CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY AS A DETERMINING FACTOR FOR NATION BUILDING: AN EXEGETICAL DISCOURSE ON LUKE 20:21-25

Abstract

Often times, it appears that the task of national development or nation building has been viewed as the sole responsibility of leadership and what it offers a nation. It may not be out of place to state that it is only on few occasions have much attention been given to what followership or the citizens of a nation must not fail to do to enhance and promote nation building. Thus, in most countries of the world today especially in Africa, the common mantra has remained; “Leadership is the problem of Africa”. In other words, people in this kind of localities always tend to hold the leaders responsible for the development or underdevelopment of their nation. It is a situation where everyone is on the lookout for what the government will do for him or her and while this mentality is maintained, little or no attention is given to what the citizen or individual has to and must do to contribute positively to nation building. This paper attempts an exegetical discourse on Luke 20:21-25 where an account is rendered on where Jesus Christ was confronted with the question on whether citizens should continue to pay tax to the governing system that exists then. And from his response, Christ authenticates the fact that civic responsibility is something one cannot shy away from irrespective of one’s religious belief. Through an exegetical method of analysis and consultation of some well written related documents, the paper seeks to opine that despite what leadership has to offer to better a nation, a balanced national development cannot be achieved without the citizens carrying out their civic responsibilities as it remains a determining factor for the growth of a nation vis a vis nation building. It thus recommends that civic responsibility must be handled with all diligence by both the leaders and followers in a nation if there must be sustainable national development and growth.