Reflections: Amos 7: 12-15/
Mark 6: 7-13
Amos is sent to prophesy to the people of
Israel just like the twelve apostles are sent out in the Gospel according to
Saint Mark. Amos was a prophet by divine call. In his case, the call had come
to a poor unsophisticated Shepherd and dresser of scycamour trees, a total
outsider to the ranks of professional prophets. Much the same could be said
about the men Jesus chose to be with. Jesus instructed them that the time had
come for them to take an active part in his ministry. Their mission was an
extension of His own mission and He gave them the power to accomplish this. In
understanding his instructions as to what they were to take with them, we must
remember that this was only a temporary mission of a short duration and limited
to the surrounding Jewish towns and villages. The final commission in which
they were to be sent to the whole world was yet to come.
God has made us
responsible just like Amos and the 12 Apostles.
In a sense, believe in God is always is very
uncomfortable because it increases our responsibility. If there was no God then
there would be no point in being responsible. It just would be chaos and
eternal night. If someone comes to us and asks our help, we should not turn him
away with pious words saying, ‘Have faith; take your troubles to God and he
will help you.’ In such cases we should act as if there was no God and as if
there was only one person in the entire world who could help this person, and
that person should be you. Reliance on the providence of God is an essential
part of Christianity but it must not be used as an excuse for doing nothing.
This little story may help sink in the point
here. “One winter’s day, a man came upon a small boy begging. The boy was
shivering from the cold and obviously in need of a good meal. On seeing him,
the man got very angry and said to God, “Lord why don’t you do something about
this boy?” And God replied, “I have already done something about him.” This
surprised the man so he said, “I hope you don’t mind me saying this but
whatever you did doesn’t seem to be working.” “I agree with you there” God
replied. “By the way, what did you do?”, the man asked. “I made you”, came the
reply.”
There is nothing wrong in asking God to right
the wrongs and comfort the suffering but we must remember these tasks have been entrusted to us. We are God’s instruments. That is our dignity and our
responsibility. We must become convinced that without our love, others will not
achieve the things God has willed for them.
In Cameroon today, it is our responsibility to
make sure that our nation achieves the objectives that God had willed for it.
How are we therefore going to succeed in overcoming this seemingly herculean
task? Is it going to be achieved by always blaming our failures on others? –
Must things be addressed on social media using hate language?-Must the
community be completely polarized as we have it now with extremism having taken center stage?
God has been kept out of it and perpetual darkness is threatening
to claim Cameroon. If we assume our God given responsibilities from the
President, the Prime Minister, the Senate, the Lower House, the Chiefs, the
Military, the ministers, the Judiciary, the journalists (Print, Social
Media,TV, Radio), the medical practitioners, the religious,… each and everyone
dutifully carrying out his role then there would be no – killings amongst
ourselves- victimization of people simply because they come from a given part
of the country( a Cameroonian is simply supposed to be a Cameroonian) –blaming others
for our failures –Using hate language and divisiveness in our publications that
may build up to a genocide.
If we don’t work as Gods instruments which is
our dignity and our responsibility then darkness will prevail and we will be
manipulated from the outside by dark forces with an intention of stealing what is
not theirs at our expense. This is the all inclusive peace formula. Failure to
see this will mean only one thing. Your guess is as good as mine.
Francis E. Nzante
Edev Newspaper/ Email: edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel:+237696896001/ 678401408/ 696594138/669542467g
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