Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary time.
A friend of mine from Pesaro in Italy stumbled on a YouTube video that was about ubuntu. She immediately shared it with me. You can still find the video online. The following is the content of the video.
A western anthropologist went to Africa to study the social life of an indigenous tribe. He proposed a game to the children, and they willingly agreed to be part of it. He put a basket of fruits underneath a tree and made the children stand 100 meters away and then announced that whoever could reach the basket first would win the whole basket and eat all the fruits by him or herself.
He decided to line them all up, raised his hand to give the signal… The kids got ready and set to go together, they all reached the basket at the same time, then they sat down in a big circle and enjoyed the fruits together laughing and smiling the whole time.
The anthropologist could not believe what he saw and asked why they had waited for each other as one could’ve taken the whole basket for herself the children shook their heads and replied, ubuntu, how can one of us be happy if all the others are sad? In their country, ubuntu is the essence of being human: “umntu ngumntu ngabantu”, loosely translated as I am because we are.
The children in the story seem to be in concordance with the call of Jesus. He called the disciples to want the wellbeing of others. Jesus invites the disciple, me and you, to ‘sell belongings and give alms’.
It is important to note what immediately comes before the instruction mentioned here; Jesus urges the disciple to no longer be afraid. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that Jesus thinks that it is fear that causes people to build walls around themselves. It is fear that causes people to want to amass, accumulate material possessions because they masquerade as security around us.
Jesus suggests that it is in selling them that we can be vulnerable and therefore recognise the vulnerability of others. In that way we can not only give but also receive alms.
To be able to live the values of ubuntu and those of fearless discipleship, we need to nurture the gift of faith. At least this is what seems to be imbedded in the readings this Sunday.
In the first reading, God’s people put their faith in the promises made them by God beforehand. They celebrated the promise of the Passover in faith.
Like Abraham in the second reading, when we let go of fear we can give generously because we live from the dimension that is hidden by fear, that of trusting the providence of the God who has chosen us to be his own. Trusting in the providence of God is a very enabling force that makes us realise that his providence is indeed for me and for the rest of creation. All is given freely for all. When we amass, we are driven by fear and lack of faith in the presence and providence of the Master.
All is grace, freely given by a provident Master. This is the key to living the life of discipleship or according to the values of ubuntu.
Jesus suggests that we light our lamps so that we may not be consumed by the darkness of error. That darkness causes us to think that we are alone and that we are the masters of our existence, yet we are mere stewards, administrators. The word administrator has within it the word minister in the sense of service. When we realise that we are administrators we begin to be concerned with right distribution of whatever goods we have been entrusted with.
When we light our lamps of faith, we become cognisant of the abundance of what providence has given to us and with necessity we begin to give without counting the cost.
Jesus invites us to a life of fearlessness. This is true greatness. Greatness in the Kingdom is not achieved by impoverishing others but in sharing abundance with others, the abundant providence of the Master, Jesus the Christ.
In the second half of the liturgical year perhaps we can all do a little spiritual survey:
- What are my fears in life?
- How do they manifest themselves in relationships with others and God?
- Do I behave like a master or a steward, an administrator?
- Am I able to live with the vulnerability of trusting in providence?
- Do I embody the values of ubuntu discipleship?