“Estação Primeira de Mangueira”, a famous and traditional samba school in Rio de Janeiro, entered “Marquês de Sapucaí” Avenue, in the Carnival of 2020, with a theme that is not common to Carnival groups: Jesus Christ.

Under the title "The truth will make you free", the Green-and-Pink samba school showed the timeliness of Christian teachings, as well as what would happen if Jesus lived today and came from a needy community, as He did. After all, He was the son of a carpenter, and Nazareth, according to historians, was small and of little relevance at the time. Today, it is the most important city in the northern district of Israel. Mangueira’s samba updates the social condition that Jesus would encounter in Brazil, therefore.

The lyrics, an excellence and ode to social justice, speak of a Jesus who would have a black face, Indian blood and the body of a woman if He were a citizen born on the outskirts of the city of Rio de Janeiro or a similar one.

I recommend to any interested parties to listen to the samba lovingly and analyze each verse. I had the opportunity to do it for a lecture I gave a week before Carnival 2020. It was worthwhile. It's a beautiful composition!

The part that I will highlight to embody this text says: “There is no future without sharing”.

I go back a few years to mention the memorable lecture I attended, given by the exhibitor and friend Vinicius Lara, from Bicas (a city in Minas Gerais). Vinicius used the Gospel of Luke 24, 13-35 as a guideline.

This passage narrates the passage in which two disciples of Jesus were walking towards the village of Emmaus. The crucifixion had already taken place. While they were talking about everything that had happened, a man approached and started walking with both of them. At one point, he asked what they were talking about and found out, through the saddened voice of the pair, what had happened to Christ. Then they told the stranger the news about the alleged resurrection witnessed by the female disciples. The wanderer then replied saying that everything had to happen that way. He also narrated several passages in the life of Christ, which encouraged the interlocutors.

Already very close to Emmaus, the disciples insisted that the man, who was about to go to other destinations, stay with them, as it was already getting dark. As they sat down at the table, the stranger took the bread, thanked God and shared the food, handing out a piece to each one. As soon as the act of sharing took place, both recognized that he was Jesus. Then, the Master disappeared.

The lesson in this episode, according to Vinicius Lara, is the following: Jesus will always be present when there is sharing. If there is no sharing, He will not be present, even when talking about Him or on His behalf.

Another famous biblical episode that demonstrates the importance of sharing is Holy Communion. When Jesus shares the bread and wine and distributes it to the 12 apostles, He means the same thing: every time they were together and sharing something in the name of love, He, the Rabbi, would be with the group.

I read on the website, “porém net” that tax havens - places where the law facilitates the application of foreign capital - divert US $ 650 billion (R $ 2.7 trillion) from the profits of the multinationals. If that amount were used for world health, education and security, the situation would be quite different from what we see not only today, but a long time ago.

Take Brazil as an example. There would be no need to increase the contribution time for retirement, reduce labor rights, be in precarious conditions of health and education... This is called income distribution, or better, sharing, even better, Jesus among us, sharing bread through a system fairer, that meets everyone's needs.

Why do companies transfer profits to tax havens? To reduce bills, that is, to pay less fees, taxes, since the law in these places usually frees foreign capital from taxation. For this reason, the financial market ends up giving the cards to most of the governments. Thus, profits are guaranteed as long as the population sees basic rights being drastically reduced so that rentiers (people who live on financial speculation and income) obtain more and more profits and dividends and transfer them, free of taxes, to such havens.

This question of hidden wealth is far more complex than you think. There is a much greater inequality than imaginable. All of it hidden under this speculative carpet.

Journalist and political scientist Leonardo Sakamoto, in an article published on the UOL news portal on December 15, 2020, points out that, according to data contained in a report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), “The richest 1% of the Brazilian population holds 28.3% of the income and the richest 10% have 42.5%. Meanwhile, the poorest 40% own 10.4%”. That means a lot of money for a few and meager pennies for many. Although we are a continental country and rich in natural resources, cultural diversity, etc., we are very unfair when it comes to income distribution. This also means that, at the top of the pyramid, people live well, eat well, dress well and enjoy First World health and education. Meanwhile, at the pyramidal base, lame schools and hospitals are champion, people living in crowded shacks, lack of basic sanitation and pitiful counterparts. Not to mention the violence that all this unfair arsenal unleashes.

Sakamoto goes further and puts his finger on a historical-social wound that some do not see and many prefer to pretend that they do not see: we are in a country that has been consolidated with the exploitation of slave labor as a pillar. Whether we realize it or not, the tripod “casa grande (the big house), slave quarters and captain of the forest” * still dictates the rules of coexistence in these pindorama lands. ** Therefore, we have the perception that public power exists to protect the most affluent from the attack of the poor and that politics and police exist to protect those who have purchasing power and to control those without material goods. A kind of social apartheid that leads to a lack of sharing knowledge, culture, experiences and varied experiences. And as Jesus shows us very well, he is only present when there is sharing.

Translator’s notes:

* The expression “casa grande, senzala e capitão do mato” represents a colonial period in Brazil in which prevailed a patriarchy represented by the big house that belongs to the one who owns everything (the Colonel) – house, slaves, relatives, children, wife, priests and politicians, Senzala is the camp of slaves and capitão do mato, is literally the bush captain. They were usually mulattos and they represented the colonel and acted as cruel and ruthless intermediates between the colonel and the slaves.

** Pindorama lands an expression used by the local natives at the time: Brazil, also the Land of Palms.

Returning to the question of the fair distribution of world wealth, it is important to emphasize that, without it, the world will not go forward. It is impossible to build a regenerated world (humanity's next goal, as Allan Kardec clearly explains in The Gospel According to Spiritism) with systems in place to usurp the rights and workforce of others to further enrich the wealthy ever.

In The Book of Spirits, in the chapter that addresses the law of equality, Kardec asks a question (number 808) that concerns the fact that many have so much and so many, so little. The answer of the spiritual friends is an excellence of objectivity.

808. Does not the inequality of wealth stem from the difference of faculties, and therefore some have more means of acquiring goods than others?

"Yes and no. What do you say about villainy and theft?”

When it comes to theft, the bank robber, the pickpocket, and the car thief, etc. come to mind. Or, the corrupt politician. The first three are the result of social injustice. They dedicate themselves to stealing what does not belong to them because the money that should come to them through public policies for social promotion is lost in the alleys of corruption. The fourth, however wrong, is just the tip of the “iceberg”. He is the piranha *** ox, as the people say in their wisdom to name things. While the piranhas are lounging and devouring an ox, the rest of the cattle pass unscathed further, unmolested.

Translator’s note:

*** Piranha is a South American fresh water fish and a fearsome predator.

Summarizing: while we blame the corrupt deputy or governor - who was caught red-handed - for poverty or unemployment, we do not realize that the real theft occurs when: 1) we bear extortionate interest; 2) when public health is being dilapidated; 3) public education is being scrapped in order to privatize it; 4) they hijack social security and make people work longer to be able to retire with a minimum of dignity... All this and more so that there is money to be invested by investors and rentiers in tax havens. Money that, if used for the benefit of the people, would bring countless social benefits and would not stop the rich from being rich. But the indiscriminate accumulation of goods is part of the routine of many selfish and greedy people. More villainy than that is impossible! A more shameless and disguised theft than this, I have never seen. Right, Kardec?

My friend Sergio Aleixo often says that when there is social justice a good part of the spiritual problems that plague contemporary man will disappear. After all, many of the negative spiritual companies we have are attracted by the tension, violence, lack of love and abandonment that this unjust and immoral distribution of goods generates. Imagine how much more serene we will be when we live in a society that sees equal opportunities for all!

I return to Leonardo Sakamoto's article: “(...) it is not enough to fight poverty. Only the reduction of inequality can allow the State to stop being a programmed foreman to contain a portion of the population in order to guarantee privileges and a (false) sense of security to the other.”

In this regard, the answer to question 877 in The Book of Spirits is very emphatic. It says that the first of all obligations is to respect the rights of others. This means the right to work, decent housing, equal wages, quality health and education, healthy leisure, access to culture, the right to come and go, freedom of expression, security that is not synonymous with repression, quality food, relevant information and impartial at the disposal of all, etc. The question is further explored in the same question 877: “Whoever respects these rights will always proceed with justice. In your world, because most men do not practice the law of justice, each uses reprisals. This is the cause of disturbance and confusion in which human societies live. Social life grants rights and imposes reciprocal duties.”

That is why, more than ever, it is necessary to share in a broad, general and unrestricted way. This alone will guarantee the presence of Jesus among us. How about we receive the bread from his hand and share it with everyone, regardless of social class, race, sex, religion ...? We all look forward to this moment. And we really need it, by the way. No more postponing it!

Bibliography:

1. AMORIM, Felipe - With slow progress, Brazil falls 5 positions in the quality of life ranking. Available at: link-1

2. KARDEC, Allan - The Gospel according to Spiritism, 2^nd edition, 2018, Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB), Brasilia, DF.

3. _______ - The Book of Spirits, 60^th edition, 1984, Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB), Brasilia, DF.

4. RAMIRES, Manoel - Tax havens divert R $ 2.7 trillion from the profits of multinationals. Available at: link-2

5. SAKAMOTO, Leonardo - With 1% of the country concentrating 28% of the income, Brazil cannot work out. Available at: link-3

6. SOUZA, Jesse - The elite of delay, revised and expanded edition, 2019, Estacao Brasil Publisher, Rio de Janeiro, RJ.