Devon Dick THE INVASION of Iraq by the American-led forces was over within a month. In fact, looking back it was over before it started. The Americans were certain from the beginning that there would be one winner. All this talk about Iraq being a threat was over-exaggerated. All this talk about a famed Republican Guard was hogwash. The Iraqis surrendered easily and fell like ninepins. They were no Goliaths. They were no giants. They had no skill of a David. It was a mismatch.
However, the greatest mismatch of all times was Jesus vs. Satan. Satan was not a worthy opponent to Jesus. He did not possess strength equal to Jesus'. He was a lightweight and Jesus was a heavyweight. Jesus humiliated him. Satan thought he had Jesus cornered. On Good Friday, Jesus was ridiculed. He was brutally beaten; he got some skin-ripping whipping and endured the long agony of dying slowly. For a couple days, Satan was smiling. The disciples were confused and in retreat. Then Jesus' darkest moment became his finest hour because of his resurrection. Jesus disarmed Satan. He made a fool out of him. "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" Colossians 2:15.
SATAN'S GREATEST WEAPON
This was the greatest comeback of all times. Satan's greatest weapon, death, was destroyed and Jesus is alive forevermore.
Nobody has ever claimed to be resurrected. Even when Haile Selassie died in the 1970s, the late Bob Marley came out with the song "Jah Lives' which was a denial that Selassie was dead rather than that he was raised from the dead. Christians are making an astonishing claim in the resurrection of Jesus. The credibility of the Christian faith rests on that assertion.
There have been attempts to discredit the resurrection of Jesus. It has been said that: Jesus faked his death and resurrection to convince His followers; the disciples simply imagined they saw the risen Christ or that the disciples saw the ghost of Jesus; they visited the wrong tomb; the disciples stole the body and fabricated the story of resurrection.
However, hundreds of former frightened weak disciples saw the resurrected Jesus and became powerful and bold disciples who turned the city upside down. The power that raised Jesus from the dead gives us hope that we can face difficult situations of life, including this budget.
RASTAFARIANISM AND REGGAE MUSIC
Last week, at a conference, focusing on Caribbean Spirituality, held at the Harvard Divinty School, I heard Professor Orlando Patterson give the keynote address in which he lamented that Christianity, Rastafarianism and Reggae music have retreated from seeking outer freedom and have been contented to focus primarily on inner freedom. To support his point he claimed that all the major indicators show that Jamaica is worse off today than yesterday - the income disparity is wider; the economy is not growing enough; violence against each other, authoritarianism, worker apathy etc.
He said that what nearly brought him to tears was the fact that the UN figures showed that Jamaica has a worse literacy rate now than 40 years ago. He was quoting from his lecture the
government had asked him to deliver on the 40th anniversary of Independence last year. However, the book, 'Rebellion to Riot: The Jamaican Church in Nation Building' paints a different picture concerning the advance in literacy. It shows the rate being constant at 50 per cent between 1938 and 1975 and then improving to 80 per cent in 1999. The differences between the figures could be due to the use of different sources and also due to the change in definition and measurement of literacy over the years. Nevertheless, the other data cannot be successfully challenged and perhaps one of the most frightening announcements was the recent survey by Kenneth Carter, which found that only 3 per cent of the Jamaican workforce was motivated.
Some things need urgent attention and persons who believe in the power of the resurrection ought to do more. Instead of withdrawing from the socio-economic process and giving obeisance to a corrupt system that is failing to deliver the goods, there should be some creative responses to the cries of the needy that will enable more persons to learn to fish.
RESPONSE
The Jamaican Church responded in time past with Free Villages, Building Societies, Credit Unions etc. It is time to step up to the plate with other creative ideas so that more Jamaicans can step up inna life.
Belief in the power of the resurrection gives us hope that Jamaicans can break every chain that oppresses and find inner and outer freedom.
The Rev Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church.
