fortunes and future of Nigeria’s young but jobless generation.

All across the country, the nozzles of our national life are spewing forth blood and tears on a daily basis as kidnappers, armed herdsmen, terrorists, and daredevil robbers continue to amuse themselves with the blood of innocent Nigerians. The reality of today is that merchants of death are decimating human lives in unimaginable proportions and government is doing nothing to the criminals. The daily carnage on our roads has also numbed our sensibilities. Nothing seems to shock Nigerians anymore!

In the midst of these challenges, what does Christmas mean? I shall draw out five lessons. First, God sent his Son, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, because humanity was in disarray after the Fall of Adam. At that time, things were not really working well too. When God created the world, He found it very good (cf. Gen. 1). But in the meantime, human wickedness and corruption had tainted and polluted God’s creation. Humanity was helpless to save itself. So God needed to send His Son the Redeemer to come to our rescue. This is a message of hope and a powerful encouragement to us that God is not yet done with us; He has not abandoned us to the centrifugal forces of darkness threatening to tear us apart. He is Emmanuel, God-is-with-us (cf. Matt. 1:23). As St Peter says, “We await His promise of  new heavens and a new earth, where justice and righteousness shall dwell” (cf. 2 Pet. 3:13).

Ojeifo is a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja