Where Justice is Most Just

Before I make my point, a sketch of our context. There have been three major shifts in the last fifty years for contemporary evangelical Christianity: worship shifted from hymns and choirs to worship bands, denominational affiliation continues to be less and less of a factor, and justice ministries have consumed more and more of the budget. Fifty years ago many, if not most, non-mainline American churches avoided social justice. In fact, a pervasive thought was that social justice meant social gospel, and social gospel meant liberalism, and that meant "Don't even begin to think about it!" But that's behind us now.

However we explain this shift in interest in social justice, it can be connected to both sides of the political spectrum, both to the moral majority movement and to strong voices like Jim Wallis. What is not in dispute is that young Christians believe social justice is inherent to the Christian task and to leadership.

I'd like to suggest that part of the rediscovery of justice in our churches finds profound biblical support, not the least of which is a string of passages in the Gospel of Luke. Without discussing each, I will mention them, and then I want to offer a strong warning. If you sit down with your Bible and read carefully through this set of passages you will be driven to the conclusion that justice was at the heart of Jesus' mission. Read Luke 1:46-55, commonly called the Magnificat; then Luke 1:67-79, the Benedictus; then Luke 3:10-14, where John the Baptist explains what repentance looks like at the practical level. These three texts and persons had a profound influence on Jesus because they were God's chosen instruments to prepare the way for Jesus. Each of them sees the day when God's kingdom will break into history and one of the central themes will be justice – and that means economic transformation. Oppression will end for the poor.

Now to Jesus. Jesus' first sermon in his hometown synagogue, in Nazareth, involved quoting lines from Isaiah 61 that define the ministry of Jesus as preaching the gospel to the poor (Luke 4:18-19). Then in the opening lines to Jesus' most famous sermon, called the Sermon on the Plain/Mount, Jesus turns society inside out by setting out a vision of just relations (Luke 6:20-26). Finally, when John is in prison and wondering if he will ever be set loose, he sends messengers to Jesus to see if Jesus is after all who he (John) thinks he is. Jesus' response appeals to passages in Isaiah 29, 35 and 61 and once again he sees his mission as reshaping society in just ways. Namely, the formerly excluded will now be at the table. Justice from Mary to Jesus and John: it's all over the Gospels.

But a warning. I am 100% on board about social justice and I'm thrilled to see so many churches and especially young leaders take up the kingdom vision of Jesus. And I am thrilled so many leaders are leading the charge by directing focus on helping the poor and providing water and forming disciples as those who do justice.

But I see two problems, and I'm asking you to consider carefully and prayerfully these two problems. First, for too many, social justice means voting for the right party. The economy is part of social justice, and our national debt mortgages away the future of our children and grandchildren. Many want to fight it. And healthcare is a concern for many of us, and fighting for the rights of everyone to have adequate healthcare is a noble cause for followers of Jesus. And international poverty and slave trading and healthy water and food ... all genuine Christian concerns directly connect-able to the kingdom vision of Jesus.

But I see an increasing number of followers of Jesus who think this means getting involved in the bureaucracy of governments and politics in order to bring about these noble goals. In fact, at times – and we will see this all over again by the end of the year when elections begin to heat up – one wonders if our hope, our eschatology, is an eschatology of politics. Is the way to change the world into a more just world through political platforms?

I ask you to consider this: How did Jesus change the world? Did he go to Jerusalem or Rome and protest? Did he advocate for a different king on the throne in Jerusalem or push for a new Caesar? I ask these questions because I know their answers are No.

Which leads me to my second problem, and it answers the first problem: the place for Christians to advocate for change is the local church.

Those six passages I mentioned above in the Gospel of Luke come to their fitting conclusion in Acts 2:42-47. In that small Jerusalem community justice was embodied and a new society was created. I want to suggest to you that this is our vision.

Let us work for justice, but let us embody that vision in our local church, let us do justice by taking care of the poor in our church and then the local justice spread that into our local community and world. Justice is most just when it is established by followers of Jesus in just communities of Jesus.

 

16 Comments »

1. Don’t you find it at least a little curious that the church in Acts never seemed to be engaged in social change?

   Comment by Roger Fields - Apr 14, 2011 @ 05:23 AM

2. Thank you for this article.
   I am tremendously passionate about freedom for women from human trafficking; and believe that by and large change can take place because of followers of Christ. Christ transforming lives forever in hearts and communities everywhere to end this horror.
   Ending human trafficking can happen in my lifetime (I am 32). I have a vision to see that happen.

   Comment by Kristi - Apr 14, 2011 @ 06:40 AM

3. I agree with you except for your last point.  Not becoming involved in government is shortsighted.  Your freedom to write this article was given by Christian men who founded this nation.  I am not promoting Christian nationalistic propaganda, but merely that we must do not one or the other, but both local and national justice pursuits.

   Comment by Matt Pritchett - Apr 14, 2011 @ 07:23 AM

4. Outstanding post, Scott! You are absolutely correct. Justice is a core biblical value (in the OT and NT alike!) and each local church is called to “act justly” - thus reflecting the character of God to the world.

   Comment by Kraig Krempa - Apr 14, 2011 @ 07:37 AM

5. Great post SM! Justice is completely threaded throughout the message and life of Jesus. 

   @Roger - If you read Acts from the lens of justice then you would see how they shared all things in common even their possessions.  (Acts 4:32) Is that not justice?  Is that not care for the poor?  Take the apostles directive to care for the widows in their growing congregation (Acts 6:1-7)  Take the apostles acts to send relief to those facing famine (Acts11:27-30).  Are these not acts of justice?

   @Matt - The belief that our country was founded by “Christian” men has been debuncked over and over.  At best they had a god-conscience and a humanitarian view of freedom, but they were not Christian and neither did their perspective of freedom hindge on the victory of the cross. See this video by Greg Boyd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIWs_G4oJaA

   Comment by rich - Apr 14, 2011 @ 08:13 AM

6. There is a difference between caring for those in your church and trying to shape society. The church did the first but never the later. Facts are stubborn.

   Comment by Roger Fields - Apr 14, 2011 @ 12:30 PM

7. @Roger - Are you serious? What stubbron facts are you referring to?

   The gospel is not just concerned for the saved but the society at large.  A gospel for the soul is a small gospel if it’s not impacting the community.  Ask any Christian in east Africa and they’ll tell you that the missionaries did a good job of telling them about Jesus but very little to disciple them…and the result is a corrupt “christian” government that exploits the poor (christian or otherwise) rather than liberates them.

   I’d also be careful about using the word “never” - Read up on the early church in it’s involvement to create hospitals, education centers and orphanages that cared for the poor (in Christ and the greater community).  See the writings of Josephus for example.  Is this not the church changing and shaping the society?

   Care for the poor, the widow and the stranger (non-hebrew) has been part of God’s plan from the very beginning (Zech 7:10) and carried over into the new covenant.

   Is your view that Christians should retreat from society or engage with it?  I guess that would help me understand your perspective a little better.

   Comment by rich - Apr 14, 2011 @ 12:47 PM

8. Cultures were impacted as a result of lives impacted by the gospel. However the focus was never to improve society. That is a by-product. Where did the church strategize to change social structures? Never.

   Comment by Roger Fields - Apr 14, 2011 @ 12:57 PM

9. I am simply saying the church in Acts never made social change a focus. I just think that is interesting. Draw your own conclusions why, or why not.

   Comment by Roger Fields. - Apr 14, 2011 @ 01:02 PM

10. the civil rights movement

    Comment by rich - Apr 14, 2011 @ 01:02 PM

11. I fully agree with what Scot says about the biblical mandate and support for justice. And I resonate with what he says about grounding justice within our ecclesiology. However, for me a nagging question remains - how do we deal with myriads of social evils which are inhenrently systemic in nature where the State is part of the problem.  I am from India where large scale oppression of women, children and the marginalized especially the outcastes called Dalits is everyday reality. I struggle with the fact that girls as young as 9 are caught in a barbaric and systemic form of traffiking and prostitution. How does a local church even begin to respond? It is NGOs and even Christian development organisations who are bringing the government to account and act on behalf of the oppressed. 

    The problem is inherently systemic and structural. I can give several instances when partnership ventures between civil society institutions and the government have yielded far better results. The victims are rehabilitated and in some cases they have been integrated into a local church. My problem with Scot’s proposal is that it only encourages local churches to retreat from the public square and so at best you end up having soup kitchen measures rather than real social justice initiatives. The issue of social justice is too complex and important to be left to the goverment alone or to the local church. We need cross sectoral partnerships with clear understanding of limitations and opportunities. But Ithanks Scot for your Kingdom vision which you’ve outlined in Jesus Creed and One.Life. Yours is a sane voice!

    Comment by Bennet Emmanuel - Apr 14, 2011 @ 10:13 PM

12. I just think it is tragic to reduce Jesus to a cause, even a noble one. It is an issue of focus. The focus of the church in Acts was to create redemptive cultures to impact individuals through the power of the gospel. Through that society was impacted for the better. Much, not all, of what I see in social justice circles sometimes leaves the impression that our reason for existence is to make society better. For some it gets translated into vote Democrat so that government programs can help the poor. I just don’t see the social justice thrust in Acts. Nothing you have said so far has changed my perspective on that.

    I will ask again. Can you show me an example in Acts where the church made social justice—outside of their own church body—a focus? They NEVER did. Not once. Not ever. NEVER. Does that bother you?

    Comment by Roger Fields - Apr 15, 2011 @ 04:04 AM

13. I guess I would be bothered if I had a limited view of justice, and identified “social justice” as a political term. I’m not bothered by what I see clearly in scripture and is supported by the scholarship of others and witnessed throughout church history in various times and places.

    Comment by Rich - Apr 15, 2011 @ 04:51 AM

14. Professor McKnight, thank you for your words of caution. The biggest application of your essay is a call to endurance and patience. Because the language of power is extremely seductive and distracting.

    Bennet Emmanuel does raise an important point, however: the new society called the church if confronted with an irreducible problem: we cannot solve complex social problems, nor can we turn away from them. We are duty-bound as slaves of Christ to spend ourselves in a never-ending ministry, not merely to the church, but to the entire world to whom we are sent.

    Comment by Paul Grant - Apr 17, 2011 @ 06:59 AM

15. Roger, I hope you’re not offended by what I am about to say. What would you do say if your daughter, wife or sister (or your loved one’s daughter) was abducted and trafficked to a dingy brothel where she would be sexually pulverized by 20 men a day? What would be your response? Would you organise a church fasting prayer to rescue her? Would you look to Acts on how to go about it, or would you also use every available law enforcement mechanism to rescue your precious one.  I am sure you wouldn’t call that a noble cause nor term it as cultural engagement. Justice now is not social it is deeply PERSONAL!  And what if it took a Hindu social activist who risked her life to rescue your daughter along with hundreds of other girls caught in this trafficking syndicate. How would you see her? 

    I lost my aunt ( my mom’s sister) in the streets of Mumbai in the 60s. My mom and her family went shopping and to their horror found her sister missing. Even back then those were the heydays of forced prostitution and child predators who would abduct children, mutilate them and force them to beg. We don’t know if this happened to her. She was just 14 then. Now 50 years later, my mom still recounts painfully the horror that befell on her family. 

    Roger you and I can theologize and pontificate the real function of the church in the world,  but it’s a different ball game when injustice hits closer home or home for that matter. It hasn’t affected you. It has affected somebody else’s family. The bigger questions are - what really is “good news’ to a victim of injustice? How do I see the image of God in a fellow man?  What does it mean to love my neighbour? More importantly it boils down to that tricky question, who is my neighbour?  I think Jesus would’ve looked squarely into our eyes, thumbed toward the Hindu activist and challenged us to “go and do likewise”! 

    Yet there is some truth to what Scot is cautioning us.  Some social justice activism can get the church pigeon-holed to political platforms. The abortion debate and the gay issue in the U.S is a power struggle. Cultural engagement then is a one or two point agenda. It’s politicking on a social platform. But running away from the public square is not the answer. It’s about being salt and light! Maybe just a pinch and a ray.

    Comment by Bennet Emmanuel - Apr 18, 2011 @ 12:56 AM

16. Oh wow.  My heart is SO with you on this, Scot!  I was a little nervous as I began reading, unsure of what you would ultimately be cautioning us about in the realm of social justice.  Your conclusion is very much on the same page as something I wrote earlier this month after I was sort of burned by a much-revered Senator who also happens to be a Christian: http://www.sortacrunchy.net/sortacrunchy/2011/04/senator-coburn-i-know-it-was-you-you-broke-my-heart-and-opened-my-eyes.html

    Reading Jesus for President (Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw) allowed me to see this issue in a completely different way, and I have been saying what you are saying here since I read that book. 

    Amber Robinson (author or Mercy Rising) recently guest posted on my blog and suggested we keep our thoughts and actions focused on “kingdom justice.”  I love that phrase because I think it is more accurate that social justice, keeping us on focused on Kingdom work,

    Comment by Megan Tietz - Apr 27, 2011 @ 10:46 AM

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