2013-12-10
Ron
Nikkel (Prison Fellowship
International)
Nelson Mandela: A Christmas Story
I've been buked and I've been scorned,
I've been buked and I've been scorned,
Children, I've been buked and I've been scorned,
Tryin' to make this journey all alone
You may talk about me sure as you please. . .
Your talk will never drive me down to my knees. . .
Children, Jesus died to set me free
Nailed to that cross on Calvary
(From a Traditional Spiritual – Harry
Belafonte)
Evil
begets evil. Abuse and repression do not make people good. These
are not ingredients for improving the moral character of society.
Inevitably the degradation and violation of human dignity perpetuates
violence. War and violence are not true recipes for peace.
Few stories in modern history are as compelling and provocative as that of
Nelson Mandela, who was scorned and mistreated and imprisoned by the Apartheid
regime of South Africa for twenty seven years. If anything could bring a
man down or fuel his rage, it would be the years of humiliation to which he
was subjected. On one occasion Mandela was forced by his jailers to dig
a trench for his own grave. As they made him lie down in that macabre
trench they unzipped their pants and urinated on him.
It is unusual, if not miraculous, within such degrading and abusive conditions
as well as the isolation and long yearse of forced labor, that Mandela did not
become focused on his humiliation and suffering but on the dream of bringing
freedom to his people. It was a vision that he realized could only be
achieved through peace and reconciliation; by breaking with the historic cycle
of revolutionary violence where the oppressed become the oppressors, and the
oppressors become the oppressed. While there are those who say that
Mandela used forgiveness and reconciliation as a calculated political
strategy, I doubt that that such was the case for he had nothing to gain by
actions such as inviting his former jailer to be an honored guest when he was
inaugurated as President of South Africa.
I’ve had occasion to meet with political and revolutionary leaders, former
prisoners in a number of countries. Inevitably I have found that the
humiliations of being imprisoned had either left them broken in spirit or so
embittered and enraged that they could not wait for the day to be able to
avenge their enemies. On a few rare occasions I have met leaders
similarly imprisoned but who came to eschew revolutionary violence and revenge
to embrace a lifestyle of peace and reconciliation as the result of a
transforming spiritual encounter with Jesus Christ. Among such leaders
were Roger “Bomba” Arienda former violent student revolutionary
leader in the Philippines; Francisco Galan the former rebel leader of the ELN
Revolutionary forces in Colombia; George Speight who overthrew the government
of Fiji in a coup d’état; and Tamerat Layne, leader in the movement
that overthrew the Mengistu regime of Ethiopia. Like Nelson
Mandela, these leaders pursued the way of forgiveness and reconciliation that
is far more daunting and difficult than way road of violent revolution and
revenge. Each of their stories uniquely reflect the Christmas story
which is essentially the story of the humiliation of God in Jesus; a suffering
rejected human being, in order to bring the good news of forgiveness and
reconciliation to all people.
The romanticized image of a babe in a manger and the joyful carols we hear
don’t tell the whole Christmas story. The real story is that of God
subjecting himself to the worst of humanity’s bickering, brawling, and
belligerent ways as one of us in order to show us a better way. Jesus
absorbs the disrespect, degradation and violence of our ways yet without
seeking recourse through retaliation or revenge. In doing so he
expresses and makes God’s forgiveness and reconciliation real. He is
the Prince of Peace.
As human beings we are so easily drawn into conflict – we meet conflict with
conflict, insult with insult, violence with violence. The political and
social stage of the world reflects our human nature. One does not have
to look very far to see political leaders who refuse to compromise for the
sake of the common good of their people; brothers in the same family who
cannot resolve their perceived insults; husbands and wives who can’t break
out of the cycle of betrayal and disrespect; nations and groups that pass on
their injuries and insults from one generation to the next; and wars that
restore order but not peace. Against the normal background of human
injustice and violence Nelson Mandela said “The Good News borne
by our risen Messiah who chose not one race, who chose not one country, who
chose not one language, who chose not one tribe, who chose all of
humankind…Our Messiah,, born like an outcast in a stable, and executed like
a criminal on the cross…whose life testifies to the truth that there is no
shame in being conquered: Those who should be ashamed are they who conquer
others…Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being
oppressed: Those who should be ashamed are they who oppress others.
(Zion Christian Church, Moria, 3 April 1994)
The
Christmas story, the story of Jesus the Prince of Peace, is the story of God
breaking through the human cycle of violence and revenge by offering his
forgiveness, to reconcile us to himself and to give us peace beyond all human
understanding. In a significant way, the story of Nelson Mandela is a
reflection of that greater story – a story I am pausing to remember this
Second Week of Advent as we light the candle of Peace.
He was despised and avoided by others; a man who suffered, who
knew sickness well.
Like someone from whom people hid their faces, he was despised, and we
didn’t think about him.
It was certainly our sickness that he carried, and our sufferings that he
bore…
He was pierced because of our rebellions and crushed because of our crimes.
He bore the punishment that made us whole; by his wounds we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:3-5)
Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love,
any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy …
having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other.
Don’t do anything for selfish purposes,
but with humility think of others as better than yourselves.
Instead of each person watching out for their own good,
watch out for what is better for others.
(Philippians 2:1-6 CEB)