MATTHEW 11:2-11
ONE OF THE GREATEST MEN
OF OUR GENERATION PASSED AWAY THIS LAST WEEK. NELSON MANDELA HAD
BEEN BORN INTO A TRIBE IN SOUTH AFRICA, ONE OF THE LARGER AND MORE
PROSPEROUS TRIBES, PRETTY MUCH LEFT ALONE BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN
GOVERNMENT. FOR THE MOST PART, THEY MANAGED THEIR OWN AFFAIRS, AND
HAD MANDELA STAYED THERE, HE WAS IN LINE TO BE THE TRIBAL KING. HE
CHOSE TO BECOME A LAWYER. AS A LAWYER IN THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH,
HE COULD HAVE PRACTICED LAW ANYWHERE. EVEN BLACK LAWYERS IN SOUTH
AFRICA HAD A PRIVILEGED POSITION COMPARED TO ORDINARY BLACK AFRICANS.
MANDELA COULD HAVE DONE GOOD AND LIVED WELL AS A LAWYER. BUT
INSTEAD, HE BECAME A POLITICAL ACTIVIST, RALLYING HIS PEOPLE AROUND
THE IDEA OF FREEDOM AND THE DESTRUCTION OF APARTHEID. HE WAS JAILED
MANY TIMES, BEATEN, THREATENED WITH DEATH; AND FINALLY SENTENCED TO
LIFE IN PRISON FOR TERRORISM. TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS WENT BY, UNTIL THE
SOUTH AFRICAN STATE BEGAN TO TOPPLE UNDER THE WEIGHT OF NEARLY
UNIVERSAL SANCTIONS. WHEN MANDELA WAS RELEASED, HE WAS 72 YEARS OLD,
HAVING SPENT 27 YEARS IN PRISON.
INITIALLY MANDELA, THE
HEAD OF THE FORMERLY OUTLAWED AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, WAS INVITED
TO PARTICIPATE IN A COALITION GOVERNMENT WITH THE TASK OF
TRANSITIONING TO A NEW REGIME IN WHICH APARTHEID WOULD NO LONGER BE
THE LAW, AND A NEW CONSTITUTION, GRANTING EQUAL RIGHTS TO ALL
CITIZENS, WOULD BE DEVELOPED. AS PART OF THIS PROCESS, MANDELA
INSISTED THAT RECONCILIATION COUNCILS BE SET UP THROUGHOUT THE
COUNTRY. PEOPLE WOULD COME FORWARD AND DESCRIBE THEIR EXPERIENCE
WITH APARTHEID. ALL WERE INVITED, AND THE RESULTS WERE PUBLICIZED.
NO ONE WAS PROSECUTED; EVERYONE WAS FORGIVEN FOR THEIR PART. BUT THE
STORIES THAT CAME OUT AND MADE THE ROUNDS CHANGED THE MINDS OF THE
PEOPLE MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE MIGHT HAVE DONE; BY THE TIME THIS
PROCESS WAS OVER, THERE WERE VERY FEW PEOPLE WHO ADVOCATED GOING BACK
TO THE OLDEN DAYS.
FINALLY, MANDELA WAS
ELECTED PRESIDENT BY AN OVERWHELMING MAJORITY, UNDER THE NEW
CONSTITUTION. HE INVITED HIS JAILERS TO THE INAUGURATION. HE WAS
ASKED, “DIDN'T YOU HATE THEM?” AND HE REPLIED, “I DID HATE
THEM. BUT I STOPPED WHEN I REALIZED THAT AS LONG AS I DID, I WAS
STILL IN PRISON.”. MANDELA SPENT HIS PRESIDENCY AND MUCH OF HIS
LIFE AFTERWORDS RECONCILING PEOPLE; HE NEGOTIATED THE END TO THE
HORRIBLE WAR BETWEEN THE TWO MAJOR TRIBES IN BURUNDI, A WAS DESCRIBED
AS A NEAR GENOCIDE. HE BECAME AN ICON, LIKE GEORGE WASHINGTON OR
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, TRUSTED AND REVERED BY WHITES AND BLACKS ALIKE.
IT'S INTERESTING THAT
MANDELA DIED DURING THE SEASON WHEN WE ARE THINKING ABOUT JOHN THE
BAPTIST. TODAY WE FIND HIM IN PRISON, AND WE HEAR THOSE PLAINTIVE
WORDS, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR
ANOTHER?” JOHN MUST HAVE WONDERED WHY HE WAS IN PRISON, IF GOD WAS
WITH HIM, IF THE MESSAGE HE BROUGHT WAS TRUE. WE KNOW FROM OTHER
GOSPEL ACCOUNTS THAT BEFORE HE WAS ARRESTED HE DESCRIBED JESUS AS
“LAMB OF GOD” AND TOLD HIS OWN FOLLOWERS THAT “HE MUST
INCREASE, AND I MUST DECREASE”. THE POINT OF COURSE IS THAT JOHN
IS SHOWING HIS HUMANITY; EVERY HUMAN BEING HAD DOUBTS; YOU CAN'T HAVE
FAITH UNLESS YOU CAN DOUBT. EVEN MARY SAID, “HOW CAN THIS BE?”
BEFORE JOYFULLY SAYING “BE IT DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.”
LIKE MANDELA, JOHN HAD
GIVEN UP EVERYTHING TO PREACH THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. HE HAD BEEN THE
SON OF A PRIEST AND COULD CLAIM THE RIGHT TO BE A PRIEST. HE COULD
HAVE LIVED A COMFORTABLE LIFE, REVERED BY THE PEOPLE, AND WELL PAYED.
HE WAS WELL EDUCATED AS FAR AS WE CAN TELL. JOHN MUST HAVE BEEN
FAMILIAR WITH THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES, BECAUSE HE CHOSE TO DRESS LIKE
ELIJAH THE PROPHET, AND HIS MESSAGE WAS TRUE TO THE MESSAGE OF THE
PROPHETS AS WELL-- A CALL TO REPENTANCE. AND HE INSTITUTED BAPTISM.
LAST WEEK WE HEARD ABOUT HOW “EVERYONE” WAS COMING TO BE
BAPTIZED, INCLUDING PHARISEES AND SADUCEES. BAPTISM WAS THE GREAT
LEVELER.
AND WE CHRISTIANS HAVE
INHERITED THAT RITUAL AND JESUS MADE IT A SACRAMENT. WHEN WE GO
THROUGH BAPTISM, WE ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, AND BECAUSE BAPTISM
MAKES US BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF EACH OTHER AND OF JESUS HIMSELF, WE
ARE GREATER THAN EVEN JOHN THE BAPTIST; WE HAVE CROSSED OVER, ENTERED
A WORLD WHERE THERE IS NO JEW NOR GREEK, NO SLAVE, NO MASTER; NO
MALE, NO FEMALE”. THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS LIVED THIS OUT; THEY
HELD THINGS IN COMMON, THEY LOOKED AFTER EACH OTHER'S NEEDS, AND
WHENEVER DIVISION ENTERED THEIR COMMUNITY, THEY WORKED TO RESTORE THE
ORIGINAL UNITY. THAT WAS THE ORIGIN OF THE DIACONATE; WIDOWS OF
JEWISH CHRISTIANS AND WIDOWS OF GENTILE CHRISTIANS WERE NOT BEING
TREATED EQUALLY, AN THE APOSTLES APPOINTED DEACONS TO SEE THAT
EVERYONE WAS TREATED THE SAME
MANDELA WORKED ALL HIS
LIFE, NOT TO OVERTHROW THE WHITE PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA, BUT RATHER,
TO CREATE A SOCIETY WHERE IT DIDN'T MATTER WHAT COLOR YOU WERE; WHERE
BEING SOUTH AFRICAN WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT TRIBE YOU BELONGED
TO. HE WORKED TO CREATE A WORLD WHERE PEOPLE WOULD LOOK AFTER EACH
OTHER BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL SOUTH AFRICANS. DID HE SUCCEED? NOT
YET, BUT IT'S COME A LONG WAY.
AND JOHN THE BAPTIST
STARTED THAT SAME PROCESS, A PROCESS TAKEN UP BY JESUS AND THE EARLY
CHURCH, OF OVERCOMING ALL THE DIVISIONS WHICH STILL PLAGUE US TODAY,
EVEN AMONG CHRISTIANS, EVEN WITHIN OUR CATHOLIC CHURCH. WHENEVER A
BAPTIZED PERSON DOES NOT SEE ANOTHER PERSON AS A BROTHER OR SISTER,
THE KINGDOM TO COME IS DRIVEN A LITTLE FURTHER AWAY. WHEN WE SEE
EACH OTHER AS BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WHEN WE TREAT EACH OTHER THAT
WAY, THE KINGDOM IS BROUGHT CLOSER.
MAKE YOUR RESOLUTION
TODAY TO GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS
IN BAPTISM. WHEN WE EXCHANGE THE SIGN OF PEACE, SMILE AND SHAKE
HANDS, OR HUG, OR WHATEVER – BUT THIS TIME MEAN IT. MAKE A NEW
FRIEND TODAY BEFORE YOU LEAVE CHURCH AND GET IN YOUR CAR. AND BRING
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN A LITTLE CLOSER. YOU CAN BE ANOTHER MANDELA,
ANOTHER MARTIN LUTHER KING, ANOTHER JOHN THE BAPTIST – EVEN ANOTHER
JESUS CHRIST, IF YOU LIVE YOUR BROTHERHOOD THAT WAS GIVEN TO YOU IN
BAPTISM.
