EEP President Chilufya Tayali

IF PRESIDENT HICHILEMA WAS AMONG JESUS’ DISCIPLES, HE WOULD BE ST. JOHN, THE BELOVED

When you read the Gospel of John, you get a feeling of someone who is full of himself, someone who thinks he is more special than others. The gospel of John is also not easy to understand. John is deep, mystical and overly complicated.

Look at how John narrates the incidence of the tomb in Chapter 20 of John’s gospel:

“On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him.”

So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.

When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.”

Note the following statements:

“Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved”

John doesn’t mention his name, rather he calls himself, “The other disciple”, just like HH usually does not mention his name, he would rather say, “This fellow here”.

Then he (John) says, “Whom Jesus Loved”, but who says such a thing about himself, Jesus loved all his disciples.

Then he goes on to say;

“They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;”

Look at John, he is always the first one, he beats everyone, just like HH likes to see himself as the first one, ever.

My point is that, in our human life, we have people who feel more special than others, they are knowledgeable, and they do things that others have not done (or at least they feel that way, even if it is not the case).

This is just part of life, we are created differently, and it was there even at the time of Jesus.

The issue is that, Jesus understood John as he was and pampered him accordingly. Jesus knew that this guy likes to be treated special and he did just that.

In return John proved to be the most loyal, compassionate and courageous disciple to Jesus, such that, he was the last man standing at the foot of the cross, to take up the responsibility of looking after Mary the mother of Jesus.

In other words, people like HH at times can put you off with their character of wanting to be special, but they can be very passionate, loyal, focused and responsible. So, ignore their weaknesses and focus on the positive side.

If you look HH he is like that, he takes things personal to deliver, though the results might not show immediately, but over time, we may be reading about HH like we are doing about St. John, today.

As Catholics, today, we celebrate the Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist and my reflections made me think of HH and others who like to be treated special, that maybe I should look at them like Jesus did, instead of trying to bring them down, encourage them.

HAVE A BLESSED DAY