Every Easter holiday brings with it many dramatisations from all parts of the world commemorating that important part of the Christian faith, and I have not tired of watching them.

It’s a beautiful and heart-warming story that you do not have to be a Christian to enjoy. It is also full of symbolism that reminds us of the power of love over death and the futility of temporal power in the hands of politicians and their agents.

That Jesus was killed and buried, and still managed to rise three days later, is probably the greatest and most awe-inspiring story you will ever hear.

At that time, according to the scriptures, even Thomas, a devout follower of the man, refused to believe the story till the Master let him touch the scars from his crucifixion. (Thomas, by the way, has been receiving a bad press for the past more than 2,000 years with the moniker “Doubting Thomas,” when he should be recognised as the first Christian empiricist).

The story is so awesome that groups around the world re-enact it every year, some carrying effigies of Jesus, some even volunteering to be hung on a cross, nails and all. It is a story that has a large part of the world in a firm grip.

It is the potency of that story that has so many charlatans in this country trying to do resurrections of their own, unashamedly displaying “dead” people whom they then proceed to “bring back” to life.

Everyone should know that these are fakes, but nothing is done to them. Perhaps the police chiefs are among the believers. Or they are too busy chasing cyberspace offenders, hidden underground, to see what is so manifest.

The Easter holidays and their devotions have also become occasions for our rulers to go to church and show humility, confess to their sins and ask for redemption.

Even the most arrogant of these types, even those who have characteristically sought to portray themselves as untouchable demigods when dealing with those they are ruling over, are seen shuffling towards the priest, with long faces deliberately faking contrition.

It must give these priests, some of them despicable sinners, a kick to be standing over the kneeling rulers, placing their clerical hands over the heads of princes and governors in a ritual that is supposed to shower blessings on individuals who sold their souls a long time ago.

To err is human, they say, and it is forgivable if we indeed do err from time to time. But there is something dishonest about those who serially offend with impunity, deliberately betraying the trust placed in them by their people, simply because they know Easter will come and they will go before their Maker and show faces of misery, make huge contributions, have preachers’ hands laid upon them and thus buy divine grace.

Who are they trying to fool? I have always thought that if God is omniscient, all knowing, that must mean He knows everything they do in the dark, and will not have His leg pulled with all that play-acting.

But that does not seem to deter our local Pharisees who believe that even He can be mocked, just as they mock us, poor earthlings.

The current Pope perhaps stands out as one who does the right thing, symbolically. Round this time during the original Easter, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet as a sign of his love and his humility.

This Pope chose to wash the feet of inmates, who are deemed to be the worst members of any society. Pope Francis has often shown his willingness, and ability, to be with the lowest of his flock, and this should be emulated by all of his sheep.

This must not mean that our rulers adopt the habit of driving around with huge tanks of water looking for dirty feet to wash; no, that would dry up our water supply. There are other ways to show we care for and love one another.

The most basic act is to really humble oneself and invest one’s time in the service of others, seeking to be of service, to give more than one takes, to make this place better than we found it. That is a washing of feet that Jesus would applaud.
.
Jenerali Ulimwengu is chairman of the board of the Raia Mwema newspaper and an advocate of the High Court in Dar es Salaam. E-mail: [email protected]