Jesus & Justice
Sara Hunter continued our sermon series on ‘The Words & Works of Jesus’ by exploring Jesus’ teaching on the subject of justice. The Scripture passage read was Luke 4:14-21:
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
I wonder how you like to be introduced to people? If you were about to walk on stage at an event what would be said about you by way of introduction? For me, perhaps this is Sara Hunter, Licensed Lay Minister, Community Organiser, Choir Leader, P&S instructor, wife, mother, friend, vegetarian, drinker of Earl Grey tea… those are the things that I am most known for, the things I spend most of my time doing. How significant is it then, that in the Bible, God is introduced to us as ‘a father to the fatherless’, ‘a defender of widows’, someone who ‘executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry’. God is introduced time and time again in the Bible as the defender of these vulnerable groups of people. This is one of the main things God spends His time doing, it’s one of the things he is most known for. In contrast, in most other ancient cultures a gods power was exercised through the elite of society, through kings, priests, military leaders – this was the reason they were so powerful because if you opposed these leaders you also opposed the gods! But the God of Israel was different – is different – God is on the side of the outcasts, the widows, the orphans, the stranger – our God, the God of the Bible, stood out from all other gods because he’s on the side of the powerless not the powerful and he wants justice for the poor.
How many times did we complain as a child that it’s “not fair”? It’s not fair, she got more sweets than me, it’s not fair, I’m the oldest so I should get to stay up later, it’s not fair, all my friends have got a phone, I want one too etc This concept of “fairness” is built into our very nature, we’re aware of it from the youngest ages, we feel keenly the injustice of a situation when we’re the victim. Yet we often find it hard to put ourselves in others shoes, to see situations from someone else’s perspective, where perhaps our actions are even causing the unfairness or the injustice. Our day to day lives are full of injustice because we live in a sinful world, a world where sinful people, and consequently systems & structures, institutions, governments, policies & decisions are found to be unjust – and as we become more aware of these injustices we might choose to ignore them if they don’t affect us personally, to be honest that’s often our most common response, or we might just think that it’s such a big issue that we wouldn’t know where to start, what on earth could little old me do about this? So we don’t do anything! It’s hard to know where to start and as Christians it’s important that we know what the Bible says about justice and how Jesus dealt with injustice.
So let’s start with a definition - what is Justice?
In the book of Micah the prophet is speaking to Israel who are continuing to turn their backs on God despite having been rescued from Egypt and Micah is summarising how God wants them to live:
He wants them to “do justice and love mercy”… the Cambridge English Dictionary describes Justice as being ‘fairness in the way people are dealt with’…
The Hebrew word for Justice used in Micah is “mishpat” and mishpat is a verb, a doing word, an action – justice is something that we do – judging people fairly, but ‘mishpat’ is not judgement only, it’s about restorative justice - taking a step further to advocate for those experiencing injustice. Micah says we’re not only ‘do justice’ we’re also to ‘love mercy’. Mercy is God’s unconditional grace and compassion and forgiveness and I think they both come hand in hand. The reason that we ‘do justice’ is because God loves us unconditionally, has compassion on us and forgives us – and extends this same mercy to all humanity.
So this Hebrew word ‘mishpat’ is used a lot in the Old Testament and it’s often translated as a few different words:
Leviticus 24:22 says we are ‘to have the same ‘law’ (mishpat) for the foreigner and the native-born’. We are to treat people the same regardless of race or social status.
Deuteronomy 18 talks about the offerings given for the priests and levites - they were to be supported by a percentage share of people’s income – this ‘share’ or sometimes ‘inheritance’ was known as the priests ‘mishpat’ - - it’s rightfully theirs… perhaps in the same way that a member of the clergy is paid a stipend from the parish share given to the diocese – it’s their right…
Proverbs 31:9 “defend the ‘rights’ (mishpat) of the poor and needy’
So this word ‘mishpat’ can be translated as justice but also as law, share, inheritance, rights – all of those words together are about treating people equitably, giving them their fair dues, judging them fairly, giving people their rights…
Although we are instructed to ‘do justice’ to everyone we come into contact with, the Bible definitely as a preference for some particular groups of people who perhaps need justice more than others.
In the Old Testament there are 4 groups of people that come up over and over again – often called the “the quartet of the vulnerable’ – these are widows, orphans, immigrants and the poor. These were all people with no social power, people living at subsistence level, possibly just days away from starvation if there was any kind of disaster like famine, invasion or social unrest. It’s not that difficult for us to think about who these groups of people might be for us today - refugees, migrant workers, the homeless, single parents, the elderly, the unemployed, those on minimum wage or zero hours contracts, those struggling with long term debt…the list goes on. The Old Testament seems to imply that if a society neglects these types of people that this is a violation of justice. If God loves and defends those with the least social and economic power then so should we, and if we don’t, we have neglected to ‘do justice’.
‘Doing justice’ was actually written in to the very culture of Israel – this was the way they were to show God’s character to the world. They were given the Law and charged to keep God’s commands so that all the surrounding nations will see how they live, with justice and peace, based on God’s Laws and will be attracted to this God and his wisdom and glory.
There’s another word that is often found in the Old Testament alongside ‘mishpat’ and that’s “righteousness” and again, there are different Hebrew words for righteousness throughout the Bible but the one more commonly used alongside ‘mishpat’ is ‘tzedaqah’. The meaning of this word is hard to translate into English but it’s about right relationships because of generous giving – so when we have right relationship with God and we give generously to God as commanded – this then changes us and leads to us to being committed to having right relationships with others and conducting all of our relationships with fairness and generosity rather than righteousness in terms of being good or having morally correct behaviour. But these right relationships due to generous giving were written into the Law – they weren’t left to happen by themselves, doing Justice was written into their Law.
These 2 words ‘mishpat’ and ‘tzedaqah’ are found together in the Bible a whole load of times. It’s clear that if we all showed ‘tzedaqah’ or righteousness then we wouldn’t need the ‘mishpat’ justice as everyone would be treated fairly and equitably. In Tim Keller’s book ‘Generous Justice’ he suggests that the best translation of both of these Hebrew words together is “social justice” which is a phrase much more familiar to us now.
Now this gets us into more familiar territory and one that for the church over the years has been a controversial one. Should the church be involved in ‘social justice’ or should it just stick to sharing the Good News of Jesus? Involvement in social justice issues can sometimes get political and some Christians believe that politics and religion should be kept very much separate. But I think the Biblical understanding of ‘social justice’ is not one that can be ignored but neither should it be taken and used for political gain either by one side saying that social justice is more important and ought to be carried out by the state / government through redistribution / taxation or the other side saying that personal salvation is the most important thing but that Christians should voluntarily give generously to the poor from our own private wealth – in other words charity. But Tim Keller argues that whilst ‘charity’ is good in society today it’s also very much optional. It’s not written into the law. No one can be forced to give to charity. But in Jesus’ time, the law of ‘tzedaqah’ was still in place – having right relationships through generous giving to the poor – so if someone was stingy or selfish, it’s actually a violation of God’s Law and therefor a sin. Indeed the Bible even suggests that if you don’t give generously to the poor you are in fact committing robbery. You are living unjustly and not giving ‘mishpat’ to those who are entitled to it.
The Old Testament says that there will always be poor people in the land BUT in paradox it also says that there should be no poor among you if you fully obey the laws.
In Deuteronomy we can find these laws about doing justice:
Sabbath Year Law - every 7 years all debts would be cancelled, including any collateral used to repay a loan. What an amazing law! It meant that long term debt - one of the main factors causing poverty – was simply removed and people were given a fresh start.
The Israelites were also commanded to ‘be openhanded not hard hearted or tight fisted towards your poor brother’ but they were to give generously, not just as a one off but consistently until that poor person could support themselves.
There was also the ‘gleaning’ laws, if you know the book of Ruth you’ll be familiar with these laws where landowners were commanded to leave some of their crop for the poor to gather, not giving them a hand-out but enabling them to provide for themselves.
There was also the ‘tithing’ laws, Israelites were commanded to give a tenth of their annual income to the upkeep of the temple (the priests mishpat) BUT every third year those tithes were given to the poor, the alien, the fatherless and the widows.
Then there was the Year of Jubilee. Every 7th year was a Sabbath Year and every 7th Sabbath year – so every 49th year – was the Year of Jubilee where land was given back to its original tribal owner when the Israelites returned from Egypt. Just imagine, for decades your family has struggled, perhaps through their own bad choices or perhaps through circumstance outside their control, perhaps they’ve had to sell their land in order to survive but then comes the Year of Jubilee and it’s a once in a lifetime chance for a family to start over, to be given a fresh start.
So in this society there were systems and laws in place to make sure that even if someone fell into poverty, if God’s laws were kept there was provision for them to get out of poverty. We can start to understand why it said there should be no poor among you!
Now we’ve spent a lot of time in the Old Testament so far, you’re probably thinking ‘when is she going to get on to Jesus and the passage from the New Testament we read in Luke’s gospel?’ When we look at the life of Jesus we see instantly that he also loves and cares for the same groups of vulnerable people that his Father does. Indeed, that was the way in which he was recognised & known to be the Messiah by His followers. John the Baptist’s followers reported him healing the sick and preaching good news to the poor. This is not some distant God or an old dusty list of laws – this is a living, breathing God in human form who essentially moved in with the poor & marginalised – he lived with them, ate with them, associated with them – he touched them, he healed them, he spoke with them publicly – he showed special concern for the poor, widows, the socially ostracized, the sick, the immoral, women – and here in this passage in Luke he suggests that God loves even the foreigners and Gentiles as much as he loves the Jews! And people were so offended by what he said that it caused a riot and they tried to kill him… so let’s have a closer look at what Jesus said here that caused such an extreme reaction.
This passage takes place at the start of Jesus’ ministry. After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness he returns to Galilee and starts to preach in the synagogues and he’s essentially becoming famous. He then goes back to his home town of Nazareth where he grew up, where he’s known as the son of Joseph, a carpenter, He goes into the synagogue and gets up to read from the Torah. He quotes a poem from the book of Isaiah.
‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
This section of Isaiah that he is quoting from was written hundreds of years earlier and it’s an exploration of the great hope of the future messianic king coming to rule in the new Jerusalem when all nations will live in peace. It comes after the famous prophesy that we often read at Christmas about ‘God’s servant’ coming to be a light to the nations and announcing good news – it talks about how he will be rejected, beaten and killed – dying on behalf of the sin of his own people – but then is alive again and his death has provided a way to make his people righteous (‘tzedaqah” in right relationship with God & others through generous giving). It then goes on to explain that those who accept what God’s servant has done for them will go on to experience the blessing and inheritance (mishpat) of God’s Kingdom.
Jesus wants to ‘proclaim good news to the poor’ - We now know that this was a much broader group of people than simply those with little money. It includes the quartet of the vulnerable, social outsiders, those of other ethnic groups considered unacceptable in religious circles.
Jesus says “He has sent me to proclaim FREEDOM for the prisoners”. The word for freedom that Luke uses here is ‘aphesis’ which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word for liberty or ‘release’ referring back to the Year of Jubilee where slaves were given their freedom, debts were cancelled and land was given back to families. And as we now know, the Year of Jubilee was part of the law to ensure that there were no poor amongst them and God’s justice, mercy and righteousness were evident in the land.
This poem that Jesus quotes shows how God’s justice and mercy will go out to all the nations of the world so that everyone is invited to come and know their creator and redeemer and live in the new Jerusalem, the new Creation.
Now Jesus not only quotes this passage in Isaiah he then tells those listening that it has been fulfilled in their hearing… he then goes on to remind them that the prophets Elijah and Elisha, and therefore God, deeply cares about and wants to feed and heal and bring justice for the Gentiles – emphasising even more, just in case they didn’t get the message yet, that God’s invitation of righteousness is to be extended to everyone, it’s not only for the people of Israel. He’s implying that he is this messianic king come to usher in God’s Kingdom. This is an outrageous claim and it’s no wonder they tried to kill him there and then.
Then Jesus goes on to show us what this justice, mercy and righteousness looks like. After He escapes nearly being killed, he then continues his ministry and over the next few chapters He heals a man possessed by a demon, he heals a woman with a fever, he starts to call his disciples who were not wealthy or powerful but lowly fishermen, he heals a man with leprosy who had been ostracized by society, he healed a paralysed man & implied that everyone is our mother and brother, he hangs out with tax collectors and prostitutes and he starts to challenge the pharisees on their corrupt, self-serving religious practices – Jesus’ turned people’s lives around – He saved their souls and showed them mercy & compassion yes – but He also brought about restoration and reversal of people’s life circumstances – he extending the circle of those who get invited in to experience the healing power of God’s Kingdom and he spoke out against injustice when he saw it. He essentially proclaimed that the Year of Jubilee had come now, and not only that but it was here to stay from that moment on – every day was a chance to be set free, to have sins forgiven and to be restored into fullness of life. It’s good news right?
Consequently, this is why I believe that doing justice is an essential part of living the Christian life. The harder question really is how to do this practically.
We need to make ‘doing justice’ a way of life, a way of being. Making other people’s problems your problems. Loving your neighbour as yourself because they are made in the image of God. I am confident that every single one of us will be presented with situations in our day to day lives where we will have to choose to do justice. Perhaps at work, or at school, or in your personal relationships. How you choose to respond to a situation of injustice will be a window on your relationship with God.
We need to respond to injustice individually but we also need to respond collectively, as Christians, as the Church of Jesus Christ. Imagine this gospel of justice, mercy and righteousness not only preached but embodied in a community. Imagine if we, as a group of believers in Jesus, lived in such a way that God’s character was shown to our neighbours and friends because of our commitment to doing justice, loving mercy, living in right relationship through generous giving and showing compassion. In order to do this we actually then need to know our neighbours! We are blessed to live in this amazing area of London – whilst it’s not difficult to find areas of injustice here in our neighbourhood, the causes of poverty and injustice are complex so we need to listen, get to know people, build relationships so that trust is built and be open to working with people very different from ourselves, in order to do justice.
As many of you know, we are a church passionate about making positive change in our neighbourhood – one of our main mission objectives is to “Transform Hoxton” making it a better place for everyone to live and one of the main methods we use to help with this is community organising. We don’t want to be a community that is insular and exists only for itself and its members. We want to be a church community who is seen to love their city, their neighbourhood and their neighbours in such a way that that they’re prepared to work for the good of the whole community, being people who love and give generously and sacrificially so that justice can be done and compassion is shown to those who need it the most. If we’re seen to be this kind of community then we lay the foundations for effective evangelism. We won’t get far if we tell someone about Jesus but then live and act in a way that shows we don’t care about their circumstances. Doing justice and sharing Jesus are so intertwined – we saw that in the life of Jesus.
Here at St John’s we have many opportunities for you to do justice here in Hoxton. If you’d like to know more about how to volunteer with the foodbank, or with Growbaby, or the CAP Money course please do speak with any of the welcome team afterwards.
I’ve mentioned community organising - we run a programme called Organising for Growth and one of our Action Teams is focussed on reaching out to the community and doing justice. Our current team are at a stage where they are listening and discerning what area of injustice in our local community God might be calling them to act and make change in. We would love to get you involved.
I wonder if there’s an area of injustice that you’ve experienced personally, in the past or even right now – would you like to do something about it together? To make a change so that it doesn’t happen again to someone else?
I wonder if there’s an area of injustice that you’ve been a close witness to – perhaps that a friend or member of your family has experienced. What could be done to change their situation?
I wonder if God has placed on your heart a particular area of injustice that He would like you to work for change in. God is not asking you to single headedly fix it but if you share it, there will be others who God has also placed a passion in this area in their hearts who would be willing to work with you.
I’m going to close with a prayer of blessing but I would love to invite you to respond practically after the service. If something came to mind, and I hope it did for everyone, the Outreach Team will be out in the hall with a flip-chart and post-it notes ready to hear from you. Please do go and chat with them, add the area of injustice that God has placed on your heart or that you’ve experience personally – write it down and it’s likely that someone else will have experienced it too and there’s an area we can choose to work on together and do justice in.
Let’s spend a few moments in silence asking the Holy Spirit to bring situations of injustice to mind… I’m going to end by praying a modern translation of a Franciscan Blessing over us.
May God bless you with a restless discomfort... about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger...at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears...to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness...to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that we are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
Revd Rene August