Prison life seen through Mark’s gospel

By THEO YASAUSE
THE Bomana Prison in conjunction with Prison Fellowship PNG has graduated 30 inmates after eight weeks of studying the Gospel according to Mark.
Churches and the Body of Christ have embraced and enhanced the work happening inside the prison which is a key aspect of rehabilitation and reforming the prisoners to be better citizens. At the outset it was acknowledged that when everything else fails God cares and is demonstrated in His love through His Word.

Mark’s gospel defines a prisoner
The Gospel according to Mark – is learning who Jesus is – asking whether He could really love them. And for those who choose to, accepting an invitation to meet Him. In the prisoners’ journey, the participants were taken through eight sessions with the aim of introducing prisoners to a fellow prisoner – Jesus.
This was not the traditional teaching or preaching, however, it was about putting the Gospel in front of inmates and giving them change to make up their minds about Jesus.
The inmates realised that their past was taken and nailed to the cross; their purpose for being here on this earth was more than just what transpired in the past. No matter what they have done, many prisoners are hurting underneath, lonely, rejected reviled, and labelled as outcasts with names from society.
As a reflection, it is in such situations, when you feel the inner struggle, that you and I seek answers. Sometimes many inmates would attest, and say, that had reached a point where they simply said ‘God, just take my life away”, because of the feeling of hopelessness.
When everyone has discarded you, you feel desperate, and lonely. When you feel overwhelmed by the stress of what would happen to the family and loves ones. There are many questions that bother an inmate; questions like does God, do you care? If you do, do you still love me?
Many inmates who went through the struggles mentioned above had no spiritual support until they went through the Gospel of Mark to realised their own life journey that unfolded before them – the Prisoners’ Journey. The study of the Bible – the discussions, the screening of video clips, analysis and the conclusions lead to only one premise – when everything else fails, God still cares.
Also, a lot more inmates are of the view that what they discovered that the prisoners’ journey has given them hope, and treasures that will guide their future. If they had been in the world outside the prison, they would not have come across this gold field. They surrendered and became changed persons.
The teaching gave renewed hope, purpose and meaning to life and not prisoners of the past; the experiences are only a lesson and not a life sentence.
Mark’s gospel (the New International Version-NIV) appears to be written for an audience in Rome as evidenced in a Roman centurion’s declaration near the end of the book. “Surely this man is the Son of God”.
The opening part of the fast moving drama keys on the questions, Who you say I am?, an episode where Jesus heals a blind man in two stages, so he slowly comes to see. In the same way, his disciples have only gradually come to recognise who Jesus is. Then Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah.
Now the conflict moves out into the open, Jesus has come to introduce a radical new way of life that undercut existing power relationships. First Jesus and his disciples travel to Jerusalem, second, Jesus teaches at the temple, and clashes with the established leadership. Lastly, the leadership executes a plan that sees Jesus being crucified and buried.
But God overturns their deeds and raises Jesus to life. So many readers are called to be faithful to Jesus, even in suffering and this is how God continues to overturn existing order and established way giving new life, meaning and purpose to our relationships and existence.

Life cycle of a prisoner
Many prisoners have come to realise that their main purpose of being in this world is to worship God. God wanted a relationship with human kind whether male or female.
We are all created in His image and likeness. We are to treat each other with dignity and uplift the consciousness that we are to love one another. He is our shepherd. God will supply all our needs and we lack nothing.
The realisation also that even though we walk through dark moments of our life, we are to fear no evil and times of hardship. We all must find hope in the God that provides for his people; all we have to do is to remain faithful regardless of the trying moments and times. If we remain faithful goodness and love will overflow if all of us dwell in the house of the Lord.
Taking the passages in Psalms 23 the guest speaker at the graduation Isu Aluvula pointed out four key features. The first is ownership and obedience.
We all have choices to make in life. Each one of us makes choices almost every second and minute of our life. What to eat, drink, wear, who to meet, go to church or not etc. These choices either make us or break us. We all must take ownership of our individual decisions and face the consequences of those decisions.
Ownership also means obedience. In our Christian journey and as a Christian country, our people are required as part of our aims and objective to obey the commandments of God, that is first to love God and second to love our fellowmen.
The second feature is participation. We are all called to be playing a part in this world. Each one of us are here for a reason to play a specific part in wherever we are placed in and to contribute meaningfully so that everyone else live in peace and harmony.
It also means that we must become the prophetic voice, speak for and on behalf of God and his people. To build and harness relationships in making our families and community a better place for everyone to live and enjoy their time on earth.
Third, the empowerment and excellence of personal and community as aspect of societal enhancement. God has placed mankind on earth for a reason and speciality. He gave them the authority and dominion over the living creatures. It means we must all be stronger and confident in controlling our own life journey and claiming our rights as individual and collectively as a society.
We are all called to care and to be cared for, to give love and to receive love. It also means we must excel in what we are good at doing to provide for our family and society. This calls for everyone to be equipped in all aspects of their lives both spiritual and physical and be good at what each one is empowered to do for the benefit of all.
Lastly, networking and communication. One reason God created human beings as his image and likeness is so that He could network and communicate with them. It means that all stakeholders should work together.
Communication and networking with all stakeholders provide the basis for understanding and correcting actions and build relationships that would have otherwise be broken. This social enterprise influences and engages everyone to be of help to one another. As it is stated in many circles that no man is an island, we all need each other to address and find solutions to our earthly problems both spiritual and physical.
The inmates being in prison is not a mistake, it a place God wanted each individual to realign and re-focus their attention and purpose for being here on earth at this time, place and season. It is also for each one to realise their walk and use that experience to chart the future using the above platform for enhancement of the personal and collective contributions.

Testimonies from inmates
Four inmates from four separate classes who attended the course shared their experiences, transformation and lessons learnt.
Kevin Vitolo is 45 years of age from West New Britain and is from the Bomana high security unit class. He said when he was outside the prison he had no time for God and did not know God. He did not even acknowledge that there was God.
He shares the story of his redemption and second chances and how Jesus’s grace changed his life, which pushed him to change and convert to Christianity. The eight-week study helped him to pour his energy into reading the book of Mark to know about Jesus. This eventually helped him to understand the Bible.
Dorothy Heni from Gulf is married and has four children. She has been in prison for the past two years. A daughter of a prison warder, she said, “It was very disappointing and a disgrace at first when I was sent to the prison. I felt downhearted, lost and thought all hope was lost. I thought of my children and that made things even worse for me inside the prison.’’
Although she attended and participated in many church programmes her mind was not settled, something was missing. There was a very big vacuum in her life that made her become very ill and sick.
However, as her mind was racing, she decided to register and take part in the Bible study programme at the prison’s female wing. In the study of Jesus she came to appreciate who Jesus was, his character and qualities that made Him unique. She said “I learnt about Gods grace and mercy, the personal characteristics and personality. That helped to understand and appreciate the man called Jesus.”
Alois Erebebe: A life year prisoner, Alois has been through many programmes and trainings inside the prison. He says although there are many challenges inside the prison for inmates, it is programmes like the study of Mark that adds value.
He says correctional institutions should ensure the programnmes add value to the life of a prisoner and ignite change and transformation. Prisons should facilitate programmes that generate sustainable outcomes to change the life of people who have been labelled and given names in society.
He says the study of Prisoners’ Journey in the Gospel of Mark sets a new benchmark to inspire and change peoples’ lives. He said to change people coming from dysfunctional families, bad neighbourhoods you needed something more dynamic and identifiable to them which they can relate to well.
These people are hard headed and don’t like to listen to people that can’t relate to what the inmates have gone through. It is programmes like the Prisoners Journey that can allow the prisoners to share their experiences, strengths and find hope.
Juliana Mark is married with three children and comes from Enga. She only completed Grade 2 and could barely read and write but being in prison, her female colleague prisoners have helped her to read and write. She now can read the Bible. It has broadened her scope and horizon.
She says the Book of Mark on the Prisoners’ Journey gives hope to people like her who have lost all or have nothing in life. It gives them something to hope for and look forward to. It gives people life that walked the path of death.
Jesus speaks words of life and makes the most hard-hearted people cry. One of the lowest places a person can be in life is to having nothing to look forward to, nothing to live for, having lost all hope and is ready to throw their life away and give up. Jesus gives a reason to live for and keep moving forward and something to hold onto.

Conclusion
Prisoners identify with Jesus as a prisoner, that walked the way of the cross, died, was buried and rose again. He gave new meaning, a new lease on life and hope for the future as He will return as King. In the same way prisoners’ new life and meaning can be found in in Jesus.
The programme is admirable as it has turned peoples’ lives around. It helps prisoners walk righteously when they get out and also follow Jesus’ footsteps. It is a stepping stone or many good things that will follow as people walk upright to influence and mentor their peers.
We believe that no life is beyond the reach of God’s power and envision a future in which countless prisoners are redeemed, restored and reconciled through love and the truth of Jesus Christ.
The Prison Fellowship PNG Chapter is commended for the initiative partnering the Bomana Prison to bring about the change.

• The Yasause is an inmate at Bomana Prison.