Easter and the hypocrisy around it

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By Deo Tumusiime­­­­­­

A few weeks ago, with a lot of enthusiasm, I bought some palm trees for planting in my home. I have indeed been a great admirer of these special trees for many years. But when I woke up Sunday morning, I realised that one of the trees had been destroyed. Then it dawned on me that being Palm Sunday, some Christian had seized the opportunity and plucks palm leaves off my budding tree. I was very sad.

I have been a passionate scholar of religious developments across history, but one thing that perturbs me, is the hypocrisy that surrounds many of our religions. Take this very example: It is Palm Sunday; you walk to the neighbour's house, destroy his palm tree and smartly walk to church to wave the very palms in acclamation of religious allegiance.

This to me is absolutely nonsensical and it is high time that we reviewed some of the physical religious symbols and have people focus on the real thing.  Besides, doesn't someone surely realise that the use of Palms encourages people to degrade our environment by destroying trees? Would someone be less religious if they walked to church and waved their hands instead of palms?

Fast rewind and I am quickly reminded of the start of the Lenten season this very year. I arrived home that Wednesday evening and was welcomes by my quizzical children wondering why they could not eat meat on Ash Wednesday.

In fact, many people even believe that eating meat on Fridays during lent is a sin. Perhaps, perhaps not. What I summarily believe is the biblical teaching that it is not what goes into a man's mouth that makes him unclean, but rather what comes out (Matthew 15). Believers must concentrate on their personal relationship with God and others instead of being so bothered about physical symbolism, which sometimes draws them further away from the ideal.

I could even attempt to understand the need for the proclaimed 40 days of fasting prior to the Easter celebration.  Yes we need to be reminded; yes we need to identify with Jesus' experiences: But we must be very careful not to act sheepishly like the pagans do.

­­­Jesus was God as we are taught, and we are not. What I often hear in the Catholic beliefs, is that a Christian may choose an item they cherish so much and fast just that-but what we forget is that our life spans further than the mere 40 days of fasting. Almsgiving and living a Godly life must be a daily endeavour, meaning that restricting acts of goodness to the Lenten season is simply hypocritical to say the least. I have even written before, that we do not need a repetitive celebration of Easter year in, year out if our actions and lifestyle is not commensurate.

 And many times we have a tendency of hiding behind that consolation that we are only human and, therefore, prone to error; but being human does not mean that we are too stupid to change our ways. A lot of things we do in life arise from our clear conscience even when there's no one watching. Honestly, if Jesus dies for us two Millennia back and we are still grappling with petty problems of theft, anger, hatred, cheating, murder, telling lies and so on, then Jesus' death is in vain and we are celebrating his resurrection simply because it is a holiday on our calendar.

Walk to any church on Easter Day and you'll realise that all churches are full to capacity. It is also true that many churches make more money on Easter than any other ordinary church day. Ever asked why?  The answer is simple- people believe that doing so brings them closer to God in a special way on a special occasion!!! Sounds like a man who skips meals for one week and at the nearest food opportunity, attempts to devour a full saucepan of food all by himself! I tell you most solemnly, that a person that consistently says a little pray on his heart every day will already have received their maximum reward by the time Easter comes around.

The God we serve is unseen and cannot be mirrored through physical symbols flawed in our human weaknesses. In fact, the Bible reminds us that when you do any works of charity, you don't need to make a big show of it, for the Lord who sees what happens in darkness will reward you nonetheless. I am not even saying that people should not go to church altogether, but I do not believe that not going to church on Easter would make anyone any less Christian either.

Comparatively, last Christmas some women from my local church came about with an envelope apparently for some tithe of sorts. Many churches are nowadays caught in the web of monetization. The day the women were to collect the envelope, thieves had vandalized my car and made away with one side mirror. I asked myself: What is more sensible? To give the money I have to the women to take to church or use it to repair my car? I doubt they would have cared at all about what had befallen me.

 So this religious symbolism is somewhat important but it only forms a tiny fraction of what should be required of us as believers. Notably if our faith is not well aligned, we risk sliding into an abyss of religious fanaticism, which is grossly responsible for many of contemporary troubles. In my view, what matters is a contrite heart and not the showy acts of goodness.

The writer is a communications consultant