“It’s All About Jesus The Christ!”

“It’s All About Jesus The Christ!”(Rom.1:1-7).
A fable says tortoise won a beautiful princess for his bride. He felt so self-important that he sent the lizard to bring home his bride. The lizard couldn’t withstand the beauty of the princess, he eloped with her. After hearing what happened, tortoise took off in hot pursuit of the lizard to get back his bride. To this day, the lizard is still on the run, and that is why it constantly lifts up its head listening to hear whether tortoise is still pursuing him. There is no peace for a guilt conscience.
My first assignment from my lecturer in New Testament theology was to read a book on Paul and conclude by my judgment whether it was Jesus or Paul who founded Christianity. This has been a contentious debate among scholars of New Testament theology and biblical scholars.
Paul is precise and conclusive in his autobiography. He does not claim to be a servant who is above his master. He is not the lizard errand boy taking what does not belong to him. He is a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God…” God had promised this gospel “beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is the centre of both the Old and New Testament canons. In his words, Jesus says, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms”(Lk.24:44b).
The Bible is not a western tool of enslavement and subjugation – albeit that its used has been abused.
The gospel was brought to the continent as continuity of Paul’s ministry, which was to destigmatize Gentile culture and relativize Jewish cultural and religious haughtiness.
Paul insists that it is all about Jesus and only through Jesus that he has become something:
“Through him, we received grace and apostleship to call all Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Christ…”
My friend, Christ, is for us because we “also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Christ.”
Southern Africans tell of how the missionaries gave the Bible to their ancestors, asked them to close their eyes for prayer. When they opened their eyes after the ‘Amen,’ their land had been demarcated. Since then, the foreigners had the land and the Africans now have the Bible.
But how have we appropriated the Bible better than the colonisers if we continue to preach “pie in the sky ” since we have a better home in heaven!
Jesus came and died for our sins. Sin simply means ‘missing the mark.’ Repentance therefore is to take proper aim and get the mark.
“It is all about Christ” is to state that he does not come to placate oppressors, suppressors, dictators and any kind of structural sin that dehumanises other human beings to provide comfort and lordship to a few! He comes to liberate, to set the captives free and raise the consciousness of the disenfranchised who, like Plato’s caveman should come out of the cave and realise the beauty of light that was not enjoyed, but which is always there!
This is what it means when with the birth of Jesus it was fulfilled that “…the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of the death a light has dawned”(Mt.4:16).
Dear friend, we Gentiles have been called to belong to Jesus Christ to continue the Great Liberative Commission. The text says “to call people from among all Gentiles…” There’s no bad faith on those who decide not to be among, but to those who are among, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father abd from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Sunday prayer: Holy Spirit, help me in my resolve to remain among those called to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you! Merry Christmas!
Rev Babila Fochang.
21/12/2025.