“The Cross Of Love, Compassion And Submission!”(Lk.23:26-49).
It was a contradiction in terms when the colonial enterprise in Africa was seen by the colonialists as “the Whiteman’s burden.” This contradiction in terms is reflected in a picture where a thin African was almost suffocating under the weight of a huge whiteman on his back! Looking at the picture, the question is, “Who actually is burdened – the thin blackman or the huge whiteman representing the colonialist?
The colonial enterprise carried with it the concept of the 3 Cs, namely, civilisation, Christianisation, and commercialisation.
This 3c concept has worked negatively for Africa up to this day. Civilisation turned out to be a desecration and destruction of Africa’s rich cultural and philosophical heritage and the imposition of Western culture and ungodly philosophy. Commercialisation meant the slave trade, the extractive looting of Africa’s resources in return for cheap looking glasses and other toys like guns, etc. And since old patterns die hard, the warped conscience Africans have continued to depend on those guns to kill each other to the advantage of continuing colonialism in the guise of neocolonialism!
Sad to say that Christianisation meant the introduction of a western kind of cerebral Christianity that had been robbed of its gospel spirituality.
The worst of it is that Christianity became a subtle tool used in achieving and consolidating the gains of the first two Cs.
Jesus taught that whoever is his disciples should carry his cross and follow him(Jesus). But as it is, on his journey to the cross, “they seized Simon from Cyrene… and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.”
Simon from Cyrene deserved at least a kind word of gratitude from the Lord Jesus Christ for easing his load at that crucial moment of need.
Africa is not the dark continent that she is called. Africa’s role in the salvation story is positively glaring and indisputable. The life of baby Jesus was spared because they took asylum in Egypt. The same hospitable Egypt that accommodated the Jews for 400 years before the exodus. Africa has been so welcoming that a foreigner was made second-in-command to Pharaoh. Lord Jesus Christ, look with piteous and compassionate eyes upon your children.
After Simon of Cyrene had been forced to help Jesus, the next people to show him love were the “women who mourned and wailed fir him.” Even so, in his pain and anguish, he comforted them by asking them not to were for him, but for themselves and their children because worst days were yet to come.
Of the seven times that Jesus spoke while on the cross, three of them are found in this text:
- Concerning those who crucified him, he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
- To the thief who spoke kind words to him as they were on their crosses, he said, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
- And lastly, before he breathed his last, he “called out in a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.'”
The Lord Jesus Christ deserved the resurrection because even on the cross, he showed love and compassion for those who believed in him and total submission to his Father.
Dear friend, when Jesus breathed his last, “the centurion, seeing what had happened praised God and said, ‘Surely this was a righteous man'” Ironically, “all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching those things.”
My friend, at the foot of the cross, are you the centurion or those fair weather friends of Jesus who stand at a distance and watch?
Good Friday, prayer: Holy Spirit, strengthen us so that learning from the Lord we too should show love and compassion to each other, and submit completely to the will of God. Amen!
Have a blessed Good Friday! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.
18/04/2025.