How is doing good supposed to work when evil is rife? District Apostle Tshitshi Tshisekedi from the south-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has an answer in his reflections on our 2025 motto.
For those of us who provide pastoral care in areas where insecurity and violence in all its forms are rife, doing good hardly seems possible and becomes a heavy burden. It can, however, become possible if we focus on the words of Jesus to one of the criminals on the cross with Him. They summarise the idea of doing good while immersed in suffering. Jesus said to the man next to Him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23: 43).
Our own distress cannot be an excuse for not doing good to our neighbour. “You shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19: 18) is the basis for this goodness towards others. The growing egoism in the world today should not tempt us to transgress the commandment of love. While we have so many of our own problems to solve—major health concerns, growing insecurity, and the list goes on—we find it hard to see how we can take care of others. We tend to believe that our distress is the peak of all suffering. But all it takes is to come into contact with others to realise that our own condition is much better than theirs, given the suffering they are experiencing. There is no scale that measures who suffers more than others. The most important thing, however, is that we look to Jesus as our example and then we will find reasons to do good even in the midst of our own suffering:
– By staying focused on our future in the new creation, we find the strength to endure our present sufferings and to do something good for our fellow human beings in order to help them as best we can.
- By taking the time to do good, however insignificant it may seem, we are not complaining about the darkness but are sharing our own light with others even though evil is gaining ground.
- Let us endeavour to defeat evil with good. The point here is forgiveness and reconciliation.
- Let us share the goodness in our families and congregations with others and make it contagious.
- Let us do good today, now, even if it seems like nothing more than a string of good intentions.
Since goodness is not a product one can buy in the supermarket, each of us must make an effort to produce goodness. Because then there will be an abundance of it and everyone will be able to benefit from it.