Laws of Justice and Mercy

Monday 12/22/2014 6:55 AM

My assigned scripture today included the laws of justice and mercy found in Exodus 23:1-9. As I read them I thought about how appropriate they are for our modern world and, unfortunately, how often they are missing. “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness. Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit. … Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent. Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.”

As I read through the list I immediately thought of current events that illustrate each of the issues. False reports and misinformation are constantly leaked and propagated in our political processes by both Democrats and Republicans. Political spin-doctors take the news and mold it to fit their party’s point of view, truth be damned. Rabble-rousers hijack peaceful protests; turning crowds into frenzied, destructive, looting fanatics. “Illegal aliens” are blamed for many of the ills of our society but they are taken advantage of by those who do not pay a fair wage for work done. We are complicit in the injustice when we fail to stand up for them, choosing instead to benefit from cheaper prices for goods and services.

I found it interesting that one verse warns against showing favoritism to the poor in a lawsuit and the next verse warns against denying justice to the poor in their lawsuits. There are times in our judicial system when the poor cannot afford the high priced attorneys that are retained by large corporations or wealthy individuals, and suffer injustice as a result. There are other times when people feel sorry for the down and outers in our society and hold them to a different standard because of their standing. It seems like both scenarios are wrong.

The saddest part of this to me is that the Christian community should be at the vanguard of seeking after truth, justice and mercy for all people but too often we are the ones spreading misinformation, perverting justice and oppressing the foreigners. May God have mercy on us and help us to see the error of our ways.

Downward Mobility

Monday 12/15/2014 4:34 AM

Today I read the song Mary sang after she encountered Elizabeth, whose baby leapt in her womb upon meeting Mary. After praising God for the great things he had done for her, she sings, “His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” Rueben P. Job, one of the authors of my devotional book comments on these verses. He writes, “God’s promise seems no less preposterous today. Turn the values of this world upside down? Rich become weak; poor become strong? Each of us chosen to be God’s special witness to God’s promise of love and justice? It does seem like a preposterous promise, until we listen carefully to the Advent story, observe the life of Jesus, and listen to the Spirit’s voice today. But then we see that the promise is for us. The responsibility to tell the story is ours. And yes, the blessing and honor come to all whose lives point to Jesus Christ and God’s revolutionary purpose in the world.”

There are not many today in the church in North America who preach this kind of revolutionary message. We mouth the words about caring for the poor and seeking justice for the oppressed but when it comes to living it out, we fail miserably. We see the blessing of God as living in a free society where we can worship comfortably without fear of reprisal and being able to pursue our dreams of living a comfortable life with adequate finances for retirement. As a church we do little to promote love and justice for those who are oppressed in our society. We lobby for secure borders to our country to keep out the alien rather than seeking justice for those who have been allowed to live within our borders because their cheap labor allows us to maintain our lifestyle. We strive for upward mobility, a prized ideal in our culture. God’s people are to strive for downward mobility, standing with those who are oppressed by our governmental systems, which marginalize the weak and protect the interests of the powerful.

The question for me today is, how best is that to be done? Do I become an activist, joining protests and marches in the streets that demand rights for the oppressed? Do I lobby my representative in Congress to enact laws to address the issues of justice for the weak? Do I work within the church, striving for a change in the attitudes and the actions of God’s people? Perhaps it’s a little bit of all of that. It all seems too overwhelming and the immensity of the task tends to paralyze me. I need to have the courage to take a step.

Potluck

Friday 12/12/2014 4:14 AM

Yesterday we had our annual division holiday party. We have a potluck in one of the labs and enjoy each other’s food and company. Some of the retired employees return and friendships are renewed and strengthened. We traditionally give gifts to the office staff, sign cards to thank them for their work for us throughout the year and to wish them happy holidays.

As I was signing the cards of the staff yesterday one of my colleagues was telling me that one of the staff members was an atheist and another had a religion that does not allow her to celebrate anything so I should be careful of what I write in the cards. Unfortunately, I wasn’t careful, choosing instead to wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’m pretty sure I could be labeled intolerant in broader society, forcing my views onto others.

I’ve thought about this quite a bit over the course of the last day. If someone wishes me a Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanzaa I am not offended, I politely say thank you and feel honored that they took the time to share the joy of their celebration with me. I know I am in the cultural majority, so that may taint my perception, but I struggle to see why I should be careful in sharing the joy of this season of the year. It seems to me that if we live in a culturally diverse community we should take the best of each culture and make it a part of the combined culture. As it is, it seems that we tiptoe around constantly worrying about whom we may offend and lose out on a lot of joy. We do not live in a vacuum of self-centered isolation; we live in a vibrant, people-filled world. It’s like a potluck; we have a lot to appreciate and to share with each other.

Hope and Change

Friday 12/5/2014 4:01 AM

Today I read Lamentations 3. Many of the verses remind me of the last year, a time where God has seemed to be silent in my life. “(The Lord) has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. … Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. …I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, ‘My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.’ I remember my affliction and my wandering, … I remember them well and my soul is downcast within me.”

After Jeremiah lamented his condition of being afflicted and abandoned by God he breaks out with a triumphant statement of hope for which Lamentations 3 is most well known, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” My response to that great hope should be the same as that of Jeremiah, “‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. …Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him.”

This week has been filled with social unrest. Last week a grand jury failed to indict a police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri. Earlier this week a grand jury failed to indict a New York police officer who choked an unarmed black man, despite the fact that the man repeatedly told the arresting officers that he could not breathe and a witness filmed the incident. There have been demonstrations and riots across the country calling for judicial reform, for a change in a system that upholds the status quo and fails to provide justice equally to all people.

In the middle of Lamentations 3, after this passage that describes the faithful love and compassion of God for people, come the words of verses 34–36, “To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny people their rights before the Most High, to deprive them of justice – would not the Lord see such things?” The thing that I find so troubling is that the Christian community should see the world in the same way that God sees the world. If segments of our society are being crushed, denied their rights, and deprived of justice, Christians should be leading the charge for reform and change. They should be in the vanguard of those seeking justice for the oppressed. Unfortunately it seems that many Christians are the ones fighting hard to maintain the unjust, unequal, and biased systems that prey upon the weak and disenfranchised.

My response needs to be the same as that for which Jeremiah is calling in verses 40–42. “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: ‘We have sinned and rebelled…’ Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.”

I believe that our society needs to change. We need to live up to the Pledge of Allegiance, which describes our nation as being under God, with liberty and justice for all. I’m not sure how I can personally affect the change that is required but I’m quite certain that if I examine my ways, seek after God, repent of the part I have played in the perpetuation of injustice, and align myself with those who are oppressed, the Spirit of God will direct my path.