Don't let it pass you by

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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.