The usual controversy that surrounds Jesus Christ during this period of the year is whether or not He was born on Christmas Day. There are religious sects and scholars who posit that Jesus could not have been born in December but somewhere in October or November. He was born all the same – and that is all that is important! Other controversies over His Divinity; whether or not He married and raised children; and whether or not He died on the Cross, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven will take, for many, His second coming to dispel or confirm! However, none of these is our pre-occupation here today. For me, apostle Paul laid all controversies to rest when he posited that while we are yet in this mortal frame and on this earthly plane, we can only know in part and prophesy in part; until we shed mortality for immortality and the corruptible for incorruptible (1 Corinthians 13: 9, 10, 12). The snag, however, is: If anyone waits until he gets there to find out which is which, it might be too late to engage the reverse gear if a need for it becomes desirable!

The other day, someone said relying on scriptures alone to convince believers and unbelievers alike will often hit a brick wall. And my mind went back to those days when the Jehovah Witness people would visit me at home and we would trade tackles from morning till evening. As they quoted one scripture after another, I countered with quotes from Marxism textbooks and the fiery speeches of Marxist heroes – Karl Marx, Frederich Engels, V. I. Lenin, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Mao Tse-tung, Amilcar Cabral, among others. It is madness for anyone to think that the Holy Bible will contradict Jesus. (Mark 3: 22 – 27). Those Jehovah Witness guys  were stunned to learn that the Church not only endorsed the criminal and inhuman enterprise called the Slave Trade but also provided justification and philosophical underpinning for it! Between that disclosure and Marx’s statement that religion is “the opium of the people”, you can imagine which enraged them more!

But both statements are the truth! The Roman Catholic Church defined the black man as chattel and three-fifth human who, therefore, could be traded as mere commodity or cargo; and who could be bought and sold like common goods or articles of trade, devoid of the same rights as a normal or full-blooded human being! And they found a way of smuggling that into the bible (Ephesians 6: 1). From then up till now, religion has been used as an opium to conquer and subjugate people through colonial rule, neo-colonialism and the modern slavery called capitalism masquerading variously as democracy, free trade and globalization. This must be why Marxists generally are atheists – but they make a costly mistake! Marxism and Christianity are not mutually exclusive; in fact, I submit that they are not only complementary, Christianity was also the forerunner of Marxism. Any follower of Christ with no Marxist inclination does not understand what he or she believes in or practises. Similarly, any Marxist who detests Christianity drives a very potent ally into the arms of the enemy.  Christianity (the variant called Liberation Theology) can be a potent liberating force, which Jesus Christ himself exemplified.

There was no way Jesus could have been a capitalist. He was not from the privileged class; his earthly parents were not tax collectors, publicans, Pharisees or Saduccess. The earthly father of the only begotten Son of God was a lowly carpenter and carpentry was not a respectable and upper class profession in those days (John 6: 42). It would appear as if God’s pattern throughout scriptures is to favour the underdogs – Moses, Jacob, Leah, David, Esther (1 Corinthians 1: 27). Joseph and his wife (just imagine the social status of a girl that would marry a carpenter!) could qualify as those that we describe as multi-dimensionally or desperately poor in today’s Nigeria. When their “baby” was to be born, they could not procure the services of the best hospitals or inns or reserve a suite in a five-star hotel! The Saviour of the world was born in a manger! So, Jesus was from a very poor family background and he never made any effort to transcend it, although he had opportunities to do so. This is where he differs significantly from many of the Christian fathers of today who claim to follow in the footsteps of Jesus but who, once the opportunity presents itself, jettison their old social status and class and climb up the stairs to join the class of the nouveau riche while abandoning the masses to their fate.

Jesus was also not a conservative element; rather, he was a fire-spitting and fire-eating radical (Matthew 12: 34 – 35). Jesus railed against the oppression of his own time. He did not mince words but called a spade a spade (Matthew 23:4). Jesus did not accumulate earthly riches like the Christian fathers (and mothers) of today (Luke 3: 11).. If Jesus were to repeat the same advice he gave the young, rich ruler (Luke 12: 18 – 23) to Nigeria’s Christian leaders today, how many would comply?

Jesus had biological sisters and brothers; four of them (James, Joses or Joseph, Judas or Jude, and Simon) were male but none of them inherited his ministry. Rather, the mantle of leadership fell on Simon “Peter” Bar-Jonah (Matthew 18: 18). Many Church fathers who claim to follow Jesus have only leveraged religion (as an opium, to quote Karl Marx) to build vast business empires for themselves and their families. We can count Church fathers who died and their families inherited the church and its vast business and financial empire. Jesus never did that. The only inheritance Jesus handed over – and this to everyone and not to his family alone – was salvation and the gift of eternal life.

From cradle to the grave, Jesus was a radical who railed against the privileges of the upper class and made his home with the homeless and the poor (Luke 9: 58). Compare this to the palatial residences of today’s Church fathers! Jesus went against the established order (Matthew 12: 1-2). He went in to sinners (Matthew 9: 10 – 13). How many of today’s Church fathers can eat the kind of food that the poor eat? They will suffer food poisoning and stomach upset instanta! Jesus was not puffed up; had no airs and did not carry his shoulders heavens’ high. Jesus was the human rights activist of his own time. He was the defender of the defenceless. He was the voice of the voiceless. Unfortunately, as it is in our own time, so it was in Jesus’s own time: the same people he fought for were those who sided with the rulers to betray him. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not…(John 1: 11 – 13).

There are so many bible quotations that resonated with me as a fresh convert because I had memorised similar quotes in my Marxism days at the university. Paul said in Romans 8: 38 -39: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor  height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” Fidel Castro said in his allocutus (In “History Will Absolve Me”): “The fact is, when men carry the same ideals in their hearts, nothing can keep them isolated: neither walls of prisons nor the sod of cemeteries. For a single memory, a single spirit, a single idea, a single conscience, a single dignity will sustain them all”. Che Guevara left us with these immortal words: “Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms”. Paul said: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galataians 2: 20). In Philippians 2: 22 he adds: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”

When Comrade Nelson Mandela was offered conditional freedom to renounce the struggle of his people, his response was: “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die” When Peter and the other disciples of Jesus were offered freedom on condition that they stopped preaching Christ, check their Mandela-like response in Acts 4 : 1 – 37.

Now, the first system of government practised by the disciples was communism! Marx described communism (stateless and classless) as the highest stage of socialism! Most bible readers are familiar with the story of Ananais and Sapphira in Acts 5: 1 – 11. Read the story from the preceding Chapter 4: 34 – 37. “Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands and houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need” How many of today’s Church fathers did similarly during this yuletide period? The greed and deceit (Capitalism) of husband and wife however scuttled this best system of resource-sharing that would better ensure a just and egalitarian society. The early Church adopted a communist/communal lifestyle, which Karl Marx later formulated into the slogan: “From each according to his ability and to each according to his needs”  Scripture did not tell whether Peter and the others continued with the system after Ananais and Sapphira but from what we read of Paul’s letters, it doth appear that everyone henceforth was allowed to keep what they had, making provisions to the Church as they deemed fit.

What the disciples of Jesus received from Him was what they handed down (1 Corinthians 11:23). It is the best system of government where everyone had one another’s back (Genesis 11: 1-9) as against the prevailing system of survival of the fittest where, like Jimmy Cliff crooned, “too many people got nothing (while) too little people got everything” The reasons for this season, in my view, is not the merrymaking, the purile pontification by Church leaders or the deceit of fleecing their pauperized congregation even more but for them to speak up for the suffering masses as well as follow the example of Joses in Acts 4: 36, 37.

In accordance with the examples laid by Jesus Christ and the early disciples, let us all “put our conscience to the test and remake the world” as counseled by Cliff. Compliments of the season and a happy new year!

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