The "J" Word and other scandals of the Christian Faith

Introduction

BIBLICAL JUSTICE

The first year I was pastoring at Grace Chapel in Watertown Massachusetts, a woman asked to meet with me after church.

She came the next day for a meeting in my office and she started to unload her story of a controlling husband who had beat her, tracked her, was jealous, followed her, and threatened to kill her or himself if she ever left.

I had met the husband, and had felt uneasy from the first interaction.

I told her I would try to help her as she was trying to create a plan to leave him. She was deathly afraid of him,.

Domestic violence between intimate partners is some of the most insidious evil in our world because if they are married and have children, there is no way to get away from their partner, no matter the evil they perpetrate.

I was in over my head, so I called a ministry at our church that worked with women in domestic violence, I also called my friend Cassidy who had worked in women’s shelters as an advocate and social worker….and they told me that the woman should not contact the police……and that made sense but it also baffled me.

WE have entrusted the work of pursuing justice to our police and state prosecutors…but in the case of domestic violence the police were not where they could turn for help.

in the case of domestic violence there just aren’t good tools to adjudicate justice between intimate partners…

-no contact and restraining orders are limited in their ability to protect themselves

-before the ubiquity of camera phones and security cameras, it was difficult to get evidence, and much of it is threats and coercion that are difficult to demonstrate.

-Many states have two party consent for wire taps, so even if a conversation is recorded it won’t be permitted as evidence.

Due Process, presumption of innocence, lack of witnesses, he said she said. good reasons for it…but catastrophic for the 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men in our country affected by domestic violence.

But the other reason was more insidious: academic studies over the years have shown that 28-40% (a little bit higher than the average population) of police families experience domestic violence themselves. and some unscrupulous police officers identify with the misunderstood accused abuser and at times would protect them or coach them to avoid prosecution. This was the reason the women I knew who worked with domestic violence victims recommended against it.

Now, 60-75% of police families do not experience domestic violence and would never protect abusers.

And every police officer that I have known personally would find that kind of perspective abhorrent….

but what do you do if you cannot get justice? What if you cannot trust the authorities to care? What if laws are built to protect the accused rather than the ongoing victims?

questions of justice are notoriously difficult because they require 2 things humans are very bad at: wisdom & thoughtful deliberation.

Have you ever given much thought to ‘what is justice’

(recap-last week simplicity)

this week Biblical Justice (not social justice, racial justice or criminal justice but Biblical Justice)

So what is Justice?

In this case justice is a woman being freed from the threat of their significant other, to themselves or their children. Free to live their life in quiet enjoyment.

When we look at Biblical justice we need to look back at the ancient and Roman worlds to understand what they meant.

(we’ll do that in a minute)

It seems obvious, but when you don’t get justice you become someone who aches for it.

And all of us see injustice all around us….(news, social media, politicians)

And we fell uneasy all the time because we are anxious to see justice come

We have this ache for justice but in some ways we have become so used to injustice, that when it is pointed out, we just shrug our shoulders and say: well what can you do?

Here’s the thing, it is really offensive to our sensibilities because we have been hardened by the injustice of this world to think that it is normal.

Different kinds of justice for black, brown and white suspects.

CEO’s steal Billions and serve no prison time

The Sackler Family creates the opioid epidemic and keeps their fortunes.

church leaders prosecuted for gathering during COVID

School Shooters taken alive when George Floyd is killed on the streets

Justice is almost always found those in power…but it was meant for the weak.

This world is full of small and big injustices….

so we need to think hard about what is justice…what is that little voice in us telling us to hope for it

and how do we pursue it in a world that is built for the powerful to thrive and the weak to pay the price?

In some ways We can’t even imagine a just world…so we ask, how can we get a piece of the action, keep our heads down and hope Jesus comes back…but boy do we have bad news for us.

What is justice?

First instance: Genesis 18:19 The Covenant of Abraham included this command and direction for the people of God.

Genesis 18:19 NLT

I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.”

Right/Justice….the same word Tzadik…

157 times in the masoretic text OT

Dikaiosune is over 300 times in the NT

Justice and righteousness are the same word….. where we derive ideas of justice, and mercy

we have misunderstood righteousness

The Department of Justice.

The pursuit of Justice.

Not about vengeance, not about punishment, not about the correct application of the law and adherence to the policies of the government.

its about setting things right. That is what the word means. To set things right.

And when things can’t be made right, we try to compensate the aggrieved party.

And that is something we can all pursue in our broken world

-really.

Most things that are wrong will never rise to the occasion of the need to have a brave police officer to show up and investigate. Most things, most injustice are small, but effect us every day.

Small slights, gossip, anger, malice, greed,

Bad drivers endangering our lives or speeding along our streets

Lies about us

Lies to us

our stuff is Broken by accident or destroyed on purpose

Our relationships are broken

our trust is broken

Poor people are penalized for being poor and living in poor places

Rich people take advantage of their position to gain more power and wealth

Rich people bully poor people by threatening expensive litigation

We are disrespected by others

Political appointees give preference to their donors ahead of the weak and vulnerable

Real Estate developers get meetings with city leaders while those struggling with homelessness have no voice

Pastors get deference and their accusers are slandered

Prosecutors pick and choose what they will pursue based on the news-implications

Even thinking about this kind of injustice gets your blood boiling.

NT Wright on our ache for justice

You fall off your bicycle and break your leg. You go to the hospital and they fix it. You stagger around on crutches for awhile. Then, rather gingerly, you start to walk normally again … . There is such a thing as putting something to rights, as in fixing it, as getting it back on track. You can fix a broken leg, a broken toy, a broken television. So why can't we fix injustice. It isn't for lack of trying.

And yet, in spite of failures to fix injustice, we keep dreaming that one day all broken things will be set right. Wright contends, "Christians believe this is so because all humans have heard, deep within themselves, the echo of a voice which calls us to live [with a dream for justice]. And [followers of Christ] believe that in Jesus that voice became human and did what had to be done to bring it about."

NT Wright

How do we fight against a world awash in preference for the wealthy and powerful? How do we avoid the traps of falling into the lie that it is not our work and not our business? (expound the temptation)

-some want to fight everything

-some want to fight nothing

What does it mean that God wants justice, that his people will pursue justice? How do we be people of justice?

Buckle your seatbelts, some hard important stuff we need to look at today.

A Promise for us

Matthew 5:6 NLT

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,* for they will be satisfied.

So lets jump in.

Who is justice for?

-everyone

-but the powerful and rich have access, voice and influence. We should prefer the poor, powerless, widow, orphan and immigrant and prisoner because theY are classes of people who have no real protections for justice.

-We get justice through connection, through privilege

-I call a few friends who are judges (about procedure and insight)

-I called a couple of friends who are prosecutors (about domestic violence)

-I called a police officer friend about a domestic violence case (Kathy)

-I got a meeting with the mayors office through a friend to work on an affordable housing issue

-widows have no time, money and rarely connections to protect them (once they are past working age)

-orphans are wards of the state…so the state has no interest in keeping themselves accountable

-orphans have no tribe to pursue justice for them

-immigrants, with tentative status are unlikely to avail themselves of any protections because they are afraid of authorities

-prisoners, like orphans are wards of the state and probably the most vulnerable population to injustice in our world.

-POC, in a segregated culture with a class and caste system like the united states, minorities who are traditionally disenfranchised are much less likely to receive justice because of explicit and implicit racial bias.

How do you get justice if you have been wronged?

With a free press, a democracy, elections we have paths toward justice that they did not have in the ancient world(and do not have throughout much of the undeveloped global south)

here,….even if the police are corrupt, they still work for us. (Police chief forced out in Boise this week because it appears he was a bully and violent towards his officers)

-not in monarchies

-not in the ancient world

-police forces are modern inventions

-almost all justice has been ad how throughout history

-judges and kings appointed

-lawyers if you could afford them

-swift, capricious and lazy

many of these same problems exist today because we are so apathetic about justice…and it is hard to hold people accountable in a world awash in injustice.

But we can’t give up on it.

How Important is Justice?

Luke 11:42 NLT

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,* but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

Boy does this feel like a verse for our age:

It might read if written today....

Sorrow awaits for you Evangelicals! For you were careful to speak against the sexual permissiveness of your age, you were careful to protect your right to gather for worship, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should do those things, yes, but do not neglect the important things.

Media and selection bias…what we hear about is important. Evangelicals spent 50 years and Billions of dollars trying to overturn Roe v. Wade at the supreme court....not realizing that almost all Americans live a short drive to border towns in states that permit abortion.

That is one aspect of justice, but not the whole picture.

80% of kids in foster care will end up in Prison

20-25% of kids will be sexually or physically abused

we have 4000 homeless youth in our city.

pregnant women get 0 days of paid maternity in our state

our prison is full of people who get years and years in prison for non-violent drug offences (many of which are now legal in other states)

our prisoners have been denied access to family and chaplains for the last 2 years because of covid, staffing and budget cuts.

Social Security payments cannot even cover rent for most senior citizens…and many are preyed upon constantly for their desperation.

I have often asked myself why human beings have any rights at all. I always come to the conclusion that human rights, human freedoms, and human dignity have their deepest roots somewhere outside the perceptible world. These values are as powerful as they are because, under certain circumstances, people accept them without compulsion and are willing to die for them, and they make sense only in the perspective of the infinite and the eternal. … While the state is a human creation, human beings are the creation of God.

Václav Havel, The New York Review of Books, quoted in Context

How will Justice be completed?

Matthew 12:18–21 (NLT)

“Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen.

He is my Beloved, who pleases me.

I will put my Spirit upon him,

and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

He will not fight or shout

or raise his voice in public.

He will not crush the weakest reed

or put out a flickering candle.

Finally he will cause justice to be victorious.

And his name will be the hope

of all the world.”*

This is the theme and promise of the kingdom coming with Jesus’ resurrection and second coming…now but not yet.

Amos 5:24 NLT

Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.

The people of God were meant to be a counter-example....a kingdom of righteous living....ie those who pursue justice.

Call back to Genesis 18,

Luke 19:8–10 NLT

Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man* came to seek and save those who are lost.”

And even in the church there will be Justice: John 2:14-17

John 2:14–17 NLT

In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”*

How will it look among us:

Acts 6:1–6 NLT

But as the believers* rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.” Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

-listen to those in need

-speak up for widows among you

-challenge those responsible to take responsibility

-solve problems

This is how we will talk about Justice.

We will live for the biblical concept of justice. We will take a prophetic stand against all kinds of evil, not only spiritual, but also societal. All sin and injustice is the enemy of the church and the Kingdom of God. The search for the Kingdom of God is also a search for justice. They are the same longing. In the Kingdom we find ultimate justice, and biblical justice is more than just punishment for wrongdoing and oppression, it is also the restoration of wholeness, equality, and peace between people and with God. Our value of justice is a call to seek the welfare of every person in our city and in the world that we can influence. It is to hope and work for the Kingdom of God to come to bear on the place where we are. For that reason, our value of justice will mean action in the places where we have power, as well as the pursuit of justice in the proclamation of the Kingdom wherever we have a voice.

(Ps 9:8, Ps 96:10, Prov 31:9, Is 1:15-17, Is 56:1, Jer 29:7, Ez 34:16, Hos 12:6, Am 5:15 and 24, Mic 6:8, Matt 5:6, 6:10, Matt 6:33, Matt 12:18, Matt 18:5, Matt 25:40, Lk 11:42, Lk 18:7-8, Lk 19:8-10, Jn 2:14-17, Acts 6:1-6, Eph 6:12, Jam 1:27, 1 Jn 3:17,18).

Not Slacktivism-requires an embodied message

Not reactionary-we consistently work toward justice

Not easily riled by the pundits-stay focused on real issues

Not for the connected and powerful (we all do it because we all imagine we will be there someday.)

Not just for ourselves and our families.

Requires proximity to poor, prisoners, orphans and widows.

Guardian Ad Litem

Chaplaincy (hospitals, prisons, hospice)

Advocating for those with less access, power, money

-community ministries

-Homeless MC

Can’t solve every problem....focus on the ones closest to you....

Local instead of national problems

More power/more access, Spider man with great power

Friendly neighborhood Jesus follower.....like Peter in Queens or Miles Morales in Brooklyn, or Dare Devil in Hells kitchen, focus on the injustices right in front of you. Someone else is responsible for the stuff that makes you mad in the news.

Requires:

-Courage

-Truth Telling

-Self-sacrificing our position of influence to spend it for justice

-Disadvantaging ourselves

Not about:

you being the hero

you being powerful

Remember: you have more influence and courage than you realize…this is the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us.....we are empowered, emboldened and entrusted with this work....not for ourselves but for the weak around us.

Some of you here are struggling with injustice and need your community to step in....make sure that you share your needs with those in power as a prophetic challenge for them to do what is right.

The more you seek justice, the more you realize it always remains outside your grasp. Hence, figures like Augustine and [Jonathan] Edwards believed that if the world is to be enjoyed, it must be enjoyed in God, and if justice is to be realized, it must be granted to us with the gift of God's new world. Without God our hopes and we ourselves will remain diminished.

Miroslav Volf, in The Christian Century