Dear Editor,

Respect is due to, and congratulations are in order for Prime Minister Andrew Holness on being bestowed with yet another accolade, that of being assigned membership to the London-based Privy Council.

It has, however, drawn suspicion from some quarters, since the announcement was not accompanied by the fanfare that we have come to expect from a politician, who has received such a prestigious ‘award’. A certain pan-African female radio personality has even vehemently criticised this appointment, referring to it as “neo-colonialism”.

Sir Alexander Bustamante, the first prime minister of independent Jamaica, a founder of the now governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), readied himself to “take a bullet” for “his people” at the height of tense labour relations pre-Independence.

Unfortunately, and perhaps ominously, it is impossible to conceive of the same with Mr Holness. What would Mr Holness deliberately and sincerely compromise or sacrifice for the life of Jamaica, or a Jamaican’s life? Sadly, this is where the lessons from Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of his master, Jesus of Nazareth, come in.

Most people who are familiar with this Bible story, would consider the basis of Judas’s act of betrayal as the tempting power of money. However, what Judas really had on his mind was legacy — a legacy which the chief priests, Scribes, and Pharisees had and could offer him — of high positions in the Church, elite titles, social and holy recognition and, of course, rubbing shoulders with the esteemed and powerful Romans, namely the Herodites. Judas thought the same way as politicians like Andrew Holness.

Just as Jesus commended some for feeding Him, giving Him drink, clothing Him, and visiting Him when he was infirm and imprisoned, while condemning others for not doing so, so it is with us; we are Jesus.

Just as with Judas, this prime minister is set to make three errors of judgement.

The first is the endeavor to have his cake and eat it.

The second, like Jesus’s betrayal of and fatal persecution by the Jews, so, too, is Jamaica’s fate; it has always been, and will forever be a faulty belief, that if injustice must transpire, that it might as well be “you” who mete it out.

The third error is rooted in faithlessness. Jesus repeatedly told the disciples of His bitter fate, and even intimated to Judas that he (Judas) was the one who would betray Him. Even after arranging His betrayal, Judas still did not ‘see’ what he was doing — a sight which only faith could have conferred on him.

Nothing or no one, except God, could have foiled the prophesy of Judas and Jesus, not even if he could have somehow turned back the hands of time and informed himself of what was to be. However, for many, God’s blessing will never be enough, or the charge, which He has handed to us, too burdensome or puny. So we take things into our own hands, which is what led to Judas’s demise and unfavourable legacy.

Andre O Sheppy

astrangely@outlook.com