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Cheza chini.
Shkun. Chorea. Mtiaji. Should the aforementioned words bare some semblance of
Kiswahili but you haven’t the slightest idea what they mean, fret not. You are
in good company. Neither did I and for the longest time I wasn’t even close to
figuring out what they mean. Such is the evolving and progressive nature of
Sheng. One word today, a different word tomorrow. Not that I needed any reminders
that I was growing old, but there you go. In a few years’ time, sheng will
progress faster than I can keep up and a host of words will just end up passing
me by.
Not that they haven’t
already. One time I was watching a football match when someone cried out,
“Nyoka!” The cry was a loud one so I’m pretty sure most people heard it. Ordinarily,
you would expect such a cry would result in people scampering in all manner of
directions. That, or people yelling hysterically as they jump off the ground
hoping the said snake wouldn’t snap at their heels. Neither reaction was
forthcoming. On the contrary, the players and spectators were completely unperturbed.
Their tranquil disposition, as they remained preoccupied with the game, led me
to believe that the word, ‘nyoka’, had to have an alternate meaning than the
one I had earlier thought. I was later to discover ‘nyoka’ was sheng to
describe the misfortune of failing to control a pass, with the ball rolling
under or over one’s foot as a result.
I wish the
experience above was an isolated one. It wasn’t. Years back, another memorable
incident occurred at Toi Market. I was whiling away the afternoon at Toi as was
custom. Back then, I was very fond of window-shopping. Ignorance is bliss and
so the saying goes. It is bliss except when you buy an item and later discover
you could have bought it for far less had you known comparative prices.
Ignorance then becomes regrettable. Window-shopping was thus of utmost
significance so as to ensure I got a good deal rather than regretting later
because of spur-of-the-moment buying.
As you may
already know, vendors in that part of town can be quite persistent. They afford
you VIP treatment as they beckon you to pass by their stall, haranguing their
compatriots who try to convince you otherwise. “Brathe jeans, khaki,” they inquire. More
often than not I would politely decline except for this one time. One guy’s
display of second-hand apparel had a particular allure and so I drew closer to
take a longer look.
One item of
clothing in particular appealed to me. I studied it keenly giving the
impression I would buy it. I can’t quite remember what exactly the clothing
item was but I do recall the ensuing dialogue between me and the vendor….
“Unaezaje?”
“Rwabe.”
“Ati?” I asked (
I heard what he said, it’s just the word sounded so alien I wanted to confirm
my ears weren’t pulling a fast one on me.)
“Rwabe, uko na
ngapi?”The vendor continued.
I politely told
him I didn’t have anything and would return when I did. With minimal fuss, I
walked away never to see him again.
Never have I been
a fan of card games, but at that moment, I wore a seriously convincing poker
face. I masked my ignorance of sheng pretty well because I hadn’t a clue what
he meant by rwabe. I was in no mood
to ask either. Why bother the man with a question on a word of sheng if I
wasn’t going to buy anything from him? That sounded plain rude to me so I did
the easier thing of keeping mum and walking away.
I would
belatedly learn he meant shs 200. Were I to go to Toi today or Soko in
Kawangware or Kongo, I’m sure a new monetary term in sheng will have me just as
confused. I think the confusion I have
is not too dissimilar from the one people have when they encounter the message
of the gospel or of God’s grace.
As much as the
message can be communicated in English, Kiswahili
or Sheng, the message of the gospel can be so difficult to sink in for some.
When you present the narrative of God, incarnating himself as a baby, it will
no doubt draw incredulous stares. When you go on to explain that you don’t have
to earn his love or forgiveness but he already did it for you by offering
himself as a one-time sacrifice for your mistakes, it sounds too good to be
true. Ridiculous even. Isn’t religion supposed to be about earning God’s love
by righteous acts, what do you mean I don’t have to earn God’s love? What do
you mean by ‘Grace’?
Grace has been
confounding to many and I think this is why. Grace is God’s undeserved favour
to an individual or a group in spite of their sins. Love is said to be blind,
grace is when God turns a blind eye on your flaws and lavishes you with his
blessings. In spite of the skeletons in
one’s closet, he still is compassionate and kind towards you. Grace is
intricately related to mercy, which is about God withholding punishment that is
deserved.
“I will have
mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on
God’s mercy.” (Romans 9:15-16). That just illustrate how mercy and grace ranks
in God’s eyes. That can be difficult to wrap your head around. Then again, when
you consider God’s ways are higher than
our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9), it makes
plenty of sense.
To put it in
perspective, think about the sins you dabble with. The ones you chose to be
silent about and desperately pray no-one finds out about them. The ones that
people would cringe at if they did and talk behind your back in hushed tones. Those
are the very ones God pardons when you accept Jesus into your life. They are
the sins he chooses to blot out and remember no more, not just for your sake
but his as well. (Isaiah 43:25) Not only that, but even when you lapse to that
sin, even when you struggle to rid yourself of committing them, grace means
that Jesus still loves you and identifies you as a child of God in spite of
those struggles.(John 1:12) A child of God? Despite my struggles to be holy?
Huh? Too good to
be true? Too simplistic. Too implausible
for a world that is naturally inclined to think God’s love is earned on merit
because that is how trust is earned amongst ourselves. Like David I often find
myself asking, “O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that
you think of him? (Psalms 144:3)
It would have to
be love. His love for us. Not that we loved him but He loved us and sent his one
and only son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
No-one on this
planet chose to be born. We all just found ourselves here bar one exception who
was Jesus. He chose to be born. He chose to swap his heavenly throne for the
womb of a woman. Jesus, who didn’t need food or water to survive, chose to be
utterly vulnerable and dependent on the nutrients supplied to him through a
placenta. He didn’t chose Gertrude Children’s hospital but a manger, accompanied with the smell of
hay, animals and animal droppings to usher his entry into the world.
He exited the
lofty highs of Heaven and stooped so low to our level as to consign himself to
suckling milk from his mother’s bosom as a baby. He chose to grow up in a low
class family, shorn of riches or comforts. Jesus left his celestial palace
encircled by angels for a life of obscurity as a carpenter in lowly Nazareth.
He left his
Heavenly residence for a home-less living on earth. (Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58) He didn’t chose the Post Modern world of advanced
transport, enhanced healthcare, and pervasive social media. He chose the world
of ancient civilization, rudimentary amenities, analogue communication in the
form of scrolls and capital punishment by crucifixion.
He lived a life
of rejection. By his siblings. (John 7:1-9) By his hometown (Luke 4:14-30). By
a large cross section of the Jews and their religious leaders despite bringing
miraculous healing, despite providing relief aid and despite resurrecting some. Despite
healing people of incurable diseases, some cared less to thank him. (Luke
17:11-19) Despite driving out demons, some thought it prudent to drive him away
from their town. (Mark 5: 1-20)
To cap it all
off, He accepted to be betrayed for something a little more than the rwabe I
earlier mentioned. He accepted to be falsely charged, tried and condemned to
die on a cross despite achieving the unequalled feat of committing no sin. He
accepted that an insurrectionist, a murderer and a criminal called Barabbas would go free and that he, a man
of peace, a life-giver, a righteous man never to have sinned, would be
condemned to die on the cross.(Luke 23:18)
He accepted to
shoulder the responsibility of atoning for the sins of an entire world. He
accepted a public flogging for doing nothing wrong. He accepted the excruciating pain of whips, a
thorn of crowns, nails on his wrists and feet to pay the cost of our
defilement, to pay the cost of our nakedness and shame, but ultimately to pay
the cost of our redemption.
When we wonder
where is God when wars, injustice and suffering take place? When we wonder
where is God when my mother or closest friend dies? When we wonder where is God
when a positive cancer diagnosis comes our way? God showed up years ago, in the
flesh, battered, bruised, marred and nailed to a cross with the added indignity
of being stripped of his clothes before an audience baying for his blood when
in all honesty he shouldn’t have been there. There was God, dying a brutal
death, we ought to have died. There he was taking the punishment that was
rightly ours. All this because He loved us and wanted to redeem us from our
condemnation, our depravity, our dishonour, our fear of evil spirits and
reconcile us to himself.
Thereafter, he
resurrected, and claimed victory over sin and death. He disarmed the powers and
authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the
cross. (Colossians 2:15)
These riches and
victory, he shares with us if we confess that we are hopelessly sinful and
incapable of saving ourselves. That we instead, put our faith and trust in him
to pardon us for all our sin and save us as a result of his sin-cancelling, death-triumphing,
self-sacrifice on the cross. Saving us not just from sin’s dominion over us,
but for the rest of our days on earth, saving us from sin’s influence to
succumb to temptation and finally saving us from sin’s presence when we die and
take our place besides him in heaven.
Easter usually
reminds us of this larger than life sacrifice by Jesus that confounds us. It’s
difficult to understand God going through all that for our sake. It’s difficult
to contemplate a merciful God loving us even when we constantly reject him by
following our ways instead of his word. It is difficult to understand God
loving us even when we profane his name by our lives of compromise and
duplicity. Like Sheng, it doesn’t sink in and may pass you by but when you do
understand and accept this message, it gives you the license to live free like
nothing else. To live free of labels, to
live free from the chains of past mistakes, to live free from others definition
of who you should be. It instead ushers you to a new realm of possibility to a
world living as God’s child, deep in his love, deep in a righteousness of faith
he imparts, deep in his acceptance, deep in his undeserved favour and deep in
his pardon. The only pre-requisite to this is just to believe and accept Jesus.
Too surreal, too easy, too simplistic.
It took me years
to accept this, it doesn’t have to take you the same. Believe it. Accept it.
Live it. Don’t let it pass you by.
