"He saw injustice and tried to fix it." Mandel strove for national "harmony and equal opportunity." He put these ideals ahead of personal and family needs: "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunity. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." (1990)
Observers of Mandela have described him as a person of grace and humility, one who forgives and reconciles, a person who was kind and redemptive. He not only desired to free his people from oppression (apartheid), but also to reconcile both the oppressors (Afrikaners) and the oppressed (Africans) so that both could live in harmony in a new South Africa. Grace, forgiveness and reconciliation are normally words we use to describe biblical Christians or Christ himself. But in reading about Mandela, watching media reports and documentaries, I have not noted a single reference to a deep religious faith or that God called and empowered Mandela. In fact, Richard Stengel at the end of his book declared that Mandela did not believe in a higher power, that we each shape and determine our own destiny. So where did this remarkable ability to combine justice and reconciliation come from?
I wish to suggest six factors that shaped Mandela's life and ministry:
1. The Image of God
Mandela may refuse to acknowledge this truth because he doesn't believe in God, but the fact remains that he was created in the image of God. This is a remarkable gift to any human being. He and we can use our minds to think creatively and wisely, to think, at least partially, the thoughts of God. Sin/depravity confuses and distorts, but it does not destroy the image of God.
2. The Common Grace of Creation
Romans 1:19-20: "God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities---his eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen. . . . so that men are without excuse." The creation around us reveals God. Some of this wisdom has been preserved in the liberal (liberating) arts. Mandela read widely in this treasure of human wisdom.
3. Disciple of Gandhi and King
Gandhi and King lived out the non-violent, peace-making, justice-seeking, love and reconcile with your enemies/oppressors message of the Sermon on the Mount. Mandela drank deeply from this kingdom of God ethic even though he ignored the God part.
4. Bi-cultural
Mandela believed deeply in ubuntu, the African ideal of the collective, more we than me (enlightenment); this shaped his goal of making the nation of South Africa, one nation with liberty and justice for all. But he was also shaped by Western culture. When a person is bi-cultural, he is less like to be trapped by tradition and ideology as substitutes for truth. Both Gandhi and King were bi-cultural as are John Perkins and Jean Thomas who are remarkable leaders in their own right. Being bi-cultural broadens your perspective.
5. An independent thinker
Mandela was very much a free and independent thinker; he enjoyed conversing with other independent thinkers so he could see all angles, all sides of an issue. Mandela was not doctrinaire, legalistic. He held deeply to a few core principles such as human dignity, freedom, justice, etc. but in other things he was willing to change and adapt.
6. His prison experience
The younger Mandela was passionate and committed, but too immature to be a great leader in a time of crisis; 27 years of prison refined Mandela into maturity---the ability to see and chart the way to a new nation with the needed forgiveness to reconcile bitter enemies.
Some nuggets from the pen of Mandela:
His mission was "to liberate the oppressed and the oppressors both because both are robbed of their humanity when human freedom is restricted."
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."
"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."
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