It has been on my mind to reflect on the topic of wisdom and the wisemen as we approach the Christmas season when we celebrate the wisest of all men to live on this planet. Well, Jesus was wisdom herself, as Proverbs records, and indeed Luke alludes to that wisdom as he writes the biography of Jesus. I would have been interested by that short word in Luke 2:52 which records that Jesus grew in stature, he grew in wisdom, he grew in favor with God and men. Now this Wise man, his birth was threat to the authorities that be. The three wisemen from the East, went to pay homage at the Wise small guy who had been born in Bethlemehem of Judah. In fact, to have these guys come to worship a newborn (small guy) was history in and of itself because they were yet to hear him speak. As it were, Jesus, like other babies, was born unable to speak, yet these guys from the East recognized him. This was so divine. Later in his teenage years, Jesus would begin to teach as one who had authority, argue with the Pharisees in the temple and proof his inborn wisdom.
It is surprising however that the same Jewish leaders began to mock him as they often tested him on matters that were obvious to which Jesus would not pay much attention or would perpendicularly tackle their enquiries.
As I reflect on this Christmas, a few randomies came to my mind which boarder on mockery of wisdom and ignorance. As we well know, our ancestors, whether biblical or earthly, left us proverbs, idioms, wise sayings and parables that were full of wisdom. We grew up knowing these idioms and figures of speech as they formed part of our cultural norms. Such were inculcated in us through songs, language and praxis. I was thinking of how we heard good and wise sayings in our mother-tongue that hit home faster than any other language. We had this particular one of which I have an English equivalent as well as a Swahili translation- Kahora, kahora, kari indo- Hurry hurry has no blessing (Mwenda pole hajikwai). As I reflected on this proverb, I thought to myself that maybe my ancestors were used to stallions or war-machinery that caused more harm by moving that fast and destroyed lives. No wonder, their proverb was good to counsel those who tended to move faster and caused harm. Our soceity today looks at the proverb with indignation especially in this era of instant stuff. We need to slow the clock in order to fit all our activities in the day if we have to deal with proclastination. What do you think our fast and instant lives are looking through as they reason with the controversial proverb?
The second proverb that I have had an issue with is "Mwana wi kioo ndagaga muthambia" to mean that a hardworking child will never lack someone to support them. This proverb has caught me thinking that either it was wrong or I was not a hardworking child. To begin with, during my highschool I worked so hard, but I never got the financial support to enable me to finish my schooling in peace. I also remembered my college life where I have struggled with fees despite being hardworking and having the characteristics of a glimmer of hope in my region. The fees went to others, whom I cant deem undeserving, but I felt I deserved a cone of the pie too. However, this has remained mocked and unsustatinable and goes against the ancestral wisdom. I have seen other evils that do not quite agree with the prevailing circumstances.
Some harmful behaviors have prevailed where a father decides to "eat" his own daughter, and impregnating the victim was just one among many that go unimpregnated but harrased cases. It is high time as we reflect on the wisdom season, which is Christmas season, whether we need to change our proverbs and lower the standards or adjust to the right societal norms.
Can any society that despises its wisemen go any far?
Do we think we can get away with this sciving of the wisemen's sayings for long? I think in short, I am saying that we have a torn social fabric that needs attention. this torn fabric can be seen in the way our children have emulated someone and been found exchanging vulgar language and trending on social media. They have been caught practicing actions that were earlier a reserve for the married only and the worst was that an adult was behind all the acts. There were some caught taking ponographic videos for who knows to take where. We have seen high levels of teenage pregnancies than any other time in history! Blame covid, we exclaimed! But is this the truth?This Covid-19 season only came to reveal what has been rotting under the carpet, we are mocking at wisdom, we are ignoring its place in the society and we shall pay deary for that. The corruption in our country is just at the Everest's tip. Why do we suddenly have no regard for our elders, for our ancestors and our wise sayings? It is because we think we can get away with mediocrity, cut corners and expect to be where we want in life at a rocket speed.. But your cutting of corners will find you out, or your generations after you because the reality is sad; we can't mock our proverbs!
I am asking us to reflect on going back to our African proverbs, songs of wisdom and of course the greatest ancestral heritage of all time, the Bible, whose wisdom surpases all others and whose morals settle every controversies. Christmas marks not only a season to rejoice and make merry, but a season to gain more wisdom, take some rest and take stock of how the year has been. After all, we all become one Christmas older every year, and that should push us to act with the gained wisdom.
Retrace your steps to the right place, of wisdom. What shall cause us to stand as a nation is looking back at our wise sayings and allow them to truly mean what they were originally meant to be. Failure to that, our children will also wonder why there are disparities between what they read on books and what their parents practice, and they get more confused and can't be counselled using the items of our mockery and shame.
Real wisdom is found in wanting what the Wisest man born on earth wanted/ wants. Jesus is that Wiseman, we need to seek his wisdom at all times.
Merry-Wisdom Christmass from AURORA BIBLE CENTRE
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