'Jesus asks us to look up to him,' says Archbishop Ben
Dear FriendsThe last few days have been very difficult for the people of Plateau State. The actual massacre that took place in Dogo na Hauwa and its surrounding villages began with little rumours until they became a reality. Very sadly, this has given credence to rumours in an unacceptable manner. So it is that people can just start running simply because someone was chasing his goat with a stick and the whole community is thrown into turmoil because of the interpretation that different people may give to a man running with a stick in his hand. Worse still, there is an abundance of text messages making the rounds as to which community will next be attacked.
So people sleep - and I must say people hardly really do sleep – and wake up knowing that there are very brief hours in which to conduct business because of the curfew, and so everything is done in a rush, sometimes in fear and at other times acting out of panic. It is such an awful thing to live in a state of terror, with the fear of the unknown, the fear of what might happen next.
Jesus said: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32). The corollary to this passage is in Numbers 21:8: Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." The point is that whatever kind of human devastation, whether caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons etc. or by men, like that of Dogo na Hauwa, war, terrorism etc, there is a solution in Jesus. Jesus asks us to look up to him.
On Thursday 11th March the women came out in a peaceful demonstration mourning, weeping, wailing and crying out to the Lord. Something happened. Up in the skies, at noon, suddenly a ring of rainbow colours surrounded the sun. The news cameras caught it and suddenly the attention of the women was drawn to this extraordinary appearance, and they looked up.
When Archbishop Desmond Tutu developed from Scripture the idea of a Rainbow people, it materialized into the freedom of Mandela and the formation of the Truth Commission which brought healing to Southern Africa. The rainbow that appeared on Thursday is not an idea: it simply appeared. It appeared as it did to Noah as a sign of the covenant, to say:
"I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:13-17).
For us in Plateau State this sign is from God, and like Noah, it carries the same invitation that Jesus offers, “Look up . . .” It is in looking up that we find salvation, deliverance, healing, blessings and the full content of God's covenant with humanity. It is in looking up that we totally surrender and leave vengeance, judgement and justice to God. If we look down, we shall only find revenge, bitterness, anger, pain and an unending cycle of destruction, and in the end Satan alone is honoured and we ourselves are found to be agents of the devil. Jesus’ invitation to look up where he is lifted is exactly what Paul means when he says in Ephesians 1:20-21:
"God put this power to work in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come."
In Christ we have victory over the devil and all his works, which is why we have been saved and made partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel, so that we who hope in Christ might live our lives as forgiven sinners, endowed with the power to forgive through the work of the Holy Spirit, so that Christ might be praised and his glory set forth in the world. It is time to look up, not down. It is time to forgive, not to revenge. It is time to remember the sign he has given of his Son, Jesus Christ, and the sign he has further confirmed on us in Jos and Plateau State, by the rainbow ring around the sun.
This is a covenant moment with God and we will do well not to miss our opportunity by failing to look up, and to wait on God. Do not forget that this coming week (Lent 5) is Passion Week, when Jesus spoke these words. So let us now walk with Jesus in our own passion, knowing that his was more than ours, but that he is with us and will help us in our passion even though we were unable to help him with his passion.
The Lord be with you,
+The Most Rev. Dr. B. A. Kwashi Archbishop of Jos