THE HOLY THRESHOLD

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT: THE HOLY THRESHOLD

Me I no go suffer, I no go beg for bread

Me I no go suffer, I no go beg for food

God of Miracle

Na my Papa o

God of Miracle

Na my Papa o

This is one of those songs that rocked at a point in time in the “choruses culture” of the church in Nigeria.

So popular it was (everyone keyed into the vibe that was then a usual feature on the choir list of songs) regardless of financial buoyancy; from the rich to the average to those on the precincts and even the outer side of the divide. Everyone, in a country where a lot of people live below poverty line, usually joined in crooning this song (which conveys the message of God’s faithfulness to his children in an uninterrupted providence for them) with a gleanable air of “I better pass my neighbour” as everyone tries to distance themselves from the thought of any possibility of being in the class of those that suffer from lack of bread, (with an attitude comparable to how the Israelites in Bible times would distance themselves from lepers).

So being persuaded on the non Christian spirit behind such songs, choristers migrate to the likes of the more acceptable:

Abraham’s blessings are mine

I am blessed in the mornings

I am blessed in the evenings

Abraham’s blessings are mine

A second verse to this Abraham’s blessings chorus was however never composed because it would have included lines of the sufferings which came with his blessings, and that would never appeal to anyone and would thus have rendered voices silent or have them snap out “Not My Portion!” So, more soothing options are composed, .

Mother Mary, Mother Millionaire

Mummy I love you

Mother Mary, Mother Millionaire

I love you

For obvious reason, such a chorus is also censored leading to a notion that the church has a preconceived, set and sadistic outlook which suppresses the desire and hope for good living of her members. Thus disregarding the admonition of St. James 4:3, that “You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires” many capitalise on the saying that Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full and that we should ask and it shall be given to entertain the idea in such choruses!

The inarguable reality, however, is that there are two sides to a coin and no matter how good a christian may be having it, there would come a time when things would dip and at that point, he would be at a threshold to face the holy choice of carrying his cross or to drop it and go the way of the world. The readings of this day, the fifth Sunday of Lent underpins the lie in the above songs that spell out a warped or at best a diluted understanding of scripture which often misleads to a partial acceptance of the principles of Christianity and push some to unrealistic brinks in both temporal and spiritual expectations, eventually making it seem to them that God sometimes fails in His promises.

Holy Threshold Icons

As the divinity of our Lord is often touted as reason for his successful living out of this two sides of a coin principle, let’s consider some fully human figures as illustration for ascertaining the veracity of this Christian principle:

Abraham
Jacob
David
Mary
Other Patriarchs and Saints

Abraham

When Abraham was called, a promise was made him.

However, this promise seemed never coming to fulfilment. He had first to prove his faith in God and before the full manifestation of the promise, (a thread of it coming in Isaac) after he was long dead and gone, he endured in addition to a semi nomadic life, an almost full lifetime of childlessness.

According to biblewalk, “This… hints of Jesus’ insistence: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29)… The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going…like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents… For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:8-10)”

The above ‘Ajala the Traveller’ story and his readiness to sacrifice his only son Isaac to God are therefore a testament of a total surrender in accepting the flip side of the coin of God’s goodness in his life. So, it was not a smooth sail or a non suffering life that our father in faith, Abraham lived.

Jacob

Jacob’s many misfortunes.

Like most of us, Jacob’s misfortunes could be attributed to his own initial ill actions (being cunning; cheating and outsmarting his twin) but there’s an important take here – for people who fall in this category of suffering by way of payment for their past actions – and it is the need to return to God knowing that though forgiven like Jacob, there may thereafter not be a smooth sail; a consequential suffering life. Jacob used an almost full life in payment for his past misdemeanor but despite this, he stood for God and what a reward reward he received for his loyalty, The thread of Isaac becoming waxen strong through him and spreading to become the twelve tribes of Israel but here’s a look at some of the travails of this man who God promised would become the one by whom the world would call His name. He

had a twin who was plotting to kill him,
had to go away from his home and loving mother,
was cheated severally by his father-in -law Laban,
had a lifelong limp after wrestling with God,
had a beloved wife who could not bear him children until his old age and who passed not long after she did,
thought his most beloved son dead for a long time before found.

David

Who bore his sufferings, both self caused and otherwise before and during his reign as King.

David, picking up the ticket for being the main reference of the forebears of the saviour of the world, not only

begged for food (check out the story of Abigail) but also
stole food (taking the bread of the presence for himself and his men when Abiathar was high Priest) and
killed for it (when he was hiding in refuge outside of Israel when Saul was pursuing him),

we also see

him exiled before and during his reign.
him being an itinerant refugee.
him seeking refuge even with enemy.
feigned madness to escape being killed
an endless pursuit of him by Saul
his loosing his dear friend, Jonathan to death.
sword in his household.
incest in his household.
an attempt to be overthrown and killed by his son.
loosing Three children in his lifetime.
pestilence on the people caused by him.
his readiness to fight in support of enemy against his own people, when in exile, in order to survive.

Mary

aka Mother of Sorrows – and we must also add Mother of Suffering – is the most outstanding example of

how our miraculous God allows his children go through suffering for a purpose.
how the suffering allowed by God is not rejected but embraced by only those of His children who are faithful.

The simple and clear message in Mother’s case is that unless you want to pass through this life making no mark and contribution, you must suffer.

The Gospel of John 12, “…

unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,

it remains just a grain of wheat;

but if it dies, it produces much

However, Mother didn’t have to suffer, she didn’t, not at all. Mother, at her immaculate conception, had actually been infused with all the graces in world which catapulted her forward in time to Calvary to reap the fruits of Christ’s redemption and by that, was placed above the level at which she should have to suffer because of sin which comes on us by virtue of our adamic inheritance.

Nevertheless, though having no need at all but because God wanted it so, Mother accepted the HONOUR of suffering with her son, never once, it crossing her mind to say NOT MY PORTION!

Let’s guess the excuses she could have held on to to avoid her cup of suffering

Me that the Holy Spirit has come upon and the power of the Most High has overshadowed and who has borne the holy one, the Son of God Himself!
A whole First lady of the universe
Most Presentable glorious Mother of God with my one in town, Instagram styled Gele to brandish.
Power Broker! Who made my very own son break protocol by performing his first public miracle when it wasn’t yet time.
A whole Mummy GO…D or let us just leave it at MUMMY JESUS.

Never one for such pride and boast, she chose to retain and COOPERATE on the humble virgin role she was assigned by God, taking on the greatest suffering any human being apart from Christ, our God could bear and watched him agonise and die for the world. She never asked why this had to be and why she had to co-join in the mission for our salvation in such a harrowing manner. She never said ‘not my portion, forever standing by her initial response to God’s message from the Angel Gabriel, ‘Let it be done according to your word” and alongside Jesus, she undertook the salvation mission.

The Pieta: The Ultimate Scene of Human Suffering

From the moment Jesus stepped, specially, into her life at the annunciation, Mother’s second name became suffering, as her whole life became a lesson in suffering for us, following in the footsteps of her son.

Prophecy of Simeon, Luke 2:35

The life of a true Christian, of a truth, is modelled on that of Jesus for he says, a disciple is not superior to his master and an examination of that life leaves not much to be desired by the standards of the world, but he says, we are not of this world, so we can’t definitely be living by its standards.

The letter to the Hebrews 5 says: “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;

and when he was made perfect,

he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him

Other Patriarchs and Saints

Is it Apostles Peter, Paul, James and many disciples including Stephen, Silas, Timothy and then the Patriarchs; Moses, Elijah and of course, John the Baptist, Christ’s forerunner that bestride the old and new testaments and who took on a life of gross mortification, not to bring in the story of the patient Job? These all keyed into the lifestyle of suffering beyond the imagining of most.

Some of the spiritual forebears of ours outlined above did have some form of promise from God at the beginning of their mission, just like every Christian at baptism and like everyone else weren’t sure how the promise would finally manifest but trusting in God’s goodness, they knew he would always be there, regardless of the situation to ensure progress was not cut short, and so they trudged on, never to miss the mark, facing evey challenge squarely for the purpose of serving God and the couple of them that once or so shied or shirked due to human frailty, upon realisation, were quick and in true contrition to return to God and this is what is required of us all.

Fifth week, Lent takes us to the critical space where we must take a cue from our spiritual forebears, standing on our decision to enter the biggest space where we can comprehend what Christ did as he crosses the line of no return which leads him to his last week on earth; the week of weeks of a lifetime of suffering.

Jesus espies the highest form of his suffering coming forcefully towards him, with temptations plaguing him in different ways to abandon the mission of saving us but he rebuffs them all.

Christ Suffered, So You Must

Rumours of plans to kill him and at the same time to make him king are rife but being not the perfect time for either, he hides from view, and so we also expect God to shield us from everything – whether suffering or enjoyment – that is not to his purpose (which is always the best for us) but we do expect that when sometimes God allows when life tries to impose such on us, as was with Jesus, and so, we must be wise to take up courage to only hide in Jesus and such a decision may again bring more suffering because gold is purified by fire!!! Important point of note is that this aspect of suffering is a threshold that must at some point, be crossed everyone. It is the critical decision making point of no return, of either turning back or jumping on the one way drive to the end.

A covered Crucifix Symbolic of

Jesus withdrawing from public view

5th Sunday Lent Altar Dressing

The Gospel of John 12, says “…

Whoever loves his life loses it,

and whoever hates his life in this world

will preserve it for eternal life.

Whoever serves me must follow me,

and where I am, there also will my servant be”.

With the above, a question becomes pertinent: what are these escapists songs that detract from the essence of our Christian principles for?!

For me these amount to nothing but ego tripping or self consoling charades in melody that end up being a source of discouragement and in the least, distraction to innocent minded and unwary Christians and if it is ever put forward that Jesus was able to bear suffering because he is God and that he paid the price of suffering so that humanity can enjoy, then attention should be drawn to the array of our spiritual forebears like Abraham, Jacob, David, our blessed Mother and the array of Saints and Patriarchs standing gidigba for human example.

Now you can tell one reason to think of the meaning of (even Church) songs.