Considering context in a reflection of a passage is extremely important, and this article we see mostly backstory, expressed in two biographies.
The article tells of two young men who became reverends through the mission in Gazaland, Portuguese East Africa. The first of the two was named Simon Machava, who is described as “one of the wisest, most sincere and godly men” in the mission. He brought many people to the Lord in his time as pastor and teacher, and he was instrumental in leading his heathen mother to God. He has made himself a very influential and important part of his community.
The second man is Timothy Mucavele, whose tale parallels that of Joseph in the bible. In that part of Africa it was required that natives carry certain forms of identification, but Timothy forgot to take his tax receipt and pass with him when he went out. When he was asked for it and couldn’t provide it, the police arrested him and sent him to work for a Portuguese farmer. This farmer didn’t like Timothy’s upbeat attitude and constant praises to God, so the farmer gave him difficult work to do. This didn’t stop Timothy from worshipping his God. Soon the farmer asked Timothy to explain why he was so happy all the time, and after Timothy gave his testimony the man made him overseer of all the natives in that section of the plantation, a position Timothy held until the end of his six-month sentence.
These two men had powerful stories that the author thought it would be important to share. Because of the information on the two new reverends, we can see that the placing of certain responsibilities on their shoulders was not done without thought. It was also nice to see more than just a simple announcement of someone becoming a pastor in Africa, and that in fact the context of these stories was just as important as the stories themselves.
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