In this article, it is my wish to draw examples of our betrayals of love and service, as taught and made clear by religion, in pursuit of economic relevance as is evident in our immediate society to show how we are living out the ‘gospel’ of Judas.
Many times, I have been confronted by people on the religious affiliation I subscribe to. In discovering that from me, many have offered to entice me with a lot of good material possessions, if only I could cross-carpet to their own religion. At some other times, it looks too convincing and obvious for people to conclude that I belong to the Christian religion. At a recent meeting that I attended, one man came directly to me and said, “Come and lead us in an opening prayer, pastor!” I have never known this fellow from Adam, and I quickly acted on his request and prayed.
After the conclusion of the prayer, one man sitting next to me retorted, “The economic side of religion, has made it very unpopular these days”. I did not bother about that, but the uneasiness developed in me when this man looked straight into my eyes and repeated himself. I managed to find my voice, and immediately told him, “It depends on what you know about religion”.
In the recent past, people have made a discovery by thinking that religion is a means of making material profit. There are thousands of religious groups today parading themselves as the real representatives of God on earth, but which are brought to birth by the greed and material pursuit of their founders and leaders.
Religion, as said already, is the worship of God, the cult of the creator or the divine. Therefore it is essentially a spiritual enterprise. The essence of religion is therefore, that through this spiritual journey, man would one day be united with the divine. There is always that cord, that links man to the divine and religion is nothing but a constant servicing, of that spiritual cord until one day the union is achieved.
It is very important to note that even though religion is a spiritual affair, it is not totally removed from all materiality. Human beings are still influenced by matter. In this spiritual journey that is religion; man is battling under many material influences not as a matter of choice but as a matter of necessity. Religion and religious activities are greatly enhanced and promoted by the availability of material resources; money and otherwise. However, it will be a fallacy of reductionism if religion and religious issues are reduced to making material gains. And this is the unfortunate case of today; that among many leaders of the religious groups around, the zeal is only economic.
Today, religion and just talking about God alone, has catapulted people from the slums of poverty and want, to the heights of affluence, as people have shamelessly cashed in on the fertility of the religious industry to make money like Demetrius, the silversmith of Ephesus (Acts 19:23). In Acts 16:16 the Bible tells us that Paul and Silas were imprisoned because they cast the evil spirit out of a slave girl whom her masters used for soothsaying and fortune-telling (a means of making money).
In Africa, and in fact, third world continents one would be surprised by what is going on in the name of religion. Do we now say conclusively that our people are driven by gullibility or fidelity? But yet, Africa is among the most vulnerable to this religious exploitation by the clever and smart ones? What accounts for this? Taking Nigeria as a sample case, you notice that the Igbo people are the worst hit wherever these religious groups exist, even if the place is not strictly Igbo land, you just find out that the Igbo people are always caught in this web of religious industry, because you either have them in majority or in good number.
Many are of the opinion that Africans are too gullible, easily deceived into believing every thrash. I do not quite personally feel very comfortable when we dismiss our people’s religious sensitivity as gullibility. Our people are rather better described as very religious people. Africans, the Igbo in particular are a very deeply religious people. Already living in a very intense religious culture before the advent of Christianity where every reality is evaluated from its religious significance, as a result, Christianity was bound to spread like wild fire among the Igbo.
There is also the political and economic factor of the African situation. Africa is experiencing political, economic and social collapse. Her political bankruptcy has been revealed in recent years in the struggle for democracy which has eluded many, with political systems initially set up by interested colonial powers. These structures were merely adopted to serve the interests of the new elitist who took over from the departing colonial powers. In some countries, these new elitist turned these political systems into one-party despotisms of dictatorship and unaccountability.
Economically, this set up has been woeful to the effect that combined with external factors; the oppressive burden of external debt and the high cost of living have crippled the entire continent and her people. In this economic and political dislocation, what we are greeted with each day is societies/communities struggling with each other in wars, refugees, draughts, famines and coming nearer home, the menace of armed robbers, etc. As a result of these facts, the Igbo man’s case becomes a special one. The Igbo man in particular is an achievement oriented individual living in an achievement oriented society. So he easily welcomes as palpable or worthwhile any idea or suggestion that carries along with it the promise of material security or prosperity.
In addition to all this, his recent experience during the Nigerian – Biafran Civil War has not left the mark on him. It is true that the war ended with the famous “no victor, no vanquished”, the Igbo man has since then found himself in a “one Nigeria” that from many perspectives fall short of the name. Conscious always that he has to make extra effort at survival by breaking the segregational barriers of education, civil appointments, bad roads and inadequate infrastructures. He also becomes an easy victim to any allurement of security promised under a religious tag without serious reflection about its genuineness or enduring quality.
It is within this context that the proliferation of the so called religious groups can be situated. Unfortunately, few or many smart ones have discovered this fertility and begun to abuse and exploit it, for their own personal and selfish gratification and to the destruction of our natural religious sensitivity.
We should not forget that many things did happen around Jesus which seemed like a ‘set-up’ that He used to impart eternal truths; knowing what the world would be like in the future. One of these was an occasion, a banquet at Bethany, when they gathered in Simon’s house, the man who had been a leper (John 12:1). As the banquet came to a close, Mary commenced the action which the whole world will commemorate whenever the gospel is read, (Matthew 26:13). She brought a jar of ointment – pure nard, broke it to allow an unmeasured flowing of it to anoint Jesus’ feet. Such ‘extravagant waste’ pricked the purely social and economic sensitivity of Judas, the keeper of the apostolic funds. He could not withstand keeping quiet at such ‘waste’ on somebody who had always buggled them with the need to identify with the poor. And he spoke out in defence of the poor, “why was this perfume not sold for 30 pounds and the money given to the poor” (John 12:5). Incidentally, these were the first recorded words of Judas in the Bible and it is unfortunate he received no compliment. The issue at stake is: Judas put an economic value to everything. He wanted to evaluate the action of Mary in monetary terms. Economy becomes the only lens through which an action can be seen and evaluated. Therefore whatever does not have a financial or economic relevance, can as well be discarded as irrelevant.
Today, love and service are already sacrificed. But it is good to take this into consideration. Love and service can hardly be bought or exchanged for money. They have no monetary equivalent. No amount of money could buy love and service. There are thousand and one things an individual cannot do for himself or herself; that he must necessarily depend on others. We mutually depend on one another for many things in life; we hang our comfort on other people’s services which we cannot pay. And suppose no one does anything for another or we calculate the financial value of every love and service we receive. Life will, not only be not worth living, it will come to a halt, despite the money people have. Suppose people damn the rich man’s wealth and refuse giving him any service? What can he do with his money? That means that the service one gives is more primary than the economic gain that accrues from it.