Jesus came down with the twelve apostles and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and be healed of their diseases; those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. All in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets."
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets."
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Ubuntu is an Nguni Bantu term from Southern Africa meaning "humanity". It is often translated as "I am because we are," or "humanity towards others", but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity".
Following the presidency of Nelson Mandela in 1994 the term has become more familiar through the ubuntu theology of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was the chair of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
The term ubuntu appears in South African sources from as early as the mid-19th century. The simplest translation is “humanity” - "human nature, humanness, virtue, goodness, kindness". As the decolonisation of Africa progressed, ubuntu was used as a term for a specifically Southern African kind of humanism found in the transition to majority rule.
"Ubuntu" as political philosophy encourages community equality, the distribution of wealth. This socialisation grew in agrarian communities where mutual sharing promoted the well-being of the community in both good and difficult times, and who have a vested interest in collective prosperity. Ubuntu induces an ideal of shared human subjectivity that promotes a community's good through an unconditional recognition and appreciation of individual uniqueness and difference.
And there is a "redemption" meaning in this word. The belief is that humans are born formless, so to speak and the community, as a whole, turns the child into a productive member of society.. imperfections should be borne by the community and the community should always seek to redeem.
In the Sermon on the Plain of Luke’s text, Jesus uses an old form of prophecy - prophecy being a speaking to the present time- the blessings and woes. Luke’s is the only Gospel which gives us both parts. We are so used to hearing the first part, the blessings - but we don’t hear the second. Yet prophecies were normally in this two-part form. Remember God saying to the people “I have set before you blessings and curses, life and death. Choose life.”
So Jesus says “Those who are suffering, hungry, cold, oppressed, enslaved, beaten, discriminated against, pushed aside - you will be blessed by God. Your time will come.”
And he says “Those who have caused others to suffer, who have oppressed, who have grown wealthy over the bodies of others, you have already had yours.You will be cursed. Your time will pass.”
It seems rather stark, and I cant help but cast the whole experience of both racism and bigotry into this text. Because it speaks not only to the state of what humanity was in that time, but what it still is; it speaks to the divisions set up in communities which seek to use and abuse others for their own gain and greed; and it speaks to what humanity could be, the realm of God where integrated, vibrant, collaborative community lives. It speaks directly to the meaning of “ubuntu” - I am because we are.
One of the philosophies which arose out of the StarTrek series was “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” That seems to say that community always supersedes individual needs. But that philosophy also goes on to say “The needs of the one sometimes outweigh the needs of the many.”
Ubuntu says all humanity is bound up with all humanity - we are only at our strongest when we are together.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote about Ubuntu in the book “No Future without Forgiveness”. He says: “Ubuntu speaks of the very essence of being human. We say "Hey, so-and-so has ubuntu." Then you are generous, you are hospitable, you are friendly and caring and compassionate. You share what you have. It is to say, "My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours." We belong in a bundle of life. We say, "A person is a person through other persons."
A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed, or treated as if they were less than who they are.”
In this Black History month, I think this is the message which is most important. No one is free so long as some people are still seen as “other”. When others are pushed aside, oppressed, subjected to racism, diminished or used in any way - we are all chained. We are all held hostage.
In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes the same. He was speaking about the church but in a wider sense he was speaking about humanity.
"The body is a unit, though it is comprised of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body......For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink."
“I am because we are”. What would our communities, our world be like, if we were able to think in such a way. “I am because we are.” We are interconnected, all of humanity is interconnected. The realm of God is ‘ubuntu’, the time and the state when all humanity sees itself simply as one. When everyone’s place is equal to everyone else’s. May it be so.
Sources:
1, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_philosophy
2. Tutu, Desmond Mpilo. “No Future without Forgiveness”; Doubleday, a division of Random House. 1540 Broadway, New York 10036. 1999.
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