It may be a religious holiday, but we need to take our time and our minds of the foods and drinks and the merry for a while, and reflect on the true significance of the day.
We need to reflect on what today actually means. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to die for our sins, yes He did, it was part of the plan God wanted to happen.
But the events preceding the crucifixion needs to be analysed, as it is a great lesson to take to our everyday lives.
It would be recalled that Jesus Christ made a triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, and He was heralded by a lot of people. He then made a declaration to His Disciples that the time has come for Him to be captured, but His Disciples vowed that they will fight with whoever tried to capture Jesus, whereas certain of His Disciples had another thing in mind.
Jesus knew all along, He knew He had enemies amongst His Disciples, but God's Will had to be done.
A certain Judas Iscariot collected a bribe of 30 pieces of silver from the guards and told them that whoever he kissed should be the one they arrest.
Jesus knew all along, and He played along with the enemies. Several of His Disciples who vowed to fight who ever tried to capture Jesus, all backed down when the going went tough for Jesus.
Peter was a very good example, he denied ever knowing who Jesus Christ was. This was someone who Jesus had already told to his face that before the Cock crowed three times, Peter would deny Him.
And Our Lord Jesus Christ was beaten mercilessly, He was stripped, He was made to carry a very 'Heavy Cross'. That 'Heavy Cross' signified our problems and our burden.
He was mocked that if truly He were the son of God, that He should save Himself from the situation. But God's Will had to be done.
He was nailed to the Cross He carried, and was made to die in full glare of the public.
He was treated like a common thief. He was insulted, He was embarrassed.
The lessons I want us to take out of this story are that; in our modern day life, most of the people we call friends, are there because we have something to gain from them or vice-versa.
We call it friends with benefits.
Has anyone ever thought of having a friend without benefit?
When the going was getting tough for Jesus Christ, all His Disciples who vowed 'heaven on earth' deserted Him at the very end. The Yoruba tribe has a famous saying that 'we only lick a friends hand if it is rubbed with oil, but we can never lick that same friends' hand, if it is stained with blood.' I would implore us to erase that notion, and be by a friend in time of need.
Life can never be a bed of roses, we must have our ups and downs, we must have our high moments, and our low moments. We need to stay strong for who ever our friend is in times of need, in times of pain, in times of discomfort.
Another lesson we must take out of the story of Jesus is that we must learn to love one another. Love conquers everything. In a world where violence is the order of the day, bombings everywhere, kidnappings, murder, rape, war, we have to learn to show love in the midst of all these. We don't necessarily have to know someone before we decide to show love. We should learn to show love just because Jesus Christ showed us love by painfully and excruciatingly dying for our sins.
Another lesson we must take from this touching story is that we must never betray anyone. I am tempted to say, how dare Judas betray Jesus Christ for a meagre 30 pieces of silver? That great Love Jesus Christ showed to us can never be quantified monetarily.
But what do we get nowadays, we have betrayal, bribery, corruption, greed. Everyone seems to be fighting for a personal interest. Money can only guarantee a befitting burial ceremony, but it can never guarantee a place in Heaven.
Betrayals, backstabbing are very dangerous to us as christians. We should endeavour to put personal interests aside and look after our fellow neighbor.
Lastly, we should endeavour as christians to stay off sin. It makes no sense, how Jesus Christ would die for our sins, and yet we would still go back to those sins He had died for.
Though it seems very difficult because the devil is constantly on the prowl to look for whom to devour. We should always pray to God for direction so that we would not be led into temptation.
We should endeavour to go to church, and we should try and stay off things of the world that would lead us to sin.
God bless you all, and Happy Holidays!!
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