Three decades after the dawn of the democratic dispensation, South Africa’s urban spaces continue to bear the brunt of the aftermath of colonial and apartheid past, that is, racialised exclusion, socio-economic inequality, and homelessness. These conditions have left many wounded and vulnerable, and some also left to die, as in the case of Luke 10:25–37. In the City of Tshwane, these realities continue to manifest through unemployed and homeless people who live under bridges, along riverbanks, in parks, and some have to find refuge in established shelters or homes. This article seeks to address the question: How can a missional reading of Luke 10:25–37 reimagine ubuntu and human solidarity in the context of homelessness in Tshwane? Having conducted a Contextual Bible Study with approximately 25 homeless participants in the City of Tshwane, this article advances an argument that a decolonial missional reading of Luke 10:25–37 reinterprets ubuntu as an essential praxis that restores dignity through embodied solidarity and spatial, social, economic, and epistemic justice in urban contexts.
Through embodied solidarity, this article proposes a missional-decolonial praxis that empowers the agency of a church to be transformative, that is, to achieve spatial, social, economic, and epistemic justice for wounded, vulnerable, and homeless people in the City of Tshwane. This is meant to address both structural exclusion and lived experiences of marginalisation.
Martin Luther King Jr’s reflection on neighbourliness provides a theological and ethical framing for this study:
‘The ultimate is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbour will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, he will lift some bruised and beaten brother to a higher and more noble life.’ – Martin Luther King Jr
South Africa’s new dawn of democracy and Nelson Mandela’s rainbow vision remain riven by wounds, inequality, and homelessness that continue to manifest in urban spaces such as the City of Tshwane. The stark contrast between gated communities and informal settlements, complemented by homeless people who live under bridges, along riverbanks, in parks, and those seeking refuge in established shelters or homes, is a glaring reality that continues to remind us of the wounds of the colonial and apartheid past. The situation is further exacerbated when homelessness is criminalised, and human dignity is denied in urban spaces such as Tshwane. These ways of living perpetuate social ills, such as economic, social, and spatial exclusions, which lead to assaults on human dignity and vulnerability (cf. De Beer
It is against this background that this article seeks to challenge the agency of the church and faith-based organisations to move beyond moralistic advocacy to action by grounding its ecclesial praxis in the
However, current research suggests that ecclesial responses remain constrained by the lingering effects of colonial and apartheid legacies, as well as missionary syndromes – manifested in ecclesiocentric, Sunday-cult clericalism (as demonstrated by the priest and Levite in the selected biblical text), economic dependency or prosperity elitism, and a romanticised hope that delays the realisation of a just, equitable, and sustainable life for all (Goheen
The clarion call to reimagine and re-centre the African philosophy of life, ubuntu [humanness], as a guiding ethos of human dignity and solidarity is essential if the church is to journey alongside those on the margins, wounded, and vulnerable. In this article, ubuntu is understood as a relational ontology that affirms human dignity, mutual interdependence, and communal flourishing. It is critically appropriated through a theological lens, recognising both its emancipatory potential and its limitations, particularly regarding gender justice and power relations.
Writing in the context of homelessness in the City of Tshwane, De Beer (
I argue for the recovery of an
This calls for ‘urban solidarity’ (Chabbi-Chemrouk & Driouèche
This, however, calls for a radical shift from a mere anthropological understanding to a more holistic approach ‘… in the quest for the fullness of life, and the affirmation of the integrity of creation, wholeness and wellbeing’ (LenkaBula
The foregoing suggests that ubuntu is a rich resource that enriches the discourse of neighbourliness; however, its deployment in ecclesial praxis must critique the ongoing communal gender biases in some ecclesial communities that disregard the agency of women. Women continue to experience marginalisation and gender-based violence perpetuated by patriarchal structures, both in African families and churches (Anofuechi & Klaasen
Missionary or missional? This question, raised by Saayman (
To resolve issues of inequality, woundedness, and homelessness, informed by a decolonial missional reading of Luke 10:25–37, there is a need to shift from mission theology to missional theology and missional ecclesiology. This marks a drastic shift from a denominational church to a missional church, which is captured as follows:
The denominational church had a functional self-understanding, established to do something on behalf of God in the world. The missional church understands itself to be missionary by nature – called, equipped, and sent into the world by the Holy Spirit to participate fully in God’s mission. (Van Gelder
It is further concluded, ‘In this approach, ecclesiology comes to expression and identity in relationship to God’s mission to the world’ (Van Gelder
Perhaps the biggest misconception in African missionary hermeneutics is the selective reading of the biblical text or proof-texting syndrome to authenticate the narrow ‘geographical movement from a Christian nation to a mission field to win converts and plant churches’ (Goheen
… the whole canon of Scripture is a missional phenomenon in the sense that it witnesses to the self-giving movement of this God toward his creation and us, human beings in God’s own image, but wayward and wanton. (Wright
In addition, a missional hermeneutic informed by decolonial critique seeks to read Scripture in conversation with historically marginalised communities, exposing colonial distortions and recovering liberative meanings aligned with the
This article is located within the context of more than 30 years of democracy and the remaining challenges of woundedness, inequality, and homelessness in the City of Tshwane (Modise
The reality is that the socio-economic-political and religious landscape is on a slippery slope for most city dwellers, particularly individuals from previously disadvantaged or marginalised groups. With these disparities, the City of Tshwane remains a tale of two cities (Cameron & Krynauw
During the apartheid years, the City’s spatial development approach was directed by the segregation-oriented removal of ‘non-whites’ from the city; an economic, spatial, social and political exclusion of this population group from urban life. (Clarke & Lourens
Tapping into the violence and woundedness of a Jewish man on the road to Jericho, homelessness in the City of Tshwane, is one of the many examples of wounded and bleeding communities that remain in squalor and merely fight for survival. Homelessness in the City of Tshwane must be understood as a multidimensional and structurally embedded phenomenon, deeply rooted in the legacies of colonialism and apartheid, and exacerbated by the current socio-economic inequalities. It entails housing insecurity, social dislocation, and existential displacement beyond ‘street homelessness’. Homelessness, in this context, is driven by a complex interplay of structural factors, which include poverty, unemployment, shortage of low-cost housing, migration, family breakdown, substance abuse, and systemic violence, among others.
This study adopts a qualitative, interpretive, and participatory research design, which is grounded in a transformative missiological paradigm (Bosch
Epistemologically, this study is framed within a decolonial and liberationist hermeneutic, challenging the persistence of colonial epistemologies in biblical interpretation. This allows space to foreground marginalised voices in theology as part of advancing epistemic justice (Anofuechi & Klaasen
The foregoing conditions, which are rooted in colonial and apartheid legacies, provide the socio-historical backdrop for engaging Luke 10:25–37 as a text addressing issues of woundedness, vulnerability, and neighbourliness in the context of homelessness in the City of Tshwane as our interlocutor. A CBS session was conducted at Tshwane Leadership Foundation with a group of 25 participants drawn from marginalised urban communities, including individuals experiencing poverty, unemployment, gender-based violence, and homelessness, among others. Participants ranged in age from 19 years to 50 years old, with 17 females, 8 males, and 2 foreign nationals. The inclusion of diverse participants ensured a multiplicity of perspectives in the engagement and interpretive process.
The researchers prepared a set of 12 semi-structured questions to guide engagement with the selected biblical text (Lk 10:25–37), and all participants were given the opportunity to respond to the questions. To adhere to ethical standards and requirements, participants were requested to sign an informed consent form, with the understanding that the knowledge generated would be used for advocacy and a scholarly article. The collected data and findings were validated collaboratively with participants at the end of the CBS to ensure we had accurately captured their views.
The theological reading of Luke 10:25–37 in this context, focusing on matters related to woundedness, inequality, homelessness, ubuntu, and human solidarity, requires a reading of the text beyond the moralistic agenda, but the re-centring of issues of ubuntu and human solidarity in pursuit of social justice for the wounded. The emphasis is on being neighbourly rather than on advocacy without action (Gardiner
The narrative captures an event in which a man was travelling on the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho (Milne
The narrative further exposes not only the social ills of poverty and inequality but also the structural failures that sustain marginalisation. The Levites and Priests in Luke’s time represented ecclesial elitism, in which religious leaders exploited those in the squalor of society and sustained social inequality, and also excluded the vulnerable from accessing care. And therefore, the parable exposes a theology of abandonment in which wounded bodies are produced and sustained by religious and socio-political systems.
It is opined, ‘The parable of the Good Samaritan revolves around the concept of neighbour’ (Falcetta
When ‘a nameless fellow along the wild and dangerous road, found himself the object of murderous attack, leaving him stripped, beaten, and half-dead’, the Samaritan never turned a blind eye but assisted the stranger, while risking his own life. The Samaritan crossed the existing and established boundaries in the efforts to stand in solidarity with the wounded by the roadside. When the Samaritan, a religious outsider, acted to help where the priest and the Levite failed, it signalled a profound shift in ecclesial praxis, one that re-centres love and solidarity in addressing woundedness, inequality, homelessness, and other social injustices. The shift is moving the moral and legal authority of religious leaders from a system that prioritises religious purity and self-preservation (Hughes
In reading, interpreting, and applying Luke 10:25–37 in the context of woundedness, inequality, and homelessness in the City of Tshwane, 25 participants in the CBS found that the text is about Jesus’s teaching on compassion, prompted by a lawyer who tested him with a question about eternal life. In their analysis, they highlighted the weaknesses of religious establishments, as represented by the priest and the Levite, who failed to show mercy and compassion to the wounded, vulnerable, and marginalised in society. They acknowledged that the Samaritan, while perceived by the Jews as a religious other, is the one who practically showed neighbourly love, even though it was costly.
When invited to identify different characters and their roles in the text, ordinary readers consistently mentioned the following people: the
In our interpretation of the voices of ordinary readers of the text, four interrelated themes emerged from their responses, namely:
Ordinary readers identified the road from Jerusalem to Jericho as a reflection of their current challenges in the City of Tshwane. These realities include hunger, sickness, robbery, assault, and abandonment. Acts of violence, woundedness, and vulnerability are a current reality for some city dwellers, who are left to fend for themselves in the streets and, at times, sleep on pavements and under bridges, as reflected in previous research (Bedoya Bonilla
Participants found that the priest and Levite failed their religion by ‘working with mouth but not action’. This is a sign of a religious system that is inward-looking and self-preserving, as demonstrated by the priest and Levite who did not want to defile themselves, or at least were protecting their lives. Their understanding can be found in this text and Luke’s interest in shifting righteousness from a mere moral obligation that requires formal compliance to a relational act of mercy and compassion (Saleh Jnr & Hombana
Participants identified several social ills as drivers of homelessness in the City of Tshwane; they listed poverty, greediness, harmful peer influence, a lack of knowledge of God and immorality, crime and violence, and migration, among others. Their analysis points to structural factors that speak to economic injustice and spatial exclusion. Previous research alluded to this reality by calling for a total restructuring of the city from an apartheid city to one where all citizens living in Tshwane have the right to it (De Villiers
Being a neighbour was defined not in terms of geography, but acts of mercy, love, and compassion towards anyone who needs help, including strangers, religious others, and those who are victims of social circumstances such as crime and violence (Oyewole
When participants were asked to summarise the story in their own words, they agreed that it shows what we need to do to inherit the kingdom of God. It further explains who our neighbours are. In conclusion, this text emphasises that our neighbours are people we encounter in our daily routine, those we meet at different points in our lives, who may need something we possess. The story encourages us to love everyone we encounter, regardless of how long we have known them. God brings people into our lives for a reason. Consequently, this narrative becomes Jesus’s teaching model for inheriting eternal life by becoming a good neighbour through acts of mercy and compassion. This is the agency required of a missional church that is faithful to the
It is clear from the foregoing that the voices of the homeless participants not only disrupt theological narratives but also offer an embodied decolonial hermeneutic of survival, resistance, and hope in the contexts of inequality, woundedness, and vulnerability in urban spaces.
The readers, both ordinary and learned, call for a reimagined praxis to address inequality, woundedness, and homelessness in the City of Tshwane. This praxis re-centres the
Mission is living out ubuntu in solidarity with wounded human beings. Ubuntu theology is life-affirming and, therefore, missional in its commitment towards life as we journey in the context of death and dying. Therefore, the church’s agency is more than mediating salvation; it also mirrors God’s mercy, love, and compassion in pursuit of social justice and advancing sustainable human development.
Church agency is about emulating the Good Samaritan, whose agency was not only to provide temporary relief but also to work with an established entity, such as the Inn or hotel, to provide shelter and further interventions aimed at the healing of the violated and wounded. This missional praxis is costly, as demonstrated by the Good Samaritan who risked his life to help another human being. This is a ‘Mission praxis in (voluntary) vulnerability’ (Kritzinger
Sharing of material resources should constitute part of the ubuntu or koinonia culture of the church agency, following in the footsteps of the Good Samaritan and the early Christian church in Acts 2:40–47. As part of their agency, churches should lead the campaign to establish their own shelters, clinics, counselling, and rehabilitation centres to facilitate sustainable care for the wounded and vulnerable, including the homeless. This should constitute part of the church’s reimagination of an embodied solidarity as dwelling-making. The Good Samaritan becomes a model of counter-spatial and human solidarity in search of a theology of a home, where everyone is human [
The church’s agency must be at the forefront of seeking spatial, social, and economic justice for those in the margins. Therefore, questions of access to the city, land, and the right to property ownership are missional, including access to the city and its renewal (ecological justice) (De Villiers
This vision encapsulates an inclusive dispensation that extends beyond the racial and class binaries that we have created for ourselves as human beings. The tribal and religious binaries that generated intense animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans to a level of denying any ecumenical partnership must be dismantled, as did the Good Samaritan. A missional-decolonial praxis of the church in the service of the
This article contends that inequality, woundedness, and homelessness are not incidental social conditions but constructed realities of a city shaped by coloniality, marginalisation, and structural violence. In reading Luke 10:25–37 through a decolonial missional lens, the wounded body on the road to Jericho becomes a representation of the homeless and marginalised in the City of Tshwane who are rendered vulnerable by systemic injustice and religious indifference. However, the disruptive praxis of the Good Samaritan calls for a missional ecclesial imagination that recentres ubuntu in the efforts to reimagine a theology of a home where everyone is a human being. This defines a church’s participation in the
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
Thinandavha D. Mashau: Conceptualisation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Moses S. Maponya: Conceptualisation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Both authors reviewed the article, contributed to the discussion of results, approved the final version for submission and publication, and take responsibility for the integrity of its findings.
Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the University of South Africa College of Human Sciences Research Ethics Committee (No. 2018_CHE_CE_01).
The authors declare that all data that support this research article and findings are available in the article and its references.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are the product of professional research. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder, agency, or that of the publisher. The authors are responsible for this article’s results, findings, and content.