Secure Justice — for the Widow, the Orphan, the Poor, the Hungry, the Stranger, the Needy, the Weak, the Oppressed, and the Neighbour

I ran across an Australian paraphrase of this passage, which I'd like to read, and when you hear the words, "fair dinkum," that's Aussie-talk for "sincere," or "trustworthy". Here's Isaiah 42, the Australian version:

"Let me introduce to you the one who serves me,
the one I am backing all the way.
I have chosen him,
and I am bursting with pride over him.
I have given him my spirit in full measure,
and he will bring about justice everywhere on earth.
He won't go thrusting himself into the public eye,
or grandstanding in the street with pompous speeches.
He won't exploit the vulnerability of damaged people,
or squeeze the last drops out of those who are running on empty.
He will be completely fair dinkum
about making justice a reality.
He will not run out of steam or throw in the towel
until his mission is accomplished;
until justice holds sway everywhere on earth
and the world's peoples are eager to learn from him." (Nathan Nettleton)

Justice Is more than Charity

Justice is difficult to define, let alone implement. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), one of the most important English writers of the eighteenth century, wrote, tongue in cheek, "Justice is my being allowed to do whatever I like; injustice is whatever prevents my doing so." We're familiar with criminal justice, but even in those matters its meaning can be ambiguous. The story is told of a man who was stood trial, and when his lawyer was informed of the jury's verdict in the case, he immediately called his client, telling him, "Justice prevails!" Whereupon the man replied, "Appeal at once!"

Justice may be difficult to define, but we know that is more than charity. Let me illustrate this with the use of a story. It's a story about a town that could be reached only by a narrow road — a road with a bad curve in it. There were frequent accidents on the road, especially at the bad curve, and the preacher would preach to the people of the town to make sure they were Good Samaritans. And they were Good Samaritans. After each accident they would attend to the victims, for this was a religious work.

One day someone suggested they buy an ambulance to get the accident victims to the town hospital more quickly. The preacher preached and the people gave, for this was a religious work.

Some time later a councilman suggested that the town authorize the construction of a wider road and the removal of the dangerous curve. Now it happened that the mayor had a fruit market right at the curve on the road and he was against taking out the curve. Someone asked the preacher to say a word about it to the mayor as well as the congregation. However, the preacher and most of the people figured they had better stay out of politics.

On the next Sunday the preacher preached on the Good Samaritan Gospel and encouraged the people to continue their fine work of ministering to accident victims — which they did. For this was a religious work. (Charles Arcodia, "The Farming Town," Stories for Sharing)

There is no doubt that our religious tradition encourages charity, in its classic and most charitable meaning. Christians have a long and worthy tradition of charity. Justice, like charity, arises out of an impulse to respond to something that is wrong. Justice is an intelligent charity, attempting to fix things so that they won't happen again.

A century and a half ago in England, ten-year-old children were working down in dangerous coal mines for twelve hours a day, six days a week. Charity for these miserable waifs included Sunday prayers for their welfare and perhaps a food basket at Christmas and Easter. As we know, however, Christians with a heart for justice felt that hard labour for children is wrong, and they worked to change the laws so that children would not have to work in the mines anymore. In fact, William Booth founded the Salvation Army in 1865 in response to the plight of English children working in coal mines.

Justice Is more than Parity

If justice is more than charity, it is also more than parity. We are accustomed to thinking of parity justice, stressing fairness and equality with others. Western political tradition, beginning perhaps with the French Revolution, has talked about equal rights; equality under the law; liberty and justice for all; equal pay for equal work; equal opportunity in employment; and the like. To the Western way of thinking justice begins and ends in the achievement of parity. It's a noble ideal, and one that, if achieved, could correct many injustices but there is more to biblical justice than parity justice. Biblical justice seeks to restore our relationship with those to whom injustices have been done. The biblical notion of justice requires us not only to work for parity but for reconciliation. This is at the heart of the "restorative justice" movement. Vernard Eller, a Church of the Brethren scholar, talks of justice grounded in grace. (Eller, "Justice and Grace," The Other Side, July, 1983)

Justice is more than charity, and more than parity. Parity justice is a noble idea, probably the best the secular world can hope to offer, and it has freed many people from slavery and oppression. The biblical concept of justice, however, goes beyond fairness, beyond equality and parity. It is intimately grounded in God's generous grace.

Sometimes, however, even parity isn't possible without special measures. Consider two children in the same family. Billy is very smart, consistently on the honour roll, and one of the top students in his class. Billy is also a good musician, plays in the school orchestra, sings in the church choir, and is thinking of starting a musical group of his own. Billy's also a gifted athlete, good at soccer, track, baseball, basketball, you name it! (based on a story told in "Justice," by Edward F. Markquart)

Billy's young brother, Bobbie, on the other hand, is a little slow. Bobbie sings, but in meandering monotone, and he's never been on an athletic team or been asked to join one. He's not at the top of the class, even in his "special" class.

One day the two boys sat down to breakfast, which consisted of three cinnamon rolls — three wonderful, chewy, yumscious, scrumcious, tasty rolls, dripping with brown sugared syrup, fresh out of the oven, warm and delectable! Within seconds Billy and Bobbie had each devoured a cinnamon roll and were starting to argue about the third roll when the telephone rang. Their mother momentarily distracted, Billy took charge. He told Bobbie,"That is my roll. I'm older than you, and wiser, and can run faster than you, and so I have first dibs on that roll." And before Bobbie — who was not as strong, fast, smart, musical or athletic as Billy — could think of a thing to say, Billy had inhaled the whole thing!

The next day, however, their mother was there to see that they each got a fair share. God, like this mother, wants to make sure that the Bobbies of this life are protected from the Billies of this life.

Justice Is Central to the Gospel

Some Christians believe that justice issues are a distraction from the gospel, or at best an add-on. Our own confession of faith, however, says: "Peace and justice are not optional teachings, counsel that Christians can take or leave. They belong to the heart of (the) gospel message." ("Peace, Justice, and Nonresistance," Article 22 Commentary, Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, 1995)

Not only is justice central to our biblical vision of life, the Scriptures are quite specific about naming the Bobbies whose welfare we should keep in mind. I surveyed the Bible's use of the word, justice, and discovered there are nine Bobbies named in the Bible. There is the Widow Bobbie; Bobbie, the orphan; as well as Poor Bobbie, living in poverty. There is Hungry Bobbie; Bobbie, the stranger; and Bobbie in need. Then there is Bobbie, the weak; Bobbie, the oppressed; and Bobbie, our neighbour.

Justice is mentioned often, and throughout the Bible. The Book of Deuteronomy tells us that God "executes justice for the orphan and the widow, ...providing them food and clothing." (Deuteronomy 10:18) It tell us not to "distort justice; (or) ...show partiality" (16:19), an admonition repeated in our reading from the book of Acts. (Acts 10:34) It tells us not to "deprive a (stranger) or an orphan of justice. (Deuteronomy 24:17; 27:19) And the book of Leviticus adds, "...with justice you shall judge your neighbour." (Leviticus 19:15)

The psalms praise God because God inclines his ear "to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed...." (Psalm 10:17-18) The psalms include prayers that God will "give justice to the weak and the orphan; (and) maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute." (82:3) "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of (God's) throne," say the psalms. (89:14) "The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed." (103:6) The Lord "executes justice for the oppressed (and) gives food to the hungry." (146:7) "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice," adds the Book of Proverbs. (Proverbs 21:3)

The prophets especially stress the need to do justice. Isaiah tells us, "Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:17) Isaiah has a harsh word to say to those who "make iniquitous decrees" or "write oppressive statutes" that "turn aside the needy from justice and ...rob the poor ...of their right...." (10:1-2) "Maintain justice, and do what is right...." (Isaiah 56:1) I like the use of the word, "maintain". It sounds stronger than simply "doing" justice. It suggests vigilance for the inevitable slippage and corrosion of justice. One of the books in the Apocrypha phrases it even more strongly, saying "Guard the rights of the widow, secure justice for the (orphan)...." (2 Esdras 2:20, RSV)

Jeremiah complains about those who "do not judge with justice the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy." (Jeremiah 5:28) The prophet Hosea bids us "...return to ...God, (and) hold fast to love and justice...." (Hosea 12:6) Amos decries those who turn justice into wormwood, or poison (Amos 5:7; 6:12), and then adds the memorable plea, "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream." (5:24) And then of course the famous line from the prophet Micah, "(God) has told you ...what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

Likewise the New Testament makes pleas for justice, the Gospel of Matthew saying, "Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice...." (Matthew 12:18) And in another line borrowed from Isaiah, "He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory." (12:20) Matthew also chides the scribes and Pharisees neglecting the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith." (23:23; Luke 11:42)

The biblical call to do justice, to maintain justice, to secure justice, is hardly an add-on to our faith. It is deeply embedded in the Scriptures, and it arises out of our relationship with God, out of our deep love for God.

Justice Recognizes that Something Is Wrong

I don't think one can have a hunger for justice without having a keen sense of sin. How can one feel an impulse to set things right without being upset with that which is wrong? Our reading from Isaiah is an eloquent plea for justice, but it recognizes that some reeds are bruised (Isaiah 42:3); some wicks have almost been extinguished. (42:3) There are those who have grown faint (42:4), or who are crushed (42:4) by life.

The Bible uses an array of images for sin. Sin is the missing of a target, a wandering from the path, a straying from the fold, a deviation from the true. Sin is a hard heart and a stiff neck. Sometimes sin, in its biblical sense, is overstepping a line, and at other times it's the failure to reach a line, a standard.

Sin is the disruption of created harmony. Sin as a spoiler of creation; people adulterate a marriage, or befoul a stream, or use their excellent minds to devise an ingenious tax fraud or a malicious computer virus. (Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., "Not The Way It's S'pposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin") We hunger for justice because we recognize that things are not harmonious; things are not the way they're supposed to be. As novelist John Updike warns, "The fact that….we still live well cannot ease the pain of feeling that we no longer live nobly."

Justice Is a Vision — "I can look farther than my eyes can see!"

I don't think one can hunger for justice without having a deep sense of sin. I also don't think one can have a hunger for justice — or have a deep sense of sin — without having a vision of how thing ought to be. The biblical prophets knew how many ways human life can go wrong because they knew how many ways it can go right, and they kept dreaming of a time when God would put things right again. (for example: Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:1-9; 32:14-20; 60; 65:17-25; Joel 2:24-29) They dreamed of a new age in which human crookedness would be straightened out, rough places made plain. The foolish would be made wise, and the wise, humble. They dreamed of a time when the deserts would flower, the mountains would run with wine, weeping would cease, and people could go to sleep without weapons on their laps. People would work in peace, their work meaningful and purposeful. Human beings would be knit together in brotherhood and sisterhood; and all nature and all humans would look to God, walk with God, lean toward God, and delight in God! (Plantinga)

A little girl and her father were taking a walk on a beautiful, clear day, looking out across a vast panoramic landscape, when suddenly the little girl exclaimed, "Daddy, I can look farther than my eyes can see!" Those steeped in the biblical tradition can look farther than their eyes can see, for they have a concept of the way things are supposed to be. Beyond what we can presently see is a vision of what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. Shalom is the way things ought to be. It is the webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfilment, and delight! (Plantinga) The biblical vision of shalom is something far beyond what we can see now, but it is coming, say the prophets and other biblical writers. It is coming! And the Gospel tells us that God was pleased when Jesus chose to hasten its coming. God was delighted when Jesus chose to fulfill the vision of Isaiah. And God is pleased and delighted when we choose to follow Jesus' lead.