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Faith In Real Life Blog: “Sharing Justice”
Faith In Real Life Blog“SHARING JUSTICE”
Rev. Vernon Gramling
Decatur Presbyterian Church
October 15, 2022
Isaiah 58:1–12
Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways,as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;they ask of me righteous judgments; they want God on their side.3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day and oppress all your workers.4 You fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.” If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in parched places and make your bones strong,and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. 12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Luke 4:16–19
16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
I was hacked this week (due entirely to my inattention and gullibility) and I have been closing accounts, changing passwords and getting my computer scanned for spyware. So far, it appears I caught on before the scammer could empty my bank account but it was close. The relevance here is that this blog is written on borrowed time and the reader will have to fill in more blanks than usual.
BIBLICAL CONTEXT
The Isaiah text addresses a complacent entitled people who expected favor from God because they followed the forms of faith (worship and fasting) but were disregarding the substance of faith (6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin?)
The Luke text shows Jesus quoting Isaiah and claiming Isaiah’s prophecy as his own. ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
These words however were not well received. If we read on, the people wanted Jesus to work his magic as he had in other towns. They, quite understandably, wanted the same special favor Jesus had offered elsewhere. When Jesus said that isn’t how it works—he pointed out that God had acted in favor of foreigners—a widow at Zarephath in Sidon and for Naaman the Syrian when Jews in the same area were not treated likewise. Where was the justice in that? It was so disturbing to be told that you don’t automatically get special treatment because you are one of the chosen, the people of Nazareth attacked Jesus and tried to throw him off of a cliff.
Practical and Theological Dilemma
The world is full of disparities and we routinely associate health and wealth with blessings with the not so subtle implication that illness and poverty are at least a lack of blessing if not an outright punishment. Very few of us would say this so bluntly but we are all confronted with the fact that we are one of the richest nations in the world. Although it certainly does not feel that way, all of us in FIRL are in the top 10-20% of the world’s wealth. How do we explain it? And we don’t know what we are to do with the information. Should we feel guilty? Should we sell all that we have and give to the poor? (I promise you this is not part of my retirement plan.) Should we feel blessed? Should we feel humbled?
History is filled with explanations that don’t work. We just celebrated Columbus/Indigenous People day. Our nation has quite a history of ‘taming savages’—translate that to dispossessing peoples. A naked power grab was clothed in respectability— the Indians were obviously primitive and needed our superior education and technology. The Indians were heathens and needed to be converted. Listen to Putin’s rationale for invading Ukraine. People can always find a reason to do what benefits them. It is not new. It is as old as history. We are beneficiaries of such history and we do not know how to respond.
I am intentionally asking you to feel squeamish. We can not explain why some get cancer and some don’t. We cannot explain why we are born in a rich country and not a third world country. It presents a terrible problem in real life. The temptation is to create rationales to justify ourselves. The political debates on these topics are partisan, adversarial and unrelenting. The secular arguments defend our self interest and deny our responsibilities. Migrants are dirty and criminal. We have to protect ourselves. We have a right to protect our borders. We are trying to preserve the American way of life. There is a ‘prosperity gospel’ which argues that what we have reflects God’s favor. All of this is understandable. In real life, we want to preserve what we have—and that is easier if what is, is the way God wants it.
Jesus acknowledged but did not attempt to explain the disparities in the world. And he certainly did not solve them. However, he did say, without equivocation, that we are expected to notice those who have less and do what is in our ability to be mindful. We are not going to solve the problem either but we are still expected to struggle with it. In real life, that leaves us in an uncomfortable position. We need guidance.
Real life Theology
Each of these bullet points deserve explication but you will have to provide it. Let them be seeds and see if they grow.
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The spiritual response to having more is humility and gratitude and a lot less entitlement. I don’t care how hard any of us have worked, I promise there are other people in this world who have worked harder and longer. Some of them are living on well less than $10 a day.
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We are called and directed toward presence and care—precisely because we are so fortunate.
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That does not mean we will ever be enough. In fact by secular standards, we have signed up to be chronically inadequate. The needs around us are far greater than our ability to respond.
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We do what we can when we can in the faith that every bit of care matters. Outcomes are above our paygrade—leaving us to discern when and how we will respond.
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We do what we can when we can in the promise that this is the way of life that gives life.
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We do what we can when we can because we believe our value and worth come from God—not ANY secular indicator—wealth, health, gender, poverty, religious affiliation.
God loves and calls us to do likewise. That is sharing justice.
Let it be so.
