Few things have as public an effect as crime. Admittedly, the deed itself may be planned and executed in secret but the effects reverberate through the whole of society. From the corruption-based thieving of government ministers throughout the continent to gang-related murder on the streets of townships in South Africa, criminality affects everyone and for those who are caught, incarceration is the outcome for most (unless they have the influence and wealth to avoid it): the less fortunate suffer violent mob justice.
Why should Christians be interested in ministering to those in prison? Shouldn’t those convicted of crime be left to face the consequences of their actions in state-sanctioned punishment, locked away so they’re no longer a threat to society?
Perhaps we should go back to basics. Truly living a Christian life means doing away with the false distinction between what we do and say in church on a Sunday and how we live during the rest of the week at home or work, in the messiness, pain and glory of everyday life. It means getting out of the Christian ghetto and into the nitty gritty of life. If we say we are following Jesus then we need to follow him wherever he leads and not quibble over the difference between sacred and secular, church and life. If we say that Jesus is Lord then we have to take notice of what he says and not try to explain it away because we’re not comfortable with the implications for our own lives or self-image.
Before we consider actually going into a prison to minister to those incarcerated let’s look at Jesus’ attitude towards the undesirables in his society. Did he keep his hands clean and his reputation untainted by associating only with the respectable? We know about Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees as “whitewashed tombs” (Matt. 23:27) - very proper on the outside but inside full of hypocrisy and decay. We know how he says that it’s not what goes into a person or is on the outside that defiles him but what comes from within (Matt. 15:16-20). We’re also aware of how Jesus was condemned and gossiped about for associating with “tax collectors and sinners”, yet a lot of those who claim him as their Lord are too worried about what people may think to follow him truly.
Many church goers in Africa would rather see a person lost for eternity than continue a soul-winning conversation in a bar or shebeen. Why? Is the fear of what other church members might think or say more important than following in the steps of Jesus? Jesus welcomed prostitutes; he called a tax collector (Matthew) to follow him, the equivalent in today’s Africa of asking an extremely corrupt and extortionate government official to meet Jesus. It’s not who or what surrounds a person on the outside that defiles him. Believers carry the light of the Holy Spirit into whatever dark place they are called to go and darkness cannot quench that fire. The pure of heart have nothing to fear from guilt by association, just as Jesus himself was never contaminated by the company he kept. The fearful and insecure gossip and point fingers; Jesus tells us to follow him. He invited the outcasts to join him. Some of them did, were seen to do so and were welcomed. Are they welcomed in our churches today?
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