Easter, the Failure of the Cross, and Democracy

This assumption mainly comes from the camp that was dissatisfied with the presidential election result due to the vote counting by the General Election Commission (KPU). Some parties also question the weak democratization process that is tainted by unethical political interests, with an aroma of corruption, collusion, and nepotism!

Meanwhile, on the other hand, the democratic festival is considered to have been successfully carried out peacefully. The participation of residents in the context of the 2024 presidential election gave a resounding victory to the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka pair.

Also read: Easter and the Absence of Self

The results of the 2024 presidential election as announced by the KPU showed that Prabowo-Gibran garnered 58.6 percent of the valid votes or a total of 96,214,691 votes out of the national valid votes on Tuesday, March 20, 2024. The Prabowo-Gibran pair won in 36 provinces. Meanwhile, the Anies-Cak Imin pair won in two other provinces with 40,971,906 votes (24.9 percent), while Ganjar-Mahfud did not win any province with 27,040,878 votes (16.5 percent).

How to understand the election results with a democratic process that on the one hand is considered a failure, but on the other hand there is a landslide majority victory? Can Prabowo-Gibran's victory be considered a failure of democracy? How to reflect on the reality that is judged as a failure, but can still find success beyond reason in the light of the failure of the cross and Easter?

Cross failure?

For Christians, Easter cannot be separated from the event of Jesus' crucifixion, which was originally seen as a terrible failure, to the point where Jesus' disciples were filled with fear and hiding, worried about suffering the same fate as Jesus, being killed and crucified! In 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, Paul mentions Jesus' death on the cross as being contrary to the values of the world, giving several reasons.

Firstly, reporting on the cross is death to those who will perish, but for those who are saved, it is the power of God. The cross is the greatest symbol of God's love in the story of Jesus' suffering.

Secondly, the Jews desire a sign and the Greeks seek wisdom. In this context, Paul said, we preach Christ crucified: to Jews a stumbling block and to non-Jews foolishness.

However, for those who are called, whether they are Jewish or not, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. What is foolish to God is greater wisdom than human wisdom, and what is weak to God is stronger than human strength.

Reporting about the cross is death for those who will perish, but for those who are saved, the news is the power of God.

Thirdly, for Paul, according to human standards, there are not many wise people, not many influential people, not many respected people. However, what the world considers foolish, God chooses to overcome those who are wise; what is weak in the eyes of the world, God chooses to overcome what is strong; what is despised and considered lowly in the eyes of the world, God chooses; even what is insignificant, God chooses to nullify what is significant so that no human being may boast before God (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-29).

Therefore, the cross is a failure if only seen from a human perspective and is even foolishness and a stumbling block. However, the cross which is regarded as a failure becomes wisdom that saves because of God's intervention, lifting up the cross as a path of redemption and salvation for all people without discrimination.

In the failure of the cross, there is humility and exaltation for whoever is humiliated and insulted. The cross, which initially was a sign of foolish humiliation and stumbling block, thanks to Christ's Easter, was transformed into a sign of victory, glory, and resurrection. God's intervention always supports anyone who is humiliated and debased by pride and arrogance!

Democracy "vox populi vox Dei"

What does the failure of the cross have to do with our “failure of democracy”? Can the slogan vox populi vox Dei be used to read, reflect on and accept the democratization process in this country, which is considered by a number of groups to have failed?

The terminology vox populi was commonly used in the Roman Republic at the time. However, the earliest references we know of equate it with the voice of God, leading to the sloganvox populi vox Dei. With all the pros and cons, this slogan was then associated with the Saxon scholar and teacher Alcuin of York (735-804), who at that time served as Master of the Palace School in Aachen.

In his letter to Emperor Charlemagne in 800, Alcuin wrote, "And those who always claim that the voice of the people is the voice of God should not be listened to (just like that) because the riots that occur in society always approach madness" (John Guttman, 2013).

Also read: Easter Meditation: Remembering the Suffering

We can accept Alcuin's objection if the people's voices are accompanied by destructive riots. Such voices are not from God. However, in a constructive context, the people's voices can be accepted as God's voice, as seen in the history of the life of Saint Ambrose.

He, who was not even baptized as a Catholic at the time, held the position of public official, Head of the Council of Liguria and Emilia in the city of Milan, with the approval of Emperor Valentinianus, Ambrosius was ordained as the Bishop of Milan on December 17th, 374, replacing Bishop Auxentius who had died in 373.

The appointment and consecration of Ambrosius as the Archbishop of Milan did not go through a reasonable process. It was only because of the outburst of one child in the midst of the heated and intense bishop selection process that everyone present agreed that Ambrosius, who did not even have a background education as a priest, was ultimately consecrated as bishop.

That's where vox populi vox Dei gets the truth, different from what Alcuin criticizes. In fact, Bishop Ambrosius was not only present as Bishop of the Metropolitan of Milan, to this day he is known as a Church Father along with Augustine, Jerome and Leo the Great.

What about democracy in the 2024 presidential election? Can it be concluded that Prabowo-Gibran's landslide victory won 58.6 percent or 96,214,691 of the total national valid votes with superiority in 36 provinces as vox populi, and thus also vox Dei? Or will this social and political reality still be understood as a failure of our democracy (education)?

Let us reflect on that reality with the bright failure of the cross that resulted in Easter. In Christian tradition, the cross of Christ shows the world a different way to measure success. Success is not measured with a secular perspective, but a spiritual paradigm.

In this paradigm, it is necessary to understand the theological perspective of how God sees the results of human work. Therefore, when our efforts and work seem to fail and not produce results, we need to remember that there will always be God's intervention in every event of our lives.

Even though in human terms the life of Jesus Christ ended with the failure of the cross, after the failure of the cross came the success of Easter.

As citizens of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia, guided by Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, we always recognize that our national struggle cannot be separated from the intervention of Allah, and is even understood as being "under the blessing and mercy of the Almighty God."

This theological spiritual paradigm is what Christians live by in understanding the failure of the cross which resulted in the victory of Easter. Even though in human terms the life of Jesus Christ ended with the failure of the cross, after the failure of the cross came the success of Easter. Hopefully democracy, which is considered to have failed in the 2024 presidential election, will result in victory for our nation towards a prosperous Golden Indonesia.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it.

Aloys Budi Purnomo, Clergyman and Lecturer in the Environmental Science Doctoral Program at Soegijapranata Catholic University Semarang

Instagram: aloys_budip_pr