Mandela - a man of peace and reconciliation

Nelson Mandela has died at the age of 95.

He was the dignified figurehead of the struggle against the evils of apartheid in South Africa. He led a peaceful transition of his country in a way which won the admiration of people around the world belonging to all sections of society. He was, for so many, an inspiration and a figure of hope. In June 1964 he was found guilty of sabotage and given a life sentence which he served initially on the notorious Robben Island, off Cape Town. When he was released, after 27 years in prison, he demonstrated a remarkable spirit of forgiveness and led a powerful movement for peace and reconciliation in his beloved South Africa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “If that man wasn’t there the whole country would have gone up in flames.” Nelson Mandela experienced hardship and struggle throughout his life culminating in his long years in prison. Yet those years changed him in an amazing way. The authorities intended to destroy him but instead he emerged as a man of great dignity and towering stature. Desmond Tutu said he needed that experience to transform him from being an angry man into the man of peace and reconciliation he became. Nelson Mandela believed passionately in the equality of all people but also knew that this could only become a reality for people in South Africa if he won the support of all sections of their deeply divided society. At his inauguration as President he said, “Never, never, never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.” In the Bible Joseph suffered greatly at the hands of his brothers and other people. He was a slave in Egypt. There he was unjustly imprisoned and forgotten. When he was released he became the Governor of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh. Like Mandela he emerged from prison as a man of great wisdom and forgiveness. Later he said to his brothers, “Don’t be afraid. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish the saving of many lives.” There is a far greater strength in willingness to forgive than in a spirit of hatred and vengeance. The supreme example is Jesus who taught us to love of enemies and prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

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