Seeking Justice

Luke 4:14-19 

Introduction

Have you ever read a story or watched a movie depicting a historical event and found yourself say “That’s just not fair.” Most often, it is not just about someone experiencing a difficult time, the kind of universal suffering that is no respecter of persons. But there are certain people, because of the group they belong to and of no fault of their own and not even a result of chance.

Have you ever heard of Kathrine Switzer? She was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon back in 1967. No where in the Boston Marathon rules did it say that women could not run and so she registered. The race manager was not happy and tried to stop her by assaulting her and trying rip her number off. She did finish the race. We recognize that this was not fair. If she was physically fit enough to run the marathon, she should be allowed to compete.

Closer to home, we have the story of No. 2 Construction Battalion that had a headquarters in Truro. Our the First World War, there was an incredible need for men to be sent to the trenches in Europe. There were many black men who applied to go but were denied the opportunity because of the colour of their skin. Eventually the government was willing to tap into this interest within the black community, but only as a construction battalion because of the systemic racism. So, 19 officers and 595 men were sent as No. 2 Construction Battalion. Of those officers, the only black man was William Andrew White, the chaplain. We hear these stories and so many others and we instinctively recognize that it was unfair.

This is because of internal longing for justice. You might wonder if we naturally long for justice, why is there so much injustice in our world? The reason is that we will rarely be motivated to fight for justice when we are benefiting from the injustice. This is the reason why it took so long to end the African slave trade. Plenty of people understood that it was wrong and were personally against it, but they were also aware that the economy that they enjoyed was built on slave labour. In fact, even today many of the clothing brands that we wear everyday are from companies that use child labour, slave labour, and unsafe conditions. We try to ignore this because we do not want to pay the higher prices that purchasing ethical clothing would require.

What does any of this have to do with us as followers of Jesus? One of the things that Jesus wants from his followers is for us to work for justice. We see the importance of justice for the kingdom of God in the passage that has been read. This is something that happens near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus visits a synagogue and he has the opportunity to read from a scroll containing a passage from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah had a lot to say about justice and often warned the Israelites that their suffering was related to their neglect of justice. Jesus reads this passage and comments on by tying this to his ministry and his role as the Messiah. That should be straight forward and yet it is not. While you might think that every Christian would be pro-justice, the role of justice in the church is actually one of the more controversial issues within the church. We are going to take a look at why and consider ways that we can work for justice.

Struggle With Justice

I was recently listening to a related subject, an interview with a person who was both a lawyer and a theologian. They discussed how conservatives and liberals (theologically, not political parties) approached the concept of justice. Both would say that they were in favour of justice but the conservatives see justice as being strong on crime and increasing the death penalty and the liberals would see justice as redistribution of wealth to help the poor. Interestingly, one of the issues with the use of capital punishment is that a disproportionate number of those who are sentenced to death are people of colour and white people on average get lighter sentences. Is justice about how harsh we punish criminals or treating criminals the same, no matter their skin colour or background? 

I once watched a documentary on the church in Latin America. It included stories of how churches were working for justice on behalf the poor. It also included an interview with a pastor who disagreed with such work, stating that all we should do is get people saved. Anything else is not the church’s problem. There are those who feel strongly about this. They see justice work as a distraction from the church’s real job, which is evangelism. Interestingly, it is through partnering in justice work that some people are getting introduced to Jesus. I strongly believe that showing the younger generation which really values justice that working for justice is a part of following Jesus can be an important bridge to faith. 

There is another reason some Christians get suspicious of justice work. One of the churches I attended described it as rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic. If Jesus is coming back, why would we want to improve this world? The problem with this is that the Beatitudes and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount assume that we should improve things. We have no idea when Jesus will return. This logic is like refusing medical treatment for a child because that child will one day die of old age. We need to do what we can right now.

The final concern that I have encountered is that it is based on anti-Christian philosophy. It is true that some scholars who have written on justice have been influenced by Karl Marx. I am no communist but the question that needs to be asked is not whether something is consistent with Mark but whether it is consistent with Jesus. It does not matter if Marx was interested in providing for the poor more than comfort for the rich, if Jesus taught the same thing. We need to look at what is consistent with the Bible rather than what could look bad because it is also endorsed by a problematic figure.

Struggling For Justice

So what are we supposed to do? Some people are gifted in the right way and they are in the right place at the right time to fight for justice in a very specific way. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the fight for civil rights is one well known example. We may not become the public face for such a struggle for justice. But that does not mean we have no role. 

What are the areas that you find yourself responding with “That’s just not fair!” For myself, specifically because of our family context, I find myself trying to advocate for people with disabilities. This is not just about charity work for disabilities, but actually trying to be a voice for change because of continued injustice. But that will not necessarily be you.

There are all sorts of marginalized groups, because of race, age, tradition, gender, and many other things, that regularly face injustice. You might think that that’s just the way things are and nothing can change that. And yet we have already seen much progress in our society, roles that were once just for white men of a certain age being opened up for others. Someone or often, many people, decided that enough was enough. It may begin be recognizing the areas where we tolerate injustice because it does not affect us and repenting of that. It may be saying out loud that we oppose practices that are unjust and attitudes that promote injustice. It might be going back to the Bible and reading what it says about justice and praying about what we should do.

Conclusion

When Jesus began his ministry, he sat down in a synagogue and announced that justice was central to what he was about. But what about getting people into heaven? Yes, we are supposed to bring people into God’s family, and we will talk about that. But right now, this is the world that we live in. This is not just an unimportant waiting room until we get to the place we are supposed to be. The Bible says that God created this world and declared it good. And when God created humankind, God declared us very good. We have already seen that we are to treat each other with love. Part of that is fighting for justice, not just for ourselves, but for all those who are suffering from injustice. We might not be able to do everything but we can do something. Why should we do this? Because this is part of what Jesus wants.