Seelung a New Society: Resurrection and Solidaritv

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Benjamin Cortes

The gospel is the message of life for the excluded of the earth. Jesus of Nazareth proclaims the word of God to the poor people of Palestine, exploited, oppressed and marginalized by the Roman empire and the authorities of their own country. Jesus begins his prophetic ministry in the synagogue of Nazareth, anointed by the Spirit of life to announce good news to the poor, those human beings who are the true sign of God, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and liberty to those who are oppressed, announcing to the world that the year of the Lord’s favour has come (Luke 4:16-19). He interprets the word of hope for humanity spoken by the prophet (Isa. 61:l-2) sent by the Lord to the Jews in exile in Babylon to announce the time of return to fullness of life - the kuiros of God which makes it possible for us to be “born anew to a living hope” (1 Pet. 1 :3), the time of grace and freedom, the time to rebuild the future and lay the foundations for a life with equal rights for all.

Good news to the poor means that the system of oppression can be transformed into a system of justice, in which no one goes hungry, no one is captive or blind. Disease, hunger, unemployment and oppression are political, social, economic, cultural and religious. This messianic message therefore signifies the beginning of a new era when people will no longer be enslaved by debt, when wealth will not be amassed in a few hands and boys and girls will not have to beg for bread in the streets. This resurrection is a revolution for a human race that is dying without a future, raising it up to life, making those who are raised from the dead into the architects and builders of the future. In this resurrection God requires co-workers; it is the utopia at the heart of the Messiah’s message and action taking concrete shape in history.

Jesus’ words set free, opening people’s minds and giving them a clearer vision of their way in life; and his acts of healing nurture men and women, giving them strength and courage for everyday life, restoring their spiritual, emotional, intellectual and

0 Benjamin Cortes is on the staff of the Inter-Church Center for Theological and Social Studies (CIEETS), Managua, Nicaragua. This article has been translated from Spanish by the Language Service of the WCC.

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physical capacities so that they can once again live a life secure in hope and in which their dignity is respected. Jesus’ acts of healing are for the whole person, mind and body, reintegrating people into the life of society or the community or the family. The fabric of life is rewoven in community and interaction.

Jesus recognizes the plurality of human life in its spiritual, cultural, political and social dimensions. When we understand this, we have a key which will enable us to speak sensitively, wisely and lovingly of the good news of the kingdom to every man and woman. The actions of Jesus are acts of resurrection. They restore to life all who are the victims of the system, enabling them to engage in creative work, to enjoy leisure, fun and individual, family and community life. They do not have to continue to exist in pain and suffering but can live life in all its fullness and meaning because their lives are lived according to the logic of the resurrection.

The logic of the resurrection New life begins with the resurrection. And as this dynamic new life develops, it

gradually constructs a new vision of itself, of history, of social relations, of the economy, of culture, of the world. The logic of the resurrection breaks with death and initiates a process that aims to break with the system of oppression and the motives underlying it. Those who have been raised up were once dead, but they have returned to life and now are the architects of a scheme of society which seeks to be just in its objectives and relationships.

The logic of the resurrection, which restores the victims of the system to life, is the antithesis of the logic of the market, which dislocates communities and leads to death. The logic of the market does not solve the problems of our countries and our region, nor does it meet the basic needs of the impoverished peoples of the world. It merely solves the problem of its own expansion, and the cost is the exclusion of the majority and the destruction of nature.

Christians in the South and North alike cannot ignore the logic of the market but must resist it prophetically and stand against it spiritually and politically as we apply the logic of the resurrection in planning the future of our communities. The logic of the resurrection opens up ways of life for us, starting from where the people are and what they are, using their way of reasoning to devise alternatives which make the future possible.

I would propose that we put this new logic and understanding of life into practice in day-to-day living, in the family, in prayer, in people’s movements, in church life, by articulating central prophetic elements in small socio-economic, cultural and environmental projects, in social processes and in all the different dimensions of human life, both personal and national.

The logic of the resurrection allows all the potentials and dimensions of life to develop anew, with their spiritual, philosophical, ethical, social, political, ecological, cultural and historical content. Women and men are not all the same in their needs for growth, their potential, their visions and cultures. In an order based on equal rights for all, every person is free to express and live out what he or she is or wants to be. A com- munity or a world which lives by the logic of the resurrection embarks on a learning process involving constant intercultural exchange, in which popular wisdom and the sciences interact and enrich one another and tolerance, standards, values, attitudes, capabilities and solidarity combine to serve the quality of human development and its

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material base. Intercultural learning and practice based on encounter open up possibili- ties for women and men to get to know one another, to accept mutual criticism and plan an education and an economy that promotes life. In this process nothing is more important than human needs and priorities.

Conscious of what the logic of the resurrection means, diakonia in every country, North and South, faces a fundamental challenge from the enormous inequalities existing at present. It is called to contribute to the implementation of policies and processes which will make it possible to preserve the biological life of our communi- ties, including a planet that is inhabitable in the true sense of the word, and to move on to the next stage, in which social rights can be more fully implemented as we seek a productive life for all. Prophetic diakonia must include action that contributes directly to reducing the inequalities which separate the rich countries from the poor - not so that the poor can become like the rich, but so that there can be a viable redistribution of wealth within a socio-economic system based on interdependence.

Radical changes are thus needed on all sides, but primarily in the North where our brothers and sisters face special challenges from the scale of wealth, science and power amassed there. Our prophetic diakonia must be founded in the heart of the kingdom of God, in the practice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, the everlasting sources of abundant life, faith and prophecy, trying together with many others to eliminate the causes of death and suffering in the world.

A community of solidarity Luke tells us how community solidarity was born among the first followers of

Jesus in Jerusalem: “There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need” (Acts 4:34-35).

Solidarity is identifying with the poor. It is the poor identifying with the poor. This spirit is expressed in the words of a beautiful Salvadorean song, “When the poor believe in the poor, then we can sing of liberty.” A splendid example can be found in the biblical story of Naomi and Ruth. Faced with famine and the destruction of her family, alone in a world dominated by men, the young woman swore to stay with her mother-in-law, and together they took the road to build a future for themselves. God was preparing the salvation of Israel through them, for David descended from their line.

Solidarity is also when the rich discover that collective salvation can be achieved only if they too identify with the lives of the poor, the majority. We know the biblical story of Moses, who had anything his heart could wish for in Pharaoh’s palace, yet cast his lot with the Hebrew slaves and led them to freedom.

Solidarity is also when the middle classes become aware that the Lord of history is the crucified one who, though he could have led a quiet life as a carpenter in Nazareth, repairing ploughs, building houses and making fishing boats, set out along the roads of Palestine in search of the lost, the sick, those possessed by demons. Solidarity is also the attitude of those fishermen who left their boats to follow him, and of the women who left their homes to serve him and do the work of the kingdom.

Those who profess that Jesus Christ is the Lord of history reject categorically the doctrine that history has reached its end. The preachers of the global market tell us that the future lies only in the continual increase of capital, even if this means that many, especially in the South, will be excluded from acceptable standards of living. We

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believe that the future lies in the lives of the poor and not in capital, and that the history of the new heaven and the new earth will be built through total solidarity with them.

We in Central America have been encouraged to see young people from South America, Europe and the United States going into the mountains of our countries to help farmers build drinking water systems or give advice to cooperatives. We are encouraged when Asian doctors come and impart knowledge on the treatment of leprosy in poor communities plagued by the disease, or when Cuban doctors leave their country and family to share a special time of solidarity, healing our sick. We are encouraged to see the exchange of experiences between peasant farming communities and the Maya-Cakchiquel and Miskito peoples, who are working together to improve their quality of life and are searching for acceptable solutions to their needs and problems. We are encouraged by the environmental movements, the health network, the movement for popular education, human rights and pastoral initiatives that promote cooperation and the creative reconstruction of communities. These are immediate measures to defend the life of the poor threatened by structural adjustment programmes that have eliminated jobs, reduced health services to our peoples and raised the price of medicines.

We believe that the future of humankind lies in overcoming a scheme of society that allows market rules to dictate life for some and death for many. Because we believe in the lordship of Jesus Christ, we believe that what we are now living through is a transition from a society in which the rich continue to amass wealth and democracy means non-intervention in the mechanisms that enable them to do so, to a genuinely democratic society, in which no one will be condemned to die for lack of access to the market for jobs or goods.

In this long transition to a society in which people build their own future, solidarity means more than just enabling the victims to survive. In this context the peoples’ struggles need international solidarity. A strike by workers in the Ron Bacardi plant in Puerto Rico cannot succeed if Bacardi workers in Yucatan and Florida will not make common cause with them. We want to help promote international solidarity, including solidarity between marginalized groups in rich countries and those in the countries of the South.

We believe in a caring society in which washing the feet of the weary may be the sign of those who are one with the Lord of history. This is not just a question of new social structures, necessary though they may be. It is also a question of changing people. In promoting solidarity in Latin America and in the world we will help to reduce the tribulations of the transition from capitalist modernity to a human, democratic society based on social equality.

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