CPTnet
May 13, 2003
COLOMBIA: Seeing the face of Jesus in Barrancabermeja
by Bob Holmes
"Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or homeless or naked
or sick or in prison and took care of you?" Then he will answer them,
"Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of your sisters
and brothers you did it to me." (Adapted from Matt. 25:37-40)
Jesus told his disciples where to find him if they were serious about
following him into God's reign of Peace. In Barrancabermeja the face of
Jesus, although often hard to recognize, is not difficult to find.
Hunger and thirst can be gut-wrenching physical but it can also be
soul-wrenching spiritual. You can see it in the contorted face of Juan
forced to flee his small plot on the banks of the Opon River, hungering and
thirsting for his human right to live peaceably on his own land.
Marina is homeless, a refugee driven away by violence from her home on the
river. She and her children live in an old Teachers College in the heart of
the city. She is naked too, with nothing to protect her from the total
dependence on government aid reluctantly given.
And how sick Pedro looked when we saw him imprisoned in ill-fitting
paramilitary garb. How can we fathom the fear and desperation which bind
him to this armed group which menaces the river where he loves to fish?
No, the face of Jesus it is not difficult to find in our suffering sisters
and brothers of the Opon. It's just that recognizing it means following
Jesus, and following him means ministering to their needs for lives free of
violence,
dehumanization, poverty and fear.
In Barranca, the face of Jesus can also be found among those who are willing
to accept a life of 'blessed unrest' trusting in the promise of God's Peace.
One evening last week we mourned an assassinated son with Julia who, with
her sisters in the Oganizacion Femenina Popular (a grassroots women's
organization), mourns publicly the lack of justice, unafraid to call the
political and police authorities to account for their failure to protect the
people of Barranca.
Antonio came to visit and told of how the urging of Christian Peacemaker
William Payne moved him to put down his gun and walk away from a life of
paramilitary violence--something not done easily or without danger from
former armed companions.
A gentle, pure-of-heart priest invited me to celebrate the Easter Vigil
with him in the midst of fifty men imprisoned in the Barranca jail most of
whom were members of the violent paramilitary group which had often
threatened his life.
I have indeed seen the face of Jesus in Barrancabermeja.
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