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Easter: God’s own story
Easter is here again. And once more, we will go through the motions as usual. In Ghana and most parts of the Christian world, Palm Sunday opens the Easter season by reminding us of the triumphal entry of Jesus to Jerusalem days before His crucifixion.
Triumphal in the sense that even though the Jewish religious leaders were planning to kill Jesus, He boldly rode into Jerusalem where He knew they were waiting for Him. At His appearance, the multitude who wanted to enthrone Him king, cut off palm fronds which they strewed before His donkey while others waved theirs.
Ghana, however, has a unique way of marking the day. Instead of the date palm fronds, Ghanaians have adopted the oil palm leaves which may be excusable because date palm is not as abundant in the country as oil palm. And trust the ingenuity of the Ghanaian! Palm Sunday has become the occasion when people who, for one reason or another, have not eaten palm nut soup for a long time, make sure this chance does not pass them by. Of course, it must be complemented by fufu, otherwise the trouble you take in preparing the soup would not be worth the while. All this is part of Easter.
After Palm Sunday, all attention shifts to the following Friday, that is Good Friday, a day set aside the world over to commemorate the crucifixion and subsequent death of Jesus Christ. Most Ghanaians, especially, those of the orthodox faith, wear funeral clothes to go and mourn the “death” of Jesus in church.
Then Sunday comes, and people troop to their various churches in all-white attires or something with a touch of white to celebrate the resurrection power of Jesus. The songs commemorating the momentous event vary. The Methodists surely have a lot to sing but one that they would never miss on Easter Sunday is Robert Lowry’s hymn that goes like this:
1 Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Saviour,
waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!
Refrain:
Up from the grave He arose;
with a mighty triumph o’er his foes;
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
and He lives forever, with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
2 Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Saviour,
vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord! [Refrain]
3 Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Saviour;
He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord! [Refrain]
The Pentecostals would prefer something like this:
Owuo anntumi no, w’adi asaman so;
Nkunim di hene, cne Awurade;
Y3ma wo mmo Yesu, y3ma wo mmo Messiah;
Nkunimdi hene cne Awurade.
In translation, the song declares as follows:
Death could not beat Him, He has triumphed over hell;
The King of Victory is the Lord;
We congratulate You, Jesus, we congratulate You Messaiah;
The King of victory is the Lord
For most people, including so-called Christians, the “real deal” is yet to come. After church, the boozing and revelries must be allowed. After all, the Bible says: “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God, what is God’s.” For many, that is all Easter means. But what is the real meaning of Easter? What really happened at Easter?
The following story provides a clue. A very rich man called Mr. Emmanuel Love was celibate and childless. He had a sweet spirit and showered gifts on all the kids in his neighbourhood. But he took a special liking to a particular boy, Manson, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Man.
One day, Manson’s parents travelled and left him in the care of Mr. Love. As naughty as children are, he sneaked out of the house for a splash in a nearby stream. Unknown to him, the flow was fast and upstream, compelling him to swim against the current. He was drowning gradually.
Just in the nick of time, Mr. Love discovered that Manson was nowhere to be found. By intuition, he dashed towards the stream and found him struggling to make it ashore. Without thinking, Mr. Love dived into the water and did his best to bring the boy downstream as both of them gasped for breath. But the rescue came at a great cost. Mr. Love was left crippled. After a few days, Manson’s parents returned from their journey and went for him. They heard what had happened and felt extremely sorry for Mr. Love but there was no need crying over spilt milk.
About a year later, the family relocated to another city, perhaps unable to process the thought of seeing Mr. Love like that. But they kept in touch with him while Mr. Love frequently sent letters to Manson encouraging him to study hard and be the best that he could be. About a decade later, with Manson in his late teens, Mr. Love realised he was deteriorating in health. So, he decided to go and visit his little friend before the inevitable happened.
On reaching the city, he began to trudge across a community park to Manson’s house close by. As he hobbled along due to his condition, some youngsters enjoying a game of football on the field started hurling insults at him for delaying their game. Finally, he reached home and immediately asked for his boy.
Mr. Love was told Manson was playing football nearby, apparently on the park Mr. Love just crossed. His parents sent for him and when he came home, he recognised the visitor as the handicapped man who just struggled along the field. He questioned his parents why they should entertain such a wretch in their home. When they explained who he was and reminded him how the man ended up maimed for life, Manson could not hold back his tears.
He dashed to call his friends on the field to come and see his hero. When they came, they were also snubbish but in tears, Manson explained how the man’s condition evolved. Mr. Love asked if they got the money he had been sending in his letters. To their shame, they never opened them, and when they did, they were amazed at the amount he had sent their boy over the years without their knowledge. The best was yet to come. Mr. Love told them he had come to inform them that he had bequeathed his estate to Adamson and left.
Do you get the picture?“He was wounded for our transgressions.” Our sins took Jesus to the cross. Yet, we despise Him. The Bible prophesied before He appeared in human form that when people set their eyes on Him, there would be no comeliness in Him that they should desire Him. Just as Manson forgot all that Mr. Love suffered for him, so do we treat Jesus with contempt. We only pay lip service to Him.
Perhaps, we treat Him with disdain because we do not really know Him. Let me show you an open secret. Jesus is God the very God! Period. Yes, Easter is God’s own story. The Creator of the universe stripped Himself of all His glory, took upon Himself the form of a servant, and allowed sinful men to kill Him so that He would shed His own blood to cleanse us from our unrighteousness.
The blood of bulls and sheep was not pure enough, neither was the blood of any man deemed righteous enough to atone for our sins. So, God became a Man to have blood in Himself to shed for us. That is the true Easter story.
Yes, the Ancient of Days became the Babe of Bethlehem, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, became the Lamb that was slain; He is the Consuming Fire yet, the Living Water; when Mary held the Infant Jesus and kissed her Son, she kissed the face of God. He is the Mighty God, Wonderful Counsellor, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, the King of kings, Lord of lords, the Great I Am. He can be anything He wants to be.
C.S. Lewis, a British author and speaker who was an unrepentant atheist until he found Jesus Christ, said this about Him in one of his discourses.“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.
“He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this Man was, and is, the Son of God, or a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Contact: teepeejubilee@yahoo.co.uk
By Tony Prempeh
THE state of feeling rejected, could be a terrifying experience especially for those who have become used to fame. If not properly addressed, it could lead to depression and the consequences, could be disastrous.
When you are on top of your game in whatever profession you find yourself such that you become famous, a lot of people try to associate with you. The phone never ceases to ring and one is tempted to feel loved and very important.
When a disaster strikes and the fame or the money which was the source of the attraction fades away, the circle of friends and fans begin to shrink and the phone will start to stop ringing until the call stops voting completely.
You will be shocked at how people you considered friends, will no longer be calling you or pay casual visits as they used to. You will begin to notice that messages you leave after calling them and not getting a response are not replied to and that is when you begin to know who your true friends are.
One of the most popular movie stars was an actress called Sharon Stone. In an interview with one of the media houses that was published, she spoke about how people who should have come around to encourage her in her moment of depression, shunned her. The calls stopped coming.
This is what the Bible admonishes that the arm of flesh will fail you and therefore we should put our trust in God. It could be a very frightening experience and can easily lead to depression.
Human nature being what it is, people will want to get close if things are okay. Everybody wants to associate themselves with interesting things, famous people, rich people etc for mainly selfish reasons.
We need to develop the habit of putting our trust in God and relying less on human beings. The lesson we have to take along in life is that, no one marries his or her enemy so how come people who took vows that they will love each other become so hostile to each other that they want to go their separate ways in life? Such is the reality of life.
It is therefore prudent for people to recognise that, life is full of uncertainties and so there is the need to prepare your mind for uncertainties so that when they occur, they do not disorganise your mental sanity.
A lot of people have experienced situations where people who they could have sworn will never betray their trust have disappointed them when they were through challenging moments.
If there is one thing famous people should desire, it should be the ability to identify who are true friends are. Countless stories abound regarding incidence of celebrities who have lost their shine and their wives divorcing them soon after.
It is sometimes useful as a famous or rich person to sign a prenuptial agreement before marriage to safeguard or protect yourself from any future unpleasant surprises.
People can be very pretentious these days, it goes both ways. There is this real life story where a man married a divorced wealthy woman and convinced her to sell her house so they could build a new one together, with the excuse that people are gossiping that he is being housed by a woman.
The woman agreed and they put up a new building. After a few years the man asked for a divorce, only for the woman to realise that the land on which the building was situated, was bought in the man’s name.
This can drive a person insane, if you are not mentally tough and this happens to you. When people hear that you are homeless, a lot of your so-called friends will stop calling, so that you do not become a burden on them.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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‘But, er …. I don’t even know your name’.
‘Paul. Paul Allotey. I’m Sarah, by the way. Paul, why don’t you leave me here, since this is the last important thing I’m doing today’.
‘Okay. Now Sarah. I was just thinking. You will be here at the cafe for about an hour. By then it will be about twelve thirty. Then, you would be thinking of buying yourself some lunch, to eat here or to take home. So if you would please allow me, I will take you to one of the nicest eating places in town, and after you have sorted that one out, then I can drop you home. Just that one errand, then I won’t bother you again’.
‘You are not bothering me at all. You are being very kind to me. And I just realised you are a mind reader too. The last item on my agenda was lunch’.
‘I’m so glad I appeared at your doorstep, just in time’.
‘Okay. Now Paul, since you say the cafe is a comfortable place, let’s go in together, and you can do your work while I get my application done’.
‘Okay, Sarah. Thanks. Let’s go’.
We got back in the car at eleven forty-five.
‘So where are we going, Paul?’
‘To Royalty restaurant. It’s a twenty minute drive away’.
‘So, do you enjoy your job?’
‘Most certainly. I won’t change it, not even to be President. And am I right to say that you are preparing to enter the university?’
‘That’s my plan. I hope it works’.
‘It will, if you are determined, and disciplined. You look very much like a disciplined person’.
‘Thank you very much’.
We arrived at Royalty in twenty-five minutes, ‘You are joining me for lunch, Paul’.
‘Thanks for the honour, Sarah. But the bill is on me’.
‘Aren’t you taking on too much for one day?’
‘I never do anything that is bigger than me, Sarah’.
Over the next hour and a half, we discussed fashion, local and international politics, and sports, as we ate and relaxed. Finally, he drove me to the shop.
‘I will never forget you, Paul’.
‘I’m glad to have been helpful. But if you don’t mind, I’ll say it again, your husband is extremely lucky. You are really beautiful’.
‘Thanks again. But do you mind if I call you sometime in the future?’
‘Certainly not. Let me write it here. I will not ask for your number, for obvious reasons. But I will be looking forward to hearing from you. And hopefully, I will see you next month, when I call to drop your bill’.
‘Okay Paul. See you then’. What a lovely day, I said to myself as I opened the front door. I closed the shop and got home by seven. I went straight to the bedroom, stood in the mirror and took a good look at myself. ‘You are a very beautiful woman, Sarah. Never forget that’. I will not forget that, again.
Over the next several weeks, Martin and I had very little to do with each other. In the morning he ate his breakfast and after a shabby ‘I’m going’, he left. He came home around eight at the earliest, ate his dinner and, already soaked in beer, went off to sleep.
He spent the greater part of the weekends at the club house with his friends, playing tennis and partying. My mind was focused on furthering my education, so I didn’t complain to him, and didn’t bother to inform my parents about what was happening. I had decided that I would only take action if he lifted his hand against me again. I spent my free time reading all manner of interesting stuff on the internet, and chatting with my sister on WhatsApp.
One evening, he came home at about eight, rushed to the bedroom and rushed out. An envelope, obviously containing money, dropped out of his pocket, and I picked it up and followed him. I was going to call him and give it to him, but I noticed that there was a young woman in the car, so I went back in, counted it and put it in a drawer in the hall. He came back after some ten minutes.
‘Excuse me, I dropped an envelope containing money. You must have seen it’.
‘Yes, I saw it. Actually, I followed you, and was about to call you and hand it over to you when I realised that there was a woman in the car, so I came back in. I counted it. One thousand cedis.
‘Well let me have it. I have to be going’.
‘I will let you have it if you will tell me who the woman in the car is, and why you are going to give her that amount of money’.
‘Listen, if you waste my time, I will teach you a lesson you will never forget. Give me the money now!’
‘Here’s what we will do, Martin. I know you will give money to her anyway, so I will give it to you, if you will withdraw the threat you just issued. But I want you to know that I will be taking some steps from tomorrow. Things are getting out of hand’.
‘Okay, I’m sorry I threatened you. Can you please give me the money’. I handed it over to him, and he ran out’.
The following morning, I waited for him to finish having breakfast, and told him I wanted to have a word with him urgently.
‘You better be quick. You know I’m going to work’.
‘Well, I want to inform you that I will inform my parents, and your parents, about the situation in this house. As I said yesterday, things are getting out of hand. You spend most of your time drinking. You get drunk every evening, and through the weekend. And you are also spending your time and money on a prostitute’.
‘How dare you? One more stupid word from you …’
‘Am I lying, Martin? You have just started life, yet you are behaving like a rich, elderly man who has already seen his children through university, and can afford a life of fun. As I said, I’m going to inform our parents. Maybe your parents can straighten you out before it is too late’.
‘Look, we can talk this evening. It’s nothing like what you are saying’. He walked away, shocked.
That evening, I was expecting to have a meaningful discussion with him, but his mother called early in the evening to offer me some ‘advice’. Her son had called to say that certain developments at home were disturbing him so much that they were beginning to affect his work.
And, ‘as a loving mother to her daughter’, she was advising me to submit to my husband, and support him in prayer, and not ‘drive him from home’. Men would always be men, and she was telling me ‘from experience’ that no matter how much time Martin stayed away from home, he would always come home to me.
She had been a young wife before, so she understood the challenges I was facing. So I could be assured that if I followed her advice, all would be well. And, of course, she didn’t allow me to tell my side of the story.
Martin came home very late, and very drunk. And from the next morning, he carried on as before. With some hesitation, I called my dad and told him all that had gone on.
‘Well, my daughter. I’m not going to say “I told you so”. I was only trying to protect you. So here’s what we’ll do. Continue doing the best you can, and try not to give him any excuse to harm you, but if things continue to deteriorate, I will take you back.
A couple of days later, my cousin Dinah arrived in Accra from Brussels, having completed her medical course. With Martin’s agreement, I went to Koforidua and spent a couple of days. I spent most of the time chatting about her experiences in the US, but we also discussed my relationship with Martin, and she endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if Martin’s behaviour did not change after two weeks Elaine informed Mom and Dad. We endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if there was no change in two weeks.
Dinah returned with me to Takoradi. Her plan was to spend a couple of weeks, and return to Accra to be posted. I called Paul Allotey, and asked if he would meet her for lunch and, if possible, show her some interesting spots. Delighted, he suggested that we meet at Royalty the next day.
I told Martin about it, to remove any possibility of future disagreement over ‘going out with men’.
‘It’s fine with me’, he said, ‘if, of all the people who could show your sister round this town, you chose a borla man. Doesn’t that indicate the kind of person you are?’
‘ First of all, Martin’, I’ve spoken to him a few times, and he comes across as a decent guy, so I think it is rather unfortunate that you are writing him off when you don’t know him’.
By Ekow de Heer
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