A Prophetic Presence in the Margins

Towards a Counter Narrative Theology – An Expression of Jubilee

YHWH introduces the jubilee mandate in his exposition of the exodus event for the people of Israel. Jubilee is a necessity to fully realise the purposes of Exodus. Jubilee is a reminder that God has not abandoned history. Jubilee is an invitation to join in God’s purposes. YHWH expounds this purpose to his nation: the full meaning of the movement of Exodus as they journey through the wilderness. The following are some possible leads (outlined in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) that we must consider for constructing the counter narrative.

Exodus (and liberation) is:

As Jesus begins his mission, we see him invoking once more the jubilee mandate as he announces that ‘today’ the Scripture is fulfilled (Luke 4:20) in the person of Jesus Christ. The kingdom has arrived. Jubilee is being rolled out in the person of Jesus. Reversals are to be expected – reversals of structure and systems, including the transformation of persons. ³ The invitation to be the jubilee community is from the margins, fully realised in our powerlessness. The church in the margins is that community, which lives out its theology of jubilee. Our location of intentional powerlessness is foundational to our understanding of the importance of jubilee teaching. David Bosch reminds us, ‘Mission cannot be realised when we are powerful and confident but only when we are weak and at a loss’. ⁴

Jubilee is about ‘being’. The church’s presence in the margins of our society is to be a jubilee community providing a counter narrative to the perspectives of the so-called mainstream-a narrative of the issues that are critical for those on the margins. The local church’s presence in the margins is a redemptive-disruptive prophetic presence – a signpost to the kingdom of God. The church must explore the following themes, as we construct this counter narrative.

Poverty and oppression are synonymous with powerlessness. While absolute poverty continues, today the challenge of poverty is more about the growing gap between the rich and the poor. ⁵ Power/powerlessness is founded on a flawed understanding of power. The god complexes ⁶ that hold the poor captive are manifested in people seeking to absolutise themselves and play god in the lives of those on the margins. Expressions of these god complexes in an Indian context would include the role of landlords in the lives of their farm labourers. Landlords tend to manipulate the lives of their labourers, beyond economic relationships, to impact family, social, religious and political relationships. Their control shapes the labourers’ choices and ensures they are held captive for generations to come. It is reinforced by local politicians, religious leaders, government officials and other key power holders – a complex set of power brokers seeking to play god in the lives of those on the margins.

The church in the margins must challenge the tendencies of these systems, structures and people to play god in the lives of those on the margins. The church needs to challenge the status quo and offer a counter narrative on power that radically challenges these ‘gods’. This requires more than mere participation and empowerment; it demands challenging the power assumptions that reinforce oppression and exploitation. The most radical alternative to these god complexes is the establishment of the kingdom of God and living out the kingdom’s understanding of power. We need a theology of power that confronts the god complexes among the poor. Can the church, which worships a God who was crucified on the cross, redefine power for the margins?

Most analyses of the root causes of poverty stop with violations of dignity and prescribe justice as the most sustainable solution. I would like to suggest that the roots are much deeper than violated dignity. Often the aim of violence in the margins is to mar the identity of those on the margins; violence is more than merely physical. In the Indian local government system (panchayat), the opinions of lower caste members are often considered as not worth considering. It seeks to rewrite history from the perspective of the powerful, making those on the margins mere pawns in their hands. The powerful reduce the poor to objects of production – economic and political pawns. Those on the margins are often considered as ‘abandoned by God’. The identity of the poor is intentionally marred, so much so that the poor themselves believe that their state in life is a ‘given’ – an act of gracious paternalism of the powerful when God himself has abandoned them. This self-understanding (marred identity) wounds the soul and often breeds hopelessness.

If marred identity is a significant effect of powerlessness and poverty, then mere acts of justice are inadequate. We need an alternative that goes beyond dignity and justice to heal the marred identity of those who have been marginalised. Can the church, which believes that all humans are made in the image of God, be that clue to redefining the identity of the powerless? Can the development industry/development practitioners look to the church for sustainable solutions that address the root causes of marginalisation?

Poverty, marginalisation and oppression are all the result of broken relationships. Poverty and marginalisation are more than a mere individual experience of deprivation or some statistics gone wrong. They are the collective experience of a people. Often the majority community defines what is ‘mainstream’ and excludes the poor, birthing the ‘margins’ – communities that are forced to make their home on the edges of society. Violence, conflicts, alienation from the land and exclusion from the mainstream (all marks of fragile contexts) tend to break relationships. Fragile contexts which are emerging as a major reality within the humanitarian industry demand an approach that is relational. Power flourishes when the powerless are divided and fragmented – a hallmark of fragile contexts.

Can the church as a community that believes in a covenant-keeping God who exists in relationship (the triune God) offer a counter narrative to nations that are forever bleeding from fragility and conflicts? Can we develop a theology that will challenge the lines that divide people and also draw the attention of those in power to a God who is deeply interested in breaking down those lines? Our God has promised that he will ‘rise from his throne’ when he sees the poor plundered and the needy groan (Psalm 12:5).

Even as we grapple with issues of marginalisation we need to be reminded that behind the land issues, conflicts and violence are real people with feelings and dreams (often crushed). The prophet Amos, referring to the exploitation of the poor, describes it as ‘… swallow[ing] up the needy and caus[ing] the poor of the land to fail’ (Amos 8:4 (ASV)) – an apt description of what nations do to their poor even today. These situations and systems that are intentionally designed to cause the poor to fail should naturally evoke an emotion of anger.

The Psalmist David, reflecting on the context of wickedness, states:

I said, ‘I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.’ So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue. (Psalm 39:1-3)

Nehemiah, considering the nobles who were exploiting their own people, states, ‘I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials’ (Nehemiah 5:6-7 (ESV)). Working with the poor and the oppressed must evoke these emotions of anger – our bones must burn with anger that will put the nobles in the defence box.

Even as we construct a counter narrative to the dominant exploitative ‘mainstream’ system, structures and people, we need a theology of anger that will reverse corrupt systems and transform nations.

Many of the root causes of marginalisation, fragility and conflicts are rooted in issues of truth, perception, beliefs, ideology and worldview. The god complexes, broken relationships and marred identities are rooted in lies that parade as ‘ideologies’. Truth is often the first casualty in poverty situations. The poor are held captive in a web of flawed assumptions and interpretations (lies) – a ‘web of lies’.

The church in the margins is called to live and proclaim the truth. If marginalisation is the captivity of the poor in the web of lies, then the most appropriate response of the church will involve living out truth. We need a theology of truth that will enable the church to prophetically challenge the lies in the public domain – truth about identity, about power, truth to the cosmic powers challenging flawed worldview assumptions. We are a community that believes that truth will set us free (John 8:32).

Constructing a Missiology of Transformation

Even as the church in the margins seeks to be a prophetic community – redemptively disruptive – we are called to offer an alternative reality on what ‘ought to be’ (prophetic imagination); an alternative perspective on issues that matter to those on the margins. We need to construct a counter narrative that will challenge the mainstream and power brokers.

The church in the margins is called to live out its theology with integrity (being a jubilee community) from among the margins, using the following framework:

The issue of transformation is an invitation to construct a counter narrative on issues such as violence, community, land restoration and other such issues that characterise the margins of our society. The church in the margins is called to communicate the mind of Christ on issues that often seem incidental in the various corridors of power. The church is called be a prophetic community in the margins of our societies, triggering a movement that transforms whole nations.