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Bishop
Peter K. Sarpong of Kumasi 1. Preamble The accounts of the life and work of our Lord Jesus Christ as recorded by the four evangelists draw our attention to quite a few basic truths about discipleship of the same Lord. St Mark in Chapter 3, verses 13-15 of his Gospel clearly defines who an apostle is. Jesus, he writes, "appointed twelve; they were to be his companions and to be sent out to proclaim the message, with power to drive out devils". The apostle, therefore, is chosen to know Jesus intimately and to savour his goodness. He then has to proclaim that goodness. This was made even more explicit when Jesus, about to leave his disciples, told them: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes to the end of time" (Mt 28:19-20). Here is yet another truth. In carrying out this work of proclaiming the Good News the disciple is assured of the perpetual presence of the Lord with him inspiring him and supporting him. The third truth confirmed by the Lord in the Acts of the Apostles is that the proclamation of the Good News is bearing witness to Jesus himself, and that this must reach every part of our globe: "You will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the earth’s remotest end" (Acts 1:8). The fourth truth is that it is the duty of a disciple of the Lord to see to it that all hear the Good News and that in the process of proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ and his goodness, one cannot but deliver people from the shackles of iniquity and oppression. The Good News, therefore, has power and irresistibly urges those who receive it to share it with others. One cannot accept it without passing it on as it were. Often when the Lord healed a sick person of an infirmity and forbade him to tell others, the healed person would do just what the Lord had told him not to do. This happened to the man with leprosy, the story of the healing of whom we find in Mark 1:40-45. The Lord had told him "Mind you, tell no one anything". Yet "the man went away, but then started freely proclaiming and telling the story everywhere". All this is a clear indication that the Lord’s Gospel has a liberating mission for all human beings and the Lord intends it as such. 2. John the Baptist His own preaching of this Gospel of liberation from sin, resulting from a true conversion of hearts, was preceded by that of John the Baptist, who "went through the whole country bordering the Jordan River proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins...". "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not start telling yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our Father’" (Lk 3:1-4,8). He went on to advise those who had two tunics to share with those who had none and anyone who had something to eat to do the same. The tax collectors were to exact no more than the appointed rate. Soldiers were to stop intimidating people, extorting money and be content with their pay (Lk 3:3-14). The Gospel is indeed Good News of repentance, justice and compassion. 3. Core of Christ’s Message Jesus’ own words are clear on this. When he began to proclaim the message of God he talked of a Kingdom of God. "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Gospel" (Mk 1:14 15). Matthew recalls the same thing in only slightly different words, "From then onwards Jesus began his proclamation with the message, ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand’" (Mt 4:17). Hence Jesus could justifiably sum up his whole mission in the words of Isaiah when he went to his own town of Nazareth. "He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord’... . This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening" (Lk 4:16-19,21). 4. The Kingdom of God The Gospel then is a message about the Kingdom. The preface of the Feast of Christ the King makes it clear that God the Father anointed Jesus Christ, his only Son, as Eternal Priest and Universal King. As priest, he offered his life on the cross and redeemed the human race by his perfect sacrifice of peace. As King, he claims dominion over all creation so that he may present to his Almighty Father "an eternal and universal Kingdom: a Kingdom of truth and life, a Kingdom of holiness and grace, a Kingdom of justice, love and peace". Jesus founded the Church to be at the service of this Kingdom. The Kingdom, in the words of Pope Paul VI, is so important "that, by comparison, everything else becomes the ‘rest’, which is ‘given in addition’. Only the kingdom therefore is the absolute, and it makes everything else relative" (Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 8). The Church serves the Kingdom as its sign and instrument and as a means to it. She is there to preach, promote, establish and nurture the Kingdom and, by the character and quality of her life, to tell the world what the Kingdom is all about. This Kingdom of God is the reign of Christ in our hearts and comes into being whenever and wherever human beings love one another and accept one another’s burden with the spirit of compassion, concern, generosity and sensitivity. 5. Good African Values A look at the African culture and life with special reference to the concept of the ideal African family reveals that its values could come in useful in the announcing of the Good News of Christ in Africa. The African family is based on the clan or lineage system. Its members are believed to be relatives, irrespective of the degree of relationship or length of distance separating them. But the clan is not closed in on itself. Strangers, even slaves and prisoners, can be absorbed into it. The cardinal value of the African family is religiosity, common allegiance to some spiritual overlord. The African family exhibits the values of collectivity and togetherness. Ownership of property is corporate. Succession, inheritance, status and rank are determined by one’s lineage. Kinship terms do not refer only to biological relationships but equally importantly to sociological relationships. My father’s brother is my father and his children are my sisters and brothers. My father’s brother treats me as my father would. In my language there is no word for "paternal" uncle or cousin different from that for "father" or "brother". In the family, individualism has no place, the significant principles being related to solidarity and the collective consciousness. There is a spirit of sharing and caring. Both blessings and difficulties are handled collectively. There is love and affection especially for the sick, the disabled and the aged. In the course of the years members of the family may disperse. They may not even know one another; but let there be a common danger to be expelled or a common good to be achieved or maintained or a common duty to be performed or a right to be enjoyed or a blessing to be shared, and members of the lineage will flock together from everywhere and nowhere almost automatically. The family provides a point of reference for the individual; it gives security to the individual, it gives him dignity. Theologically the family is a gift of God. In the family there are checks and balances to control authority and regulate life in general. There are mechanisms to reconcile members who may be at loggerheads and tend to disrupt the unity that should exist among family members. Support is offered to the downcast, punishment is meted out to the aberrant. A dominant value in the family is love for life. Everybody wants to communicate life. 6. Counter Values In spite of the fact that in the ideal situation the African family exhibits the qualities of the Kingdom of God, however, attention must be drawn to the warning note sounded by His Holiness the Pope to the Church in Africa, namely, that in our attempt to build up the Church as Family, we should try to avoid "all ethnocentrism and excessive particularism" and "instead to encourage reconciliation and true communion between different ethnic groups, favouring solidarity and the sharing of personnel and resources among particular Churches, without undue ethnic considerations" (Ecclesia in Africa, n. 63). The Pope’s words are particularly apt and opportune today in Africa because, whereas members of an ethnic group may cater well for themselves, they may exclude others from their consideration. Members from other ethnic groups are not treated with the same respect as those belonging to it. One protects and supports one’s people against others even when one’s people are wrong. How often do Africans not lie or resort to violence to protect their people? Community solidarity, which creates strong social, economic and religious bonds, is often turned in on itself so that outsiders receive no justice and no compassion. While providing for the welfare of close relatives and friends and ethnic comrades, one may refuse to see beyond one’s group and to work sufficiently for the common good. The love of children when absolutised becomes a non-value since it regards childless people as cursed and is one of the main causes of polygynous alliances. The commendable emphasis on personal rather than impersonal values is unfortunately often interpreted as loyalty to one’s relatives at any price. Magnanimity is a value. But this is often understood to mean engaging in the most cruel inhuman activities to gain honour. Too much dependence on the family can easily result in parasitism and engender laziness. For all its excellent qualities that have convergences in the Gospel, therefore, African sociocultural life is full of serious ambiguities and could be counterproductive to the Good News, if not well directed. 7. Dominant Worldly Values In this connection four worldly values that are clearly contrary to the values of the Good News, but which appear to be on the ascendancy in Africa, need to be mentioned. The Lord deplored prestige as a value which is opposed to the aspirations of the Kingdom. "As he was teaching, he also said to them, ‘Beware of those teachers of the Law who enjoy walking around in long robes and being greeted in the market place, and who like to occupy reserved seats in the synagogues and the first places at feasts. They even devour the widow’s and orphan’s goods while making a show of long prayers. How severe a sentence they will receive’" (Mk 12:38-40). Unfortunately not infrequently, many an African ethnic group has sought to gain or maintain its pride through the most ruthless acts of brutality. Jesus condemned power for the sake of power. For him power must be for service. "Jesus then called them to him and said, ‘As you know, the so-called rulers of the nations act as tyrants and their great ones oppress them. But it shall not be so among you; whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you shall make himself slave of all. For the Son of Man has not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many’" (Mk 10:42-44). Alas, Africa is unceasingly subjected to the humiliation of witnessing individuals and their fellow tribesmen not only seeking power by all means, foul or fair but, also trying to keep it for as long as possible. A cursory look at the African scene reveals that megalomania and tyranny are some of the principal causes of the bloody conflicts raging over it. Jesus often had to denounce the false solidarity of the scribes and the pharisees who at the last minute assembled in the palace of the high priest to conspire together against him (Mt 26:3-5). He minced no words in condemning them for their unholy alliance that made them collectively impose senseless hardships on the simple people, scandalise them, deceive them with meaningless regulations and oppress them without qualms. "Alas for you, scribes and pharisees" (Mt 23:1 ff.). "The teachers of the law and the pharisees occupy the seat of Moses. Listen and do all they say, but do not imitate what they do for they themselves do not practice what they teach. They prepare heavy burdens that are very difficult to carry, and lay them on the shoulders of the people. But they do not even raise a finger to move them" (Mt 23:2-7). How often, alas, do Africans, in fidelity to a group they belong to, not heartlessly deprive others of their rights? Money and Possessions, which result in unacceptable avarice, have become what amounts to a pathological concern among African leaders. But the Good News could not be clearer on the harm they do to the building up of the Kingdom. "Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I say to you: it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven’" (Mt 19:23). "Alas for you who are rich; you are having your consolation now" (Lk 6:24). It is obvious that these destructive values account in no small measure for the violence with its attendant woes that erupts with such alarming frequency all over Africa. 8. Justice and Peace Indeed often in view of the avid pursuance of these values everywhere in Africa one wonders whether the words "justice" and "peace" can be found in the lexicon of the African. This is what made His Holiness the Pope join his voice "to that of the members of the Synodal Assembly in order to deplore the situations of unspeakable suffering caused by so many conflicts now taking place or about to break out..." (Ecclesia in Africa, n. 117). The Synod Fathers had not only admitted that: "For some decades now Africa has been the theatre of fratricidal wars which are decimating peoples and destroying their natural and cultural resources" (ibid.); but also that the catastrophic situation has "internal causes such as tribalism, nepotism, racism, religious intolerance and the thirst for power taken to the extreme by totalitarian regimes which trample with impunity the rights and dignity of the person" (ibid.). 9. New Forms of Social Ills The types of injustices that have been mentioned can be termed as culturally structural injustices. They are a tip of the iceberg. Many others such as acrimonious fights within the same family for leadership positions, the disposal of abnormal babies born with one deformity or another, the discrimination against strangers even when they are absorbed in the family, have not even been broached. And yet new forms of atrocious phenomena have reared their monstrous heads in Africa today. In fact Africa today is fast losing her cultural identity. It is beset with almost insurmountable problems too well known to warrant full enumeration. Many Africans suffer starvation. The majority of African nations lack basic health requirements. The infant mortality rate in Africa is unacceptably high. The illiteracy rate leaves a great deal to be desired. The situation of man-made hostilities has created a refugee situation whereby Africa has more than half of the world’s homeless. The crippling poverty that has gripped Africa today is frightening. The love for life is giving way gradually to what Pope John Paul II calls the Culture of Death. Human life appears not be respected any more as is evidenced by the incredible massacre of human beings in Algeria, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Republic of the Congo, just to name a few, that has become daily news. The African woman toils and struggles to win the bread for the family. But she is generally not respected or in any case treated on equal terms with men. Hence the Pope had no choice but to deplore and condemn, wherever they are still found in Africa, "the customs and practices which deprive women of their rights and the respect due to them" (ibid., n. 121). We were all elated when the evil system of Apartheid finally gave way to common sense. It can only be described as tragic that one of the first laws that liberated South Africa enacted was to legalise abortion. It is reported to be on the verge of legalising euthanasia. Political crime may have ceased in South Africa but social crime has quickly replaced it and indeed surpassed it in intensity, magnitude and cruelty. However, in deciding to give up power, President Mandela has given a unique example of political wisdom which one hopes other African leaders would imitate to save our continent. Africans were happy when they gained political independence from their colonial masters. Little did they realise that the leadership of African countries would, in the main, soon turn out to be corrupt, power drunk, oppressive and discriminating. The words "bribery and corruption", "nepotism", "intimidation" have become so common that they have lost their odium. Everywhere in Africa fundamental human rights are flouted. The phenomenon of devil worship is fast gaining ground, competing with some of the barbaric and sadistic practices of some traditional secret societies. The youth in Africa are fast losing their sense of identity and purpose. For fulfilment in life, many of them have recourse to drugs, alcohol and other forms of illusory satisfaction. In search of greener pastures, millions of African youth flock from the villages into the cities in search of non-existent jobs and from the cities to every part of the world, especially Europe and America, where they are not wanted and where many of them become criminals. Rural dwellers continue to be held in contempt, treated unjustly and looked down upon by urban dwellers and yet in most cases they produce the materials that are the mainstay of the national economy. We cannot talk about Africa today without mentioning, however casually, the AIDS pandemic. Prostitution, armed robbery and other types of crime are causing pandemonium in many African cities and plunging citizens on to the verge of despair. The phenomena of child combatant and street children are destroying the African young girl and boy. We could go on, but to what purpose? We all know it all. 10. Civilisation of Love There is no doubt that this gloomy picture has only one cause: sin. Sin in turn is expressed in various ways, notably pride, selfishness and greed. And this is where the Gospel comes in. It is an emancipating news. It is a Gospel of Life and life is a direct antithesis of hatred, which is death. The Gospel, therefore, should help Africans to build what Pope Paul VI calls the Civilisation of Love in order for them to truly live. Love, that weapon against which there can be no defences, is the only key to the solution of the manifold problems of injustice and slavery to sin in Africa. The Good News of Jesus Christ creates the Civilisation of Love because it preaches the truth, and the Civilisation of Love thrives on truth, and truth is not co-existent with victory for, as a sage has rightly observed: "victory cannot tolerate truth, and if that which is true is spread before your very eyes, you will reject it, because you are victor. Whoever would have truth itself, must drive hence the spirit of victory; only then may he prepare to behold the truth". It is my belief that much of the scourge of Africa stems form the African’s desire, nay craze, to be victorious by all means. Yet the Good News does not talk about victory. It utilises the power of Christ himself. Christ is the Truth whose power lies in the cross, and unless we are prepared to follow the Truth right up Calvary rather than pursue victory, we cannot be disciples of the One who said, "I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice" (Jn 18:37). "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross daily and follow me". The Good News makes it clear that the transformation of a person into a thing is evil and that the refusal to respond to one afflicted is a denial of his humanity, turning him into a corpse. The Gospel compels us to heed the Word of the Lord: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34). The Gospel reminds us of what the spokesman of God said years before the coming of the Messiah. "Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me — it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks — to break unjust fetters and undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke, to share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor, to clothe the man you see to be naked and not turn from your own kin?" (Isaiah 58:6-7). Jesus would say the same in other words: "as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40). 11. Evangelisation Evangelisation, the proclamation of the Good News of Christ, and human progress therefore converge. It is the acknowledgement and acceptance of the liberating mission and grace of Christ which he has entrusted to the care of his Church. Christ liberates us form all forms of bonds. He it is who restores us to our former dignity and sets us on the course of salvation. He makes us members of his universal family, the Church, which is his Body. That family is not restricted to any ethnic group, race or continent. It extends the length and breadth of our globe. Accepting Christ, therefore, means being part of one global community without boundaries, after the fashion of the Most Blessed Trinity, the source of true love, unity and peace. It means accepting everybody as one’s brother and sister, helping them when they need help, and treating them justly and living in peace with them. This is the Gospel, the Good News of which Africa today is in dire need. 12. The Need for the Gospel Africa needs that Good News today to destroy the pernicious spirit of vendetta that is becoming its daily bread and butter. We have become incapable of forgiving, let alone of forgetting. That group has disgraced us; that group has deprived us of our power; that group is in our way to becoming rich; that group has banded together against us. They are our enemies and therefore deserve nothing less than annihilation. We need the Good News to liberate Africa by giving it the power of reconciliation and forgiveness. "You have heard that it was said: ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. But I say this to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you" (Mt 5:43-44). Africa needs that Good News to give joy to its millions of shelterless, displaced, miserable citizens. Africa today needs the Good News to open its eyes to see and accept the best in humanity and reject evil. Africa needs the Good News to bring consolation to its afflicted citizens. Africa needs the Good News to bring liberty to its many captives and to free those millions of Africans incarcerated in the innumerable towers of Babel dotted around it; the edifices of arrogance, hedonism, falsehood, wickedness, hatred, violence and intolerance. Africa today needs the Good News to be the voice of the voiceless in the uncountable situations of abject poverty, the strength of the powerless, and the dignity of the downtrodden. Africa needs the Good News to be the leg of its lame, the ear of its deaf and the mouth of its dumb. Africa needs the Gospel to make the life of its women and youth meaningful and worth living. Africa needs the Gospel to show us the only human way to get rid of the scourge of AIDS. In short, Africa, indeed the whole world, needs the Good News for the human community cannot long survive without fidelity to what is essentially human and criticism of what is fundamentally anti-human. Without criticism, charity recedes into ruthlessness, peace dissolves into rivalry and love yields to hostility. Therefore Africa needs the Church to rid it of political deceit, of the horrors of torture and of the menace of vote rigging and naked intimidation. We need it to fulfil the wish of the Holy Father that Africa be endowed with holy politicians and saintly Heads of State who place the good of their people over and above their personal interests. Under the judgement of the enduring values of the Good News of Jesus Christ, Africa must critically examine its traditions, customs and cultural heritage with a view to arriving at true freedom. We need the Good News to affirm and confirm the many lofty and wholesome values in African life. But we need the Good News also to challenge those aspects of our traditions and cultures that are debasing and obsolete. We rely on the Good News to purify, animate, unite, guard and guide our cultures on the path to salvation. Africa needs the Good News to strengthen it with the power of Christ, to be able to rid itself of the menace of obsession with the spirit world, especially witchcraft and magical beliefs and operation of secret societies and devil worship. The Good News must help Africa to expose all those forces, personal and political, which undermine the values of friendship, communality, the fear of God and compassion, prophetically denounce them and, through the instrumentality of moral rather than material force, to disarm and dismantle them. Africa should listen to the Good News, which proclaims without compromise the dignity and worth of every human person and places everything under the judgement of God’s Kingdom. We need the Good News to remind us of the unsurpassable value of the gift of life on account of which Jesus said, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10). Africans must not only accept but vigorously preach the Gospel of Life as passionately advocated by the Holy Father in the recent encyclical bearing that name. Africa needs the Gospel to create a vibrant Church which unashamedly witnesses to Jesus Christ the Saviour; a Church which directed by the same Good News becomes a revolutionary community which never rests until the principles of the same Gospel of Jesus Christ are everywhere realised, extended and solidified. We need the principles of the Good News to form small Christian communities in which there is harmony that radiates to others outside them. Directed by the imperatives of the Good News, these small Christian communities must be open to the world. 13. Conclusion In short, Africa needs the Good News to resolve the many contradictions in which it is entangled at all levels: cultural, political, economic, social, religious and moral. For only one Person can rescue Africa from the chains of domination. He is our Lord Jesus Christ, the subject, object and final goal of the Gospel, the Good News. He is the only Saviour of mankind "who has given himself up for our sins to rescue us from the evil world that surrounds us according to the will of God who is our Father. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen" (Gal. 1:1-5). Ref.: Cultures and Faith, Vol. VI, n. 2, 1998.
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