Week 2 Physical work – degrading? Or shall we respect the artisan?

 

Burnard McKenzie - my friendly plumber

“Judaism has always shunned the Greek idea that physical work is menial, only appropriate for slaves.  As William Chomsky has pointed out, “The Aristotelian lofty aloofness, which regarded manual labor as degrading, and those engaged in it as inferior people, who are unworthy and incapable of education, was utterly alien to the Hebrew mind.” [page 290; OUR FATHER ABRAHAM JEWISH ROOTS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH; Marvin R Wilson; William B Eerdmans Publishing Company Grand Rapids, Michigan and Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, Dayton, Ohio; 1999.]

Indeed, manual labour is not degrading. It is not unworthy work. It is utterly alien to my Christian mind as well. I respect people that do manual labour. Marvin Wilson quotes from the Talmud: “He who does not teach his son a trade is considered as having taught him thievery.” [Wilson, p. 222].

On 17 May 2021 I wrote about my plumber, Burnard McKenzie as a man living a life of gratitude. Having a roof over his head. He daughter having a job although far from home in Nelspruit – grateful she is working.

I had to call him the other day to my home in Rivonia to attend to a plumbing problem. He arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule. And he smiles. He has a job to do. And he will earn something. He has car to drive around in. And he sold his old house and moved to another home that was prior to 1994 an Afrikaans, white stronghold of apartheid.

That is where he is living now: Bergbron.

Me: “Do you enjoy living there?”

Burnard: “Oom Neels, I get along with people. And they get along with me.”

Me: “It was a stronghold of white apartheid-Afrikaners? Does it worry you?”

Burnard: “No, Oom Neels. We are happy there.”

While we were chatting, I was reminded of the above quotes in my book OUR FATHER ABRAHAM and I wondered about this man: my plumber who are doing this stinking, filthy job with such a smile on his face. And he turns around and attends further to the work he came to do.

“Burnard,” I called him. “Tell me about that tiny welding machine you bought back in 2021.”

“Oom Neels,” and he gave me a big smile “… that machine paid for itself. I earn money with welding jobs I can get. R100 and R200 jobs come is regularly. And it such a blessing to get it. I do it and the people are happy to pay me to repair their stuff.”

I sense a deep gratitude for this wonderful thing God gave us and what we call “LIFE.”

According to Wilson [Wilson p.223], the Hebrew verb abad “to work can be translated “to labor”, “to serve,” and also “to worship” [italics mine]. Just re-think this phenomenal idea: the sacredness of work. It is an act of worship. And I see this is alive in Burnard.

Wilson finds a lot of common ground in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. I grabbed our CD and had a joyous time looking at this video again. Now, I am struck by the industriousness of the characters: Tevye wants to work. His horse became lame. And Tevye himself pulled his cart. But work, he shall. He is daughters, each and every one is not shy: they work: milking, washing and cleaning. The background is busy: people are working in the village Anatevka – it is really busy. People are busy. People are working. It is a privilege to work.

LIght is necessary for a life of gratitude

We are living in a dark, evil world. And yet I am positive and optimistic about life. In spite of the darkness that surrounds me. And I see and experience that in my plumber. Have another look at the image above: we will not survive if it only darkness that surrounds us.

In light of my legal background, I am acutely aware of darkness in and around us. The internet is brim-full of evil and depravity – and then I am constantly confronted with the fact of the judicial murder perpetrated on Christ; His resurrection and His ascension. This is the backbone, the foundation, the measuring rod for my life and my attitude in me about life around me.

Some say the witnesses who witnessed Him alive after the resurrection, were hallucinating. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that more than 500 menfolk alone saw Him alive. How is it possible that these guys were hallucinating all at once?  I read in Romans chapter 16 that Andronicus and his wife, Junia, were Christians even before Paul had that supernatural encounter on his murderous way to Damascus to sniff out Christians and to drag them before the authorities. Now these disciples, found themselves in Rome and they are commended by Paul. In other words, they must have been amongst the very first converts. First converts in Jerusalem at that time, must have seen Christ after the resurrection in person. What a privilege.

Back to Burnard McKenzie! I hope that you have enjoyed my story about him.

Of course, the workplace is no longer the same as in Biblical times! Shall I say that it has changed “unrecognizably”?  Even so, I think that there are constants that are universally applicable [maybe I should not put it that high! Shall I tone it down and say: to my mind and in my experience, there are universally acceptable unchangeable standards?!] Work ethic 

Write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

 

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A NEW DIRECTION FOR MY BLOGPOSTS

 A NEW DIRECTION FOR MY BLOG WRITE-UPS

Where to from here with my blog write-ups?

Am I still on track with my chosen path to follow Christ Jesus in my daily life? Am I still pursuing a renewed mind every day of my life? Or had I somewhere gone off track?

I think I have gone somewhat astray in how I conduct the direction of my BlogSpot. It is a kind of national sporting event in the circles where I found myself in, to trash my country the Republic of South Africa. It is easy to join the fray by telling these horrible stories of our country going down the tubes very fast and how everyone is misbehaving. Crime is rampant. There is almost no work ethic amongst not only governmental employees but it impacts the civil workforce as well. I am sure that you can fill in the gaps and expand this list – don’t do that.

I am sure that there is an answer to most of our problems to be found in the Christian ethic in the broadest sense possible. It is somewhat akin to a ship on the ocean with the captain always alert to make corrections. Sometimes it needs major corrections; at other times it needs minor adjustments - if the overall direction is still within the overall scheme of things it is going fine. You can read an interesting article on “HOW DO SHIPS NAVIGATE FROM PLACE TO PLACE ON SEA?” Click here.

How can I make a difference? I am not doing crime. I am not in an adulterous relationship with another person, be it male, be it female.

The next question is: Is there anything else and beyond living an upright life that I can do to make a difference? I suggest to you that there is a myriad of other things over and above the normal "good life" that I can do. Don't freeze into inaction and withdraw from society because you are disappointed or because you became cynical - do something over and above your good upright life you are living.

I want to explore new ways to get involved from now on in my blog write-ups.

Zuma, I dubbed him the Contortionist, is enemy number one so called. Or is he? I am not going to try to suggest an answer.

I stated above that I am positive that there is an answer to most of our problems to be found in the Christian ethic. You should, however remember that I don’t have all the answers; I will suggest some guidelines and will offer some suggestions. I suggest to you that even Viktor Frankl's logo philosophy supports this view.

We have to live ethically and morally upright lives.

The Bill of Rights in the Constitution refers to inter alia equality, human dignity, life, freedom and security of the person, slavery, servitude and forced labour, privacy, freedom of religion, belief and opinion. You can download the Constitution from this website and go to the Bill of Rights to read it yourself.

I don't need a Bill of Rights to inform me that we ought to treat people with dignity. Or that women and children should be protected.

Government released a draft national action plan on how to counter xenophobia, racism and other problems you can download it here. You can get in touch with governmental officials to find out more about what you can do by clicking here and here and here. Your response should be filed before 30 June 2016 - I dare you to read it and make some suggestions.

I don't need the United Nations' Conventions to inform me that foreigners/refugees need living space. Why should I be guided by International Treaties to try and stop genocides? Or to know that it is evil to the very depths of these acts.

Maybe you will say that one has to look at the facts! Be real, man! Well, I am acutely aware of the facts - you can just have a quick look at the contents of my blog. Just remember that it is not everything that I know. I practised at the Johannesburg Bar during the 1990's and have seen a fair number of people who died violently on the streets of Egoli; there were bombs that exploded in buildings whilst I was in it. 

Let me put my money where my mouth is with this BlogSpot of mine. 

It gives me great pleasure to tell you about Afrika Mhlope. No I haven't met the guy yet. I was referred to a video recording of his speech some time back. I to me via a friend, via a friend, via a friend and eventually it landed on my laptop via my wife.

I was reluctant at first to watch the video recording. After some beating around the bush I decided to give him a chance. I am amazed at what he has to tell us. He spoke about black pain and white guilt. Now, I can almost hear you objecting, you cringe and say: "Please, man! Another one of those!" And your eyes roll around in your head. That was my reaction and perhaps a little bit worse than that.

His message is challenging. So was Dietrich Bonnhoefer's. Dietrich's classic THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP is extremely challenging! If you haven't got the book, get it. I cringed when I read Dietrich's book; when you click here, you can read about it on the web.

I experienced more or less the same feelings when I listened to Afrika. You can look at Afrika’s video at this link.

Why are these two gentlemen's messages so challenging? Because it is based on the Sermon on the Mountain to be found in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5-7. You can download Bibles from the internet and can even have it on your smart phones. Go this website and you can pick and choose which version you want to download.

If you haven't got a Bible, get one. Go to the Bible Society’s catalogue on their website at this link and order your copy.

And so is Christ's Sermon on the Mountain challenging and radical. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is challenging. I overheard a gentleman the other day stating categorically: "If someone says that he is a Christian, you know for sure he is telling a lie!" That is challenging! 

I challenge you to take up the Gospel message and run with it.

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