WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua
On Monday April 14, 2014, many
people got up from bed very early in the morning, prayed, had breakfast and
prepared for work. They proceeded to begin their various business of the day.
They did not want to go late to work so they were at the Nyanya park early
enough to catch a bus to their different places of work. Some drove in their
private cars without a clue that they will never again see their offices and
places of work. They would have been beaming with hope, one could imagine!
Perhaps they expected good news for the day.
For Christians, the day before
was Palm Sunday, so they were filled with joyful anticipation of the Holy Week,
which marks the beginning of the Easter celebrations after celebrating the
triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday singing,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest heaven" (Matthew 21, 9)!
All these innocent souls did not know that after the Palm Sunday of 13th April
2014, they would not sing that song on earth again. They did not know that
while they were singing “Hosanna”, those who have refused the light and chosen
darkness had concluded their plans to send them to the life beyond akin to that
of those who shouted “crucify him, away with him” in the trial of Jesus of
Nazareth. They celebrated the Good Friday on a Monday with their blood! May
Christ receive them into his Kingdom!
I watched the Palm Sunday events
from different Churches on the television. At intervals the media also reported
the words of encouragements from the Sultan of Sokoto and the Vice President of
Nigeria. The Sultan confidently told Nigerians that those who say that there is
an attempt to Islamize Nigeria are enemies of Nigeria. The Vice President
announced that the criminals who are using religion to terrorise Nigeria and
Nigerians would soon be brought to book. I wonder how they would be feeling now
about the ugly tragedy of the Monday, April 14, 2014. Now that the killers have
moved to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, with different planks
marked, “Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5” discovered at the scene of the
bomb blast in Nyanya, what next will the Elders State Men and Women do to stop
them from executing he remaining days?
Women came out to protest against
those who planted and detonated the bombs. The tears of these women like
drizzling rain could not be stopped, not even by the visit of the President of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Who will replenish the tear glands that have
been exhausted with weeping over the death of these innocent Nigerians? Each
time there is explosion, the people hear from the Government, what has become
the mantra: “we are on top of the situation!" Then the terrorists respond
with another worse terrorist act. When shall we get down “from the top of the
situation” to the bottom and put a final stop to the scourge and carnage of
these terrorist acts? Where do we go from here? Perhaps our government needs to
let the people know.
If something is stolen in a room
where five people are living, each person in that room remain a suspect until
the real thief is found. Until the day Nigerians will know who these terrorists
and their sponsors are, accusing fingers will continue to point at different
persons and institutions. Until we know the real terrorists, the argument that
"Boko Haram" has killed more Muslims, Christians, Pagans or atheists
would remain a verbose gibberish. One of the commentators on the Nyanya bomb
blast of Monday April 14, 2014 in AIT and NTA said, “It has become normal to
see figures of dead people in the front pages of our newspapers during
terrorist attacks, no body talks about the personalities anymore”. The identity
of the innocent human beings who are being killed in the name of a “god” of
"terrorists" matters no more. This blood sucking “god” is very
wicked and must be stopped.
I remember what my uncle used to
say to us when we were growing up. “Should any of you turn a criminal, he
should stop using the family name! It is better you die than to spoil the good
name of our family!” Later in life, that the Church excommunicates heretics who
would not return to the true teaching of the Church would make sense to me.
People are really tired of the definition of the religious identity of these
terrorist. A Muslim told me sometime ago that he was in a place with a group of
people; he discovered all of a sudden that every body left him. Perhaps they
were afraid of him because he wore a long beard. He continued, “I am just thinking
that the Muslim community should really take action against these terrorists
before they spoil the name of Islam. We say they are not Muslims, yet they
insist that they are. It is time for us to have a retrospect and see if we can
identify where and when we got it wrong.” He was troubled and wondered why the
terrorists claimed to be Muslims who are fighting a jihad whereas what they are
doing is far from the teaching of Islam. He felt very sad, but with a kind of
optimism that there is a lot the good and orthodox Muslims can do to save the
name of Islam from “these bad Muslims”. We must work together as concerned
Nigerians to stop this carnage.
The attack on holy places at holy
seasons appears to be a trade mark for the terrorists. The Holy Week is the
most sacred week for Christians. It is a period when all the Christians pray to
God. Jesus Christ reveals God as love, merciful and full of compassion. The
Holy Week is a period Christians celebrate the God of Mercy. What makes the
Holy Week sacred? The Holy Week is Sacred because the passion of the Redeemer
is re-enacted. Jesus was scourged, crowned with thorns, bore the weight of the
heavy cross, crucified and died on the cross on Good Friday; and on Easter
Sunday we celebrate the victory over death as we witness and proclaim, “Jesus
is risen indeed, alleluia”! This is our faith, the faith of every Christian.
Without the passion, death and resurrection, there is no Christianity. May the
fact that death is the lot of all and eternal life for those who have faith in
God be a consolation to all who mourn their loved ones in this Holy season. We
believe the words of Jesus our Saviour: “Blessed are they that mourn: for they
shall be comforted” (Matthew 5, 4).
Consoling another who is bereaved
May be easy but when we are bereaved, the pain of the cross becomes obvious.
However, we should remember that the Cross is not an end in itself. Every cross
that is accepted in faith leads to glory even though the cross does not make
sense to some people. St. Paul told the Corinthians, “The message of the cross
is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are on the road to
salvation it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1, 18). In 1979, Pope John
Paul II published a book, (Carol Wotyla, Sign
of Contradiction, Seabury Press, 1979) to show the mystery of Jesus Christ
who died to save us. The cross looks like a contradiction but it is the way
that leads to true peace. The life and message of Jesus Christ shows the power
of God that is demonstrated in the resurrection (Romans 1, 20). Jesus came that
we might have abundant life (John 10, 10). He raised Lazarus (John11, 1-43) and
the widow of Nain's son (Luke 7, 11-16) to show that he has the answer to every
life situation.
Do these reflections mean that we
should continue to be slaughtered on a daily basis? Where do we go from here?
The point for all believers, especially Christians in this Holy Week is that we
should not allow these enemies of human life to prevent us from celebrating the
resurrection. This is our Easter! Let nothing separate us from the love of
Christ (Romans 8, 36). Happy Easter!
