Repenting of Injustice

Introduction

Good morning church family. Happy Father’s day to all of our dads and father figures. This is an exciting day in my family because it is my first father’s day, and my dad’s first Father’s day as a grandfather. I think I already have the dad reflexes and dad jokes, so I just need to learn the answers to any question and learn how to fix anything and I’ll be set. Well today, we are going to continue our series of Long Obedience. I’d like to start by sharing a story about when my dad took my brothers and I on a canoe trip to the Spring river in Arkansas. This is a pretty neat place because as you can imagine from the name, the rivers are fed by springs. This means that during the hottest part of the year, the river is still cold, and that the water will always be high enough to canoe.

We had the option for a four hour or eight hour trip. We decided we would get there early in the morning, and we would have plenty of time to do the eight hour trip. My dad and I were in one canoe, and my brothers and a friend were in the other. The beginning of this trip started out great. The pull-out point was far off, but we had all day. We found some of the springs that fed the river, and we stopped for awhile to try to swim down into them. We brought some flashlights with us just for this. We would swim down a ways and the flashlights would start to flicker. They weren’t waterproof. We would shake them to get them going again. Dark water is always unnerving. Underwater, you are waiting for your next breath. But we could just swim back up. Later, we stopped for lunch, and we stopped again to see a waterfall and to find a place to jump into the water. My dad and I knew that we had a long journey ahead of us, and we tried to keep our pace up. My brothers and their friend, though, were taking it easy. My dad and I were getting farther and farther ahead, and we would try to hesitate so they could see us, thinking it might encourage them to go faster. This went on for some time, and the day started to slip away from us. Our goal was still far from us. And yet, they weren't picking up the pace.

Now the sun was beginning to set. There was a very real threat in the night. There were rapids, rocks, and trees that hung over the water. And soon, we could hardly see any of these things. There is danger in the dark. So my dad and I waited for the other canoe, and we lashed the two canoes together so that we wouldn’t be separated. I switched to paddle in the other canoe so we would all go faster. We lashed the flashlights to the front of the canoes like headlights. We were ready to keep going, but the pull-out point was still far from us. Now we were navigating treacherous waters in the dark as a double canoe. We were all hoping for the relief of that pull-out point, but it was far from us. Arkansas is called the natural state for a reason, and swarms of bugs gathered around our flashlights, crawling all over us. It was all we could do to keep from capsizing as we encountered rapids in the dark. A plunge into these dark waters could be dangerous. If we capsized, we could be swept away or caught in debris. We might be in a situation where we can’t breathe, we could drown. One rapid flung us towards a bend where thick trees were creeping down the bank over the water. We narrowly avoided trouble, and we were all anxious and miserable. But salvation was still far from us, and we were stuck navigating the treacherous waters. We eagerly watched for the lights of the highway that would signal our pull-out point. But there was no light in sight. We were exhausted, anxious, and covered in bugs, but salvation was far from us.

We were groping around in the dark, unaware of the dangers around us. The light that we had barely helped us navigate, and it just brought swarms of bugs down on us. We were looking for the light of the highway, just waiting for this misery to end, waiting for deliverance. But it was far from us.

We live in an unjust world.

This is the darkness the world is plunged into today. There is danger in this darkness, and we are a long way from deliverance. In this dark world, justice is far from us.

Any of us familiar with recent events know what I’m talking about. I watched the video of George Floyd begging for his life, a grown man begging for his mama. He cried out, “Please, I can’t breathe,” over and over again, until he didn’t cry out any more. “Mama, Help me.” I can’t breathe. Have you ever felt this fear before? “I can’t breathe” Is a cry for someone to help. It’s a cry to please stop this violence against me.

The murder of George Floyd and its continuing aftermath clearly shows the violence of our world. On the one hand, we see acts of violence and oppression against a particular group of people. Statistically, people of color have higher rates of unemployment, incarceration, and police violence. These, and many other factors, are not things that are naturally affected by skin. And yet, in the U.S., there is a clear pattern of systemic injustice. These are people that can’t breathe. On the other hand, the riots and looting hurt many people not involved in George Floyd’s murder. There are many businesses that have been robbed or even burned down that were owned by people of color. Pharmacies have been robbed of medications that older members of these communities need, putting some people in jeopardizing situations. They can’t breathe. And people of any skin color are taking advantage of the situation and looting stores. Justice is far from us.

Isaiah points out that we talk both of oppression and revolt. Our words and our lives are characterized by both oppression and revolt. We participate in the oppression of others, and we ourselves are also oppressed and seek to revolt. We are, all of us, victims and perpetrators. When we recognize the ways we are oppressed, our response is to oppress others. When someone is violent towards us, we retaliate with our own violence. While going through the public school system, I would often reflect on how everyone is bullied and bullies others. At the same time. And I don’t think things have changed now that we’ve grown up. 2020 seems to be a year that it is especially hard to breath. We start out with a pandemic that affects our lungs. But we are angry that we are being asked to care about other people because it doesn’t affect us. I’m fine. I’m young; I’m healthy; I’m not going to die. So why can’t I do what I want to do? We are angry that we are being asked to look out for others. It’s invasive. We’ve never done anything like this before. We feel trapped in homes. We can’t breathe.

In our fear of this pandemic, immigrants are being shuffled into camps. They’re brought into big rooms where they are sprayed down with disinfecting chemicals. These chemicals are burning them, blinding them, choking them. They can’t breathe.

Our response to situations like this is anger and violence. This unjust world polarizes us against one another using anger and fear. It dangles power in front of us so that we will participate in this cycle and validate the injustice. This passage explains that both oppression and revolt are forms of injustice. I think that is because both oppression and revolt are inherently violent. We enter into this cycle of violence and turn around and around until no one can breathe. Isaiah says “Their works are works of iniquity and deeds of violence are in their hands.” and also “Their feet run to evil and they rush to shed innocent blood.” Justice is far from us.

We’ve gotten to a point where we can’t even talk about serious issues anymore. We are ready to disown our friends and family for having different views because we are unable to have an honest, open conversation. When someone says something we disagree with, we attack. But how can we find justice if we can’t even talk about it? Isaiah says, “Truth stumbles in the public square and uprightness cannot enter.” We just have to look at the news or social media to see how true this really is. On both sides of nearly any argument, truth stumbles. Justice is far from us.

Like Isaiah says, this world gives birth to mischief and iniquity like serpents and spiders. Its sin is venomous. There are groups of people in this world who are oppressed. Some literally in slavery as women and children enter into the global sex trade. Some are being beaten and killed by their government, such as in Venezuela and Hong Kong. People are even being beaten and killed here in the United States. There are other people in the world who need just 14 cents a day to be fed, and they are not getting it. We can’t breath. The brokenness of this world goes on and on. Justice is far from us.

There is Cosmic evil in this world. Evil at such a large scale it is hard to even imagine.

I don’t know about you. But this overwhelms me. I can’t change this unjust world. Sometimes it feels like I can’t do anything.

Isaiah tells us the whole world is unjust, including us.

Not only can I not change this world, I’m a part of it. I participate in these systems of injustice. Me. I am blind in this darkness. Justice is far from the whole world, including me.

Isaiah admits, as we need to admit, “Our transgressions before you are many, and our sins testify against us. Our Transgressions indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities.” We are sinners. Each one of us. And our sin plunges us into dark, treacherous waters. Waters where we can’t breathe. But sin is never self-contained. As we are drowning, we drag others down with us. Sometimes this is quite evident, but other times we might be able to turn our eyes and not realize this fact. Sin is relational, and it affects all of those around us. Our sin creates and perpetuates injustice in this world.

We sink into the darkness of this world. We grope like the blind along a wall. In fact, we often choose to be blind. We are willingly ignorant of how our actions and inaction affects others. There are times when we quite literally turn our eyes away from injustice. We uncomfortably look away when we see a homeless person on the street. We look down; we look straight ahead; we pretend we don’t see them. We can easily justify this. We don’t know if they’ll spend money wisely. They are homeless after all. And it is true, that social charity can be harmful at times. But we boil down this situation into an easy yes or no, and we rule out yes and drive away. Real charity, or love, is to do the hard work of addressing the factors that contribute to homelessness and helping people get back on their feet. But that takes a lot of effort. We think the world is good enough for us, so why change it? Maybe we are getting by just fine, groping in this darkness.

There are other times where our blindness sets in a little more slowly. Our actions and attention can make us blind before we really register what is happening. My Grandma has recently began losing her vision. She has diabetes, and she doesn’t always take care of it like she should. By choosing something sweet, she chose to lose sight of everything else, quite literally. Thankfully, she is able to be treated, and is getting her vision restored, but she’s in danger of losing it again. This is how many people are in this world. We choose the sweet things in life to fill our time and attention. We choose without thinking through any consequences. We choose to ignore the injustice we might otherwise see clearly. It’s easier to watch tv, to play a game, to isolate ourselves from the fact that our words, our action, and our inaction hurt people. We call it gluttony when we choose the pleasurable things that make us go blind, and we call it sloth when we choose the easy things over the hard work of justice. And so we are plunged into the darkness of this world.

Do you know, in the Exodus story, it is not like every Egyptian owned Hebrew slaves. It wasn’t every Egyptian who beat Hebrew slaves. It wasn’t every Egyptian who directly oppressed God’s people. But every Egyptian lived and benefited from a society built on Hebrew slavery. And every Egyptian faced the plagues and lost their firstborn child. We tell ourselves that it is okay to be passive. We are not doing anything. We turn a blind eye to the injustice and oppression of homeless people, immigrants, or people of color. We make ourselves feel better by telling ourselves they probably deserved it. I’ve heard people say that George Floyd was a criminal, and they imply that he deserved to be choked out and executed on the street. It breaks my heart that we can be so blind, so apathetic to people like us, to people created in the image of God. And when God comes to repay our deeds, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised if we are faced with plagues and darkness and death. Just like Isaiah’s accusation, we don’t commit ourselves to the way of peace.

And most of those who do stand up, also stand up out of violence. Innocent police officers and their animal companions are being killed. Hit with cars on purpose, bricks thrown at their face, shot. Rioters lift up a banner of justice, but it is really veiled vengeance and self-interest. Justice is far from here, too. The police answer this call with escalated violence, and the cycle keeps turning. The world’s answer to violence is violence. Fight fire with fire. Take an eye for an eye. We don’t commit ourselves to the way of peace, and because of this we are plunged into darkness.

Iniquity is a barrier between us and God. It’s not that God is unable, or that God doesn’t hear our prayers. We are the problem. God can’t fix our lives without first fixing us, and we are too often closed to conviction and change. Like the Pharisees, we think we know what God is supposed to do, and it can’t be sending his Son to die. Our sins have hidden his face from us.

We wait for a light that will bring us out of this darkness. But there is only night. We hide in this darkness, but we are terrified of it.

God’s hand is not too short to save.

This all seems hopeless. Justice is far from us. Salvation is far from us. Really, are justice and salvation even possible in this dark world? Yes, cries Isaiah, Yes. Because while justice and salvation are far from us, God’s hand is not too short to save. While our sins have hidden God’s face from us, God’s ears are not too dull to hear. The Lord reaches into this darkness, into this dangerous water and pulls us out.

The Lord sees all of this injustice and is displeased. Make no mistake, God is displeased with us. No one is willing to intervene, but God is. God takes it upon Godself. The corruption in the world, and in my own heart, was so great, that only God could step in. God’s hand is not too short to save. God came into this world to bring justice and salvation near to us.

God put on righteousness like a breastplate and the helmet of salvation. Garments of vengeance and a mantle of fury. Isaiah says that God will repay according to their deeds. Those in the West will fear the name of the Lord, and those in the east will fear his glory. And God will come to Zion as a Redeemer. God will redeem those who turn from transgression. That’s all it takes. We turn from transgression; we repent. God will bring salvation and justice to this world, casting out its darkness, saving us. He will come like a pent-up stream, flooding the world. And this is what God did in Jesus Christ. The stream of grace burst forth, flooding my life, flooding yours. God invites us to repent of our sins, to repent of injustice. To turn away and play no part in it. We repent of our apathy, we repent of our bitterness. We repent of our violence and our oppressive ways. We repent of our darkness and for hiding in it. Through the Spirit, Jesus has enabled us to live differently. We live in a community of new creation now, the church. God’s hand is not too short to save.

Isaiah says that whoever turns from evil is despoiled. Despoiled means to violently remove valuables from that person, like being mugged. In this unjust world, turning from evil is enough to make you a target. If you will not participate in the evil of the group and validate the sin, the group will attack you for exposing it. You become a mirror that testifies what is actually going on, and so the group will desperately shatter you. We expect this as we repent. We expect to get hurt, even by those who we love. But we’ve repented, and we don’t return their violence.

God gives us God’s own armor.

This world hurts. This world kills. The reason that we are overwhelmed in the face of the injustice of this world is because only God can set the world right. Now we absolutely can participate in God’s mission. But we need to recognize that it is God’s mission, not mine. It might take longer than I like or work in different ways than I imagined, But God will set this world right. And in fact, through Jesus Christ, this victory has already been won. We are just waiting on its fulfillment. Through Jesus, we can be a community who lives through justice and salvation, now. Right now.

After God saves us, we are given protective armor. In Isaiah 59:17, you probably caught on to some of the specific language that was used. It describes the armor of God. In Ephesians 6:10-20, Paul tells us that God has given us God’s own armor. Paul draws from Isaiah 59 and a few other places to talk about the full armor of God. Let’s read what he says:

The New Revised Standard Version The Whole Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

It’s cool how Paul has drawn from Isaiah 59 and some other passages, and its also interesting to me what pieces of armor are left out. Paul doesn’t say that we’ve been given clothing of vengeance or a mantle of fury. I think this is because Vengeance is God’s alone. In fact, nearly every piece of armor that Paul mentions is defensive, given for the purpose of withstanding attacks. Even the sword of the Spirit is called a shortsword. This is a weapon, but it is primarily used in your offhand to parry attacks, to protect yourself, rather than to attack outright. God gives us God’s armor to enable us to withstand attacks, to stand up. The armor God gives us is defensive.

Now, does that mean that we are only defensive, and that we just stand passively? Absolutely not! We are not given attack weapons because we are not meant to attack one another. That’s the temptation. That’s what this violence-soaked world tells us. If we were given the gun of goodness, for example, we would use it to destroy one another. We would destroy one another with goodness. But if we fight violence with violence, it becomes a never ending cycle, a cycle where almost no one can stand up, a cycle where no one can breathe. But our Savior came down and absorbed that violence, and he encourages us to do the same, to be people who absorb violence, to be people who stand up, to be people who make room for everyone to breathe. My favorite verse in Ephesians 6, is this reminder that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It is not against other people. Our struggle is against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil. Our struggle is against the forces that turn away justice, that make righteousness stand at a distance, that cause truth to stumble in the public square, and that bar uprightness from entering.

So if we are not meant to attack, and we are not meant to defend ourselves passively, what do we do? Paul says that we are to stand up, withstanding attacks, that we are to pray, and that we are to give witness to the mystery of the gospel. God gives us God’s armor so we can stand up and join a battle with prayer and witness. We expose the world; we declare that the world’s justice is vengeance, and we give witness to oppression and injustice. If you remember our Isaiah passage, that opens us up to be attacked, to be mugged. People will attack us. People who consider us to be enemies. But people who we know are not our enemies. People we will love. There are people around us who cannot breath. There are people that this dark world has pinned to the ground. There are people crying for someone, anyone to help them. We stand up, with a breastplate of righteousness that protects our own lungs, and we help others to find their voice and breath.

Through witness and prayer, the world will find justice.

A lot of people on my Facebook have pointed out that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. They are using this to say that nonviolent resistance will get you killed, so it must not work. I disagree with these people. That is exactly the model of Christ. Actually, there is a good chance that nonviolent resistance will get you killed. But this proves how unjust the world is, and it is part of what we witness. God came down to save us, but the world was so unjust, we murdered God. The world’s final and greatest power over us is death. But death cannot hold God, so when this happened, God broke the power of death. So now we know that the world truly has no power over us. We witness to God’s love. We witness to the good news of peace. Because outfitted with God’s armor, we can stand up in the face of anything, even death.

One of the most formational movies I watched growing up was End of the Spear. If you haven’t seen it, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s based on a true story. In it, a group of missionaries reach out to a violent tribe of indigenous people called the Waodani in the Ecuadorian rain forest. These people were extremely violent, and because of this violence, they had limited contact with the outside world. Part of their culture centered on revenge spearing, in which it was the duty of the oldest son to avenge the death of his father. This put them in a cycle of murder after murder. And yet a group of missionaries felt called to witness to these people. One of the missionaries is saying goodbye to his son, and the son urges him to bring a gun to defend himself. The missionary teaches his son by saying “We can’t shoot the Waodani, son. They’re not ready for heaven - we are.” He goes on to explain to his son that violence is a trap, and these people are stuck in it. So when the Waodani confront the missionaries, these missionaries chose to love the Waodani, even when they were being murdered by them. This love changed that tribe. They asked “why didn’t the wood bee (This was their word for the airplane), why didn’t the wood bee men shoot us while we were spearing them?” The wives of the men who were killed told them, “They came to tell you that God had a Son, he was speared, but he didn’t spear back, so that those who speared him would one day live well.” This faithful love and witness changed the lives of this tribe. It was a lifelong process, but it completely transformed them. This is what a life of prayer and witness looks like.

One of the direct reproaches we hear in Isaiah 59, is that people do not know the way of peace and there is no justice in their paths. In contrast, Paul tells us to wrap our feet in the readiness of the good news of peace. In Isaiah 59 we see feet that run to evil, with crooked roads and paths of injustice, but Christians walk in peace. Our feet are wrapped in peace, no matter where we go. In the Bible, the language of walking is used to characterize your whole life. A Christian’s whole life is characterized by peace. We are ready to be people of peace, spreading the good news of peace. What good news peace is to a world of darkness and violence!

As we draw to a close, I want to share a poem with you and then encourage you to reflect on these issues and your part in them. The poem is “Outwitted” by Edwin Markham.

Outwitted

“He drew a circle that shut me out - heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: we drew a circle that took him in!” -Edwin Markham

Lets reflect on these questions: How can we begin to reconcile victims and perpetrators? How can we be agents of peace and justice in this world?

Let us pray:

Most Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you this day in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole hearts, and we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry, and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. and Lord, make us instruments of your peace, Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

As we close, let’s sing a song of response together.

May the God of peace sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. Amen.