By The Rt. Rev’d. Dr. Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba, President of UNIP.
“I am the way and the truth and the life”. John 14:6.
“Because I live, you also will live”. John 14:19.
I remember as a theological student at Oxford in 1982 going to watch the movie Gandhi with friends at Leicester Square in London. The final words of Gandhi towards the end of the movie during his funeral scene were indelibly imprinted on my mind:
“When I despair, I remember that, all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it: always.”
This is the message of Easter. Think of it: the Resurrection is the victory of Life over death as Christ is Life; of Love over hatred as Christ is Love; of Light over darkness as Christ is Light; of Truth over lies as Christ is Truth.
A lady named Brinelle echoed this truth in these enchanting words:
“The resurrection does not shout; it unsettles. The stone is rolled away not with spectacle, but with quiet resolve. Easter speaks to those who have watched truth be silenced, justice denied, and love crucified. And yet, it insists: what is buried in fear will rise in courage, what is dismissed as weakness will return with strength. The empty tomb is not just a symbol of victory it is a sign that the world’s final word is not always the truest one. In this space of uncertainty and waiting, Easter asks us to trust that what is true will rise, again and again.”
Truth will rise again and again this is what the resurrection meant to the first disciples of Jesus and to generations of believers since then.
Our world is in a very bad place. There are over 50 active conflicts worldwide, with major international wars namely the Russia and Ukraine war; the Israel and Palestine war; the Israel – American – Iran war; and high intensity civil wars in Sudan, Myanmar, Syria. Other significant wars are in Yemen, Haiti, the Sahel, and Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It is shocking that in the 21st century when humanity should have tired of war to be at peace with one another we are insanely at war; causing massive casualties and instability and significantly impacting the global economy.
In despair we turn to the graceful meaning of the resurrection. There is a glorious mystery to it, a surprise, a miracle of God, it’s always happening in life. It’s about the life giving Spirit of God working in life, in our lives. The life giving Spirit of Life, of Love, of Light, of Truth, triumphing over all that’s evil, false and oppressive in life.
The subtlety of the resurrection which we often fail to understand is that we are part of it united in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Jesus is risen and so are we! We are risen in Christ. “Because I live, you also will live”.
Jesus Christ did not resurrect alone as we think but with and in us. He is the firstborn from the womb of death who also resurrects humanity, you and I. We share in his resurrection and victory over evil and all that which demeans humanity.
In His Resurrection humanity and creation are made anew for in Christ we become a new creation. The mystery of Life is that what affects God affects us and what affects us affects God.
So in the first Easter God breathed His resurrected breath in humanity. So when we despair, when things go wrong in our lives, and nations, and world, when all seems lost and hopeless, we are reminded never to lose hope. The breath of God breathes in us and Easter is a divine reminder that God always surprises us in life.
The Easter surprise is not a fairytale but something happening to us now – we are all caught up in it. We all live in the wake of the ancient but ever new and becoming Easter.
Christ as Light dispels darkness, Christ as Love conquers hate, Christ as Peace stops wars, Christ as Life conquers death in the resurrection. New life emerges, bubbling with joy, laughter, and dancing.
St Paul understood this well when he wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me”. Galatians 2:20.
The resurrection is the eternal energy of God’s love and life springing up in the moment. In the moments of our lives the Risen Christ challenges us to be channels of God’s love, compassion, justice, peace, righteous, truth, and generosity. We are challenged to live out the Christ life by uplifting the vulnerable and poor in life, to make Zambia and our world a better place for all.
The Resurrection always addresses the context of the present. Accordingly this Eastertide the Risen Christ challenges us to protect and preserve what threatens our democratic values and life as a nation.
Our country is in a very bad space. As people matter above all Easter challenges us to focus on the biggest issue facing ordinary Zambians which is their daily survival.
Zambians facing poverty is the biggest issue we are grappling with. Around 60-70% of the population is living below the poverty line. Poverty is especially severe in rural areas, where it affects nearly 80% of residents, but it is also rising in urban areas. The high cost of living has many people struggling to afford the basic needs like food, shelter, and healthcare.
Another concern is unemployment particularly among young people. Economic growth has not translated into adequate formal jobs.
A large proportion of the national budget is committed to debt servicing, which limits resources available for public services and social welfare. This has affected everyday life, especially for poorer communities.
Easter challenges us too to focus on the issue of governance in our country which is in a very bad space.
The current administration is seen as persistently harassing, arresting, and jailing political opponents and critics. The latest publication of the Human Rights Watch 2026 Country Report details the extensive abuse of human rights and the state clamping down on citizens’ freedom of expression.
Contrary to the election promises of expanding the democratic space, freedom of speech has been severely restricted by the government. Opposition parties have been neutralised and weakened by the direct interference of the administration in there internal polity.
Zambians see politically the current administration as dictatorial and not embracing of its citizens. It has disdained nation building by making many Zambians feel excluded. The ethnic background of people has been deliberately highlighted against the motto of One Zambia One Nation.
The administration has become increasingly authoritarian and hostile in passing oppressive laws which include constitutional amendments passed illegally and against the ruling of the Constitutional Court as well as the objections of the majority of Zambians.
The president was elected in office as a political reformer. But the reform agenda has collapsed under a deliberate policy that weakens democratic processes in order to secure political advantage. It’s a constitutional power grab by schemes, that is, robbing democracy from the Zambian people step by step.
As the president confessed himself the passage of Bill 7 was vital to ease his path to re-election. This malevolently engineered constitutional power grab inadvertently exposed his lack of trust in the people to chose freely.
Sadly complicit appears to be the institutions of the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the Registrar of Societies which ought to be independent. Once compromised the entire electoral process is questionable.
The truth remains the real opposition in Zambia is not the political parties but the Zambian people to whom power belongs. And no legal dribbling, institutional pressure, or political intimidation can suppress the will of the people.
We often forget a vital truth of life and on which the mystery of Easter is premised that we live in a moral universe.
A favourite statesman of mine was the Czech playwright and former President Vaclav Havel. His life and politics was rooted in morality. He described it as his “presidential program” focusing on moral and cultural intent.
Havel believed that the most dangerous enemies of a good cause today was our own bad qualities. He aspired to “bring into politics a sense of culture, of moral responsibility, of humanity, of humility and respect for the fact that there is something higher above us, that our behavior is not lost in the black hole of time but is written down and evaluated somewhere, that we have neither the right nor reason to think that we understand everything and have license to do anything we wish.”
This is the teaching of Easter and the vision both of what politics can be and the large arena or moral universe in which we humans do our things, for good or ill: whatever we do or neglect to do is recorded, remembered, and evaluated somewhere; there is something higher above us: God. It is to God we are all accountable whether presidents or domestic workers.
The breaking news of Easter 2026 is that truth triumphs in a environment of lies and falsity and corruption and deceit, to align Zambians to the ennobling Truth which is Christ.
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is resurrected in our lives to make us channels of His love, compassion, justice, peace, righteous, truth, and generosity.
Zambia needs a moral alignment beginning with us. We can’t just be shouting we are a Christian nation and yet act and live like devils.
To think peace we must be peace; to think justice we must be just, to think love we must be loving, to think unity we must be unifiers. This is all possible in the mystery and power of the Resurrection at work in our lives to build a better Zambia for all.
In our world being in a very bad place; in our country being in a very bad place struggling daily to survive, and being in a very bad place with governance; we must not despair.
For Easter reminds us not to despair because the power of God’s spirit is active in our lives and world. It’s the eternal truth which cannot be buried in lies because Truth is Jesus Christ. So to truly live is to live in truth not lies. So beloved Zambians let us follow the Truth and be kind and gentle to each other and trust God.
So I often remember and am inspired by the final words of Gandhi all those many years ago saying:
“When I despair, I remember that, all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it: always.”
May the Spirit of the Resurrection lead us to build a Zambia of Love, Light, and Truth, that is wholesome, inclusive, and prosperous for all Zambians.
