Rev Dr Ma’afu’otu’itonga Palu
In so far as 16/11 is an event of history, it is open to various kinds of interpretation. Endemic in such attempts as one can possibly gather from media fragments in extant is the expression of the unacknowledged prejudice of respective interpreters. For those desperately seeking to justify the shameful events of 16/11, on the one hand, such occurrences were no less than the inevitable reaction of a people who have allegedly lived under the oppressive forces of the dictatorial regime of the Tongan royal family. I for one find that position sincerely lacking in convincing power. I must hastily admit, however, that I am neither a royalist sympathizer for that matter nor do I happily brush aside the allegations of the many failures of the Tongan government. Given the consistent biblical teaching that human beings are natural born sinners, as we shall see below (Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:20-23; Romans 3:23), I refuse to romanticize any such claims to corruption amongst the ranks of government officials but this equally applies to the failures of pro-democratists. Nonetheless, in comparison to oppressive regimes in the wider global context, such as, for instance, the Mugabe government currently reigning in Zimbabwe, the claim that Tongans have been perennially oppressed by their government is something more proximate to an amusement. On the other hand, those pre-programmed to support the Tongan government at all cost represent to a certain degree a relentless attempt to push whatever shortcomings the government might have ostensibly displayed over the years to the epistemic blindside of their consciousness. Again, this position is as harmful as the one just mentioned and must be advocated (if necessary) with proper reservations.
It is my aim in this article to grasp more fully the unfortunate events of 16/11 from the logic of the cross of Jesus Christ. Admittedly, I bring to the discussion a particular bias – a peculiar one for that matter too! I have chosen as my pre-set conceptual grid, the supposition of the crucifixion of the man Jesus of Nazareth in the first century A. D. as a ‘window’ through which I wish to perceive the disgraceful occurrences of 16/11. Have I any justification for such a commitment? It may of course be easy on my part to revert unapologetically to the pietistic orientation of much of the contemporary Tongan mindset and thus boldly claim the necessity of the viewpoint herein expressed on the basis of the certainty of an audience. But this is no mere exercise in entertainment. It is rather the cross of Jesus of Nazareth itself that necessitated this contribution. Against the wisdom-inquisitive mentality of the first century A.D. Greek philosophers, early followers of Jesus such as Paul of Tarsus preached the logic of the folly of the cross. Indeed, the cross, viewed from the logico-philosophical framework of the philosopher is truly the ‘folly’ of God. For, how can God, (whom Greek philosophers believed to be immortal by definition), die? Moreover, how can God die, as the early followers of Jesus maintained, in the most despicable of all modes of capital punishment in the Roman world, namely, crucifixion? Such inquiries must have loomed large in the background of much of early Christian preaching that in their written forms (commonly known as the ‘New Testament’ part of the Holy Bible) they can justifiably be said to be fraught with polemic formulations. Nevertheless, responses to inquiries as such effectively place at our disposal a written account of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth and its significance for understanding contemporary events in our world including Tonga’s 16/11. Let me therefore restate the issue in a way more pertinent to the ensuing discussion: What does the cross of Jesus of Nazareth have to say about 16/11?
Firstly, the cross of Jesus boldly asserts the deep-seated predicament of human nature. In other words, the cross declares that human nature is utterly and profoundly sinful and rebellious towards God. By the way, sin, biblically understood, is not sex. A sinful mind is one that is naturally configured to reject God by all possible means. The Bible tells us that this is the nature of humanity by default. To say this of course is by no means a denial of the routinely expressed human capacity for initiating good deeds. In fact, we are able to contribute something good from time to time. However, that is not the natural inclination of our human nature. The cross boldly asserts that the entirety of human nature on the personal and corporate level is overwhelmingly encroached by the power of sin and consequently it is normally predisposed towards committing evil deeds.
Is this not what we saw in Tonga on 16/11? The looting, the thievery, the inexplicable destruction of other people’s private properties and livelihoods – from where have these evil characters emerged? With no hints of embarrassment or amazement, Jesus would have undoubtedly replied, “From the human heart”. Jesus diagnoses the human heart to be, without exception, an evil-manufacturing factory (Mark 7:20-23). This situation is true of your heart as much as it is true of mine. Given that the human heart is fundamentally prejudiced towards evil, it should not surprise us therefore to see Tongans looting, stealing, and destroying the belongings of others, and even terrorizing fellow Tongans and foreigners as on 16/11. This is the underlying logic of the death of the man Jesus upon the cross. Not only does it depict the thoroughly evil of human nature, it moreover declares that we are perfectly incapable of changing ourselves. Above all, we fool ourselves into believing that only with more education can we be enabled to solve all our problems. It is of course a known fact that Tonga holds the record for the highest proportion of its population with academic doctoral qualifications. Are we not (those of us with the right kind of academic qualifications) therefore put to shame by the occurrences of 16/11? Does it not show that our great learning is hopelessly inadequate for resolving the ultimate issues of life? Where is the wise person of this world? Where is its philosopher? This is precisely the logic of the cross of Jesus Christ. The academic elite of this world indiscriminately seek to demonstrate their wisdom through aesthetically buttressed rhetoric either to impress or entertain the general public. The logic of the cross of Jesus, on the other hand, ultimately with no pretensions to rhetorical persuasiveness convicts us that we are by nature, sinners heading unashamedly and unstoppably towards eternal damnation.
Confronted with such an unfortunate turn of events as 16/11, the logic of the cross comforts us since God has demonstrated his love for us precisely in this: That whilst we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). The events of 16/11 undoubtedly testify to the fact that even a nation such as ours which has enjoyed the privilege of freedom, peace and hierarchical harmony for so long, invariably breeds sinners (both of the educated and uneducated sort) who, given the right opportunity (such as the circumstances of 16/11) will confirm Jesus’ diagnosis of the human heart’s sinfulness. The dreadful events of 16/11 instruct us that as sinful human beings, it is simply the lack of opportunities that prevents us from fulfilling our most natural inclinations. When lawlessness rules as on 16/11, we will inevitably show ourselves to be sinners through and through and consequently declare the necessity of the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus must die for the sins of the world since all without exception are sinful by nature and are therefore rightly deserving of God’s anger and punishment. As the Apostle Paul aptly puts it: “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). That –and nothing less than that – is precisely the logic of the cross of King Jesus.
Secondly, the regretful events of 16/11 and their painful consequences serve to remind us of the transitory character of our lives. Consider the enormity of what was lost by private entrepreneurs and even by the Tongan people in a matter of hours on the afternoon of 16/11. Consider the magnitude of the destruction of properties, the goods looted, and even ultimately the lives lost on the event. It did not take long for 16/11 rioters to accomplish what they did. Moreover, it did not take long for people who began their involvement as onlookers to quickly commit themselves to the course of events unfolded before them. It did not take that long for Tongans to destroy their fellow Tongans means of survival. Here is the unpredictability and mortality of human existence in bold relief. We go through life discretely with the intention of accumulating wealth for ourselves and for our posterity. Capitalism in the Western society enables this self-motivated drive towards being healthy, wealthy and wise. Moreover, the freedom granted by our Constitution has merited a number of our fellow Tongan citizens with the status of ‘rich people’. It is extremely unfortunate for these fellow country men and women to endure such an unspeakable loss in so short a duration as on 16/11.
Yet, at the risk of undermining the disastrous import of 16/11 on those directly affected, it graciously reminded us that whatever goods and possessions we might accumulate for ourselves during our lifetime, there is an abiding vulnerability to destruction inherent in them all. It is for this reason that we have insurance companies acting as preventative measures to guarantee the replacement of our most precious belongings if circumstances such as on 16/11 may arise. Yet, even with the availability of dependable enterprises as such, the first resort for us is still the prevention of destructive forces such as fire and decay from slowly but surely consuming our valuables. In this sense, 16/11, apart from being a possible counsel of despair for those who lost their most treasured possessions, clearly laid out before us the finitude of our existence as an overwhelmingly clear and present threat to our lives. Death is the ultimate certainty of our lives and our properties. No matter how much we amass for ourselves in terms of wealth, Death mocks them all. It goes without mention that we must constantly remind ourselves that there is no pocket in the shroud. Indeed, we cannot take any of our most treasured possessions with us to the grave. Even being healthy, wealthy and wise has no power to prevent us from the grave. Scientifically speaking, the Second Law of Thermodynamics clearly instructs us that notwithstanding how ambitious we are in our attempts at self-preservation, all things in nature are tending towards destruction. Perhaps the recent concern for climate change simply affirms the mortality of our existence. Worst still, it confirms that there simply is no hopeful prospect for us and for our children since, the human-made destruction of nature is understandably irreversible.
This is where the cross of King Jesus imposes itself rather boldly into the discussion. The logic of the cross of Jesus is that it is in fact God’s way of dealing with the mortality of human existence. Death appears truly unnatural to us simply because it was not there in the very beginning of God’s dealing with humanity. It was invited into the fabric of human existence by an inclination to disobey God’s will which has since then been genetically transmitted from one generation to another. Since, the day the original parents of humanity choose to disobey God, we have literally lived our lives in the shadow of the valley of Death. Our joy is derived from toil and hardship that lead ultimately to the grave. There has been a relentless attempt in the wider contemporary culture to dampen the ‘sting’ of death. In some quarters death is celebrated and even dignified as an ‘option’ in life. Such attempts at domesticating death, in my opinion, are modes of dealing with the utter hopelessness of the contemporary God-forsaken human culture. Humanity has so bent in rejecting God that it now has to deal with living in a world without God. Realistically speaking, in a world without God, there is no real meaning to human existence. We are here because we are here because we are here. The cycle of life is a vicious one. Without God, human life is valued no more than a $5 worth conglomeration of random chemicals ultimately destined for the crematorium. The French writer Albert Camus has long-ago came to the conclusion that in a God-forsaken world, the only meaningful activity is to commit suicide since at least in so doing one is demonstrably in control of something in this world. Apparently, without God in the picture, even life itself amounts to nothing.
All is not utterly meaningless, however, from the perspective of the logic of the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus gives humanity hope beyond the grave. Its logic consonantly declares to us, that one human being (with flesh and blood like you and I) has died a death like we will all have to endure and yet was not finally consumed by the power of death. That specific human being happens to be God-becoming-one-of-us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus Christ crucified has indeed risen from the dead. This is no mere fantasy of the early followers of Jesus. It is an historical event available to be critically examined with the apparatus of modern (or postmodern) historiography. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ proclaims to death-bound humanity that there indeed is hope beyond the grave. Not only there is life after death but that there is moreover life-after-life-after-death in the general resurrection when Jesus Christ returns. The resurrection of crucified Jesus tells us that the only meaningful activity for humans is an act which transcends the grave. All activities and possessions that cannot prevail beyond the grave are but meaningless existential assents. In the light of the cross of Jesus Christ, therefore, the only meaningful exercise for human existence is to trust in the crucified man Jesus Christ who has risen from the dead for the forgiveness of sins.
This is the logic of the cross. It is in fact a solution that may appear to be all too easy for us to reject. But the forgiveness that God has wrought for us costs Him the life of His own dear Son. Such a costly forgiveness is meant to enable all of us who are perishing to be rescued from the ultimate consequences of our sins, from eternal damnation. Indeed, Jesus’ resurrection confirms there is a Hell and that there a Heaven. By merit of his death and resurrection Jesus has taken the ‘Hell’ out of lives, so to speak, enabling those who would trust in Him to be in Heaven. From the logic of the cross, if there is something which 16/11 has achieved, then it is the fact that it firmly demonstrated the certainty of death and the threat of eternal damnation that humanity rightly deserves. It moreover speaks of our desperate need of eternal life offered through the comforting word of the cross of Jesus. Eternal life is readily available as a gift for all parties involved on 16/11 through the blood of Jesus Christ. This, and nothing less than this, is the logic of the cross plainly displayed by the regrettable events of 16/11. Soli Deo gloria.
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