Seeking a new society: resurrection and solidarity - Ecumenical Diakonia: New Challenges, New Responses

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. 61:1-2) sent by the Lord to the Jews in exile in Babylon to announce the time of return to fullness of life -- the kairos 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 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 community 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 material base. Intercultural learning and practice based on encounter open up possibilities 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.