Integrity: What do you stand for? - Standing for justice - Part 2

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

Matthew 21:12-17

DAILY BYTE

Today we look at a second way in which we are all called to join the fight against evil and to stand for justice. Yesterday we spoke about the importance of our own personal conduct in reducing the burden of injustice that others have to bear in this world. As important as our personal conduct is in this regard, it’s not enough.

This is because it is in the nature of evil to insinuate itself into the systems and structures of our world, perpetuating the cycle of injustice. When this happens, personal transformation alone is not enough - the compromised systems and structures themselves need to be redeemed.

By way of illustration, consider this hypothetical scenario. A wealthy business owner was biased against women, and discriminated against them in his business. This was clearly evident in that the women who worked there were paid significantly less than their male counterparts. [Sadly, this is still all too common.] But then this business owner went to church one Sunday and was deeply convicted of the error of his ways and the injustice that he was perpetuating. He asked for God’s forgiveness for his unjust behaviour. It was like a conversion for him, and he resolved to put things right as soon as he could. But the following morning on his way to work, he had a car crash and landed up in a coma. While he lay in his hospital bed, he did so as someone who personally had been transformed, healed of his prejudice against women. But while he lay in his hospital bed, the women in his business continued to be paid an unjust wage!

That hypothetical scenario makes a telling point - when systems become unjust, it’s not enough to change the individuals within that system, the system itself must change, otherwise the injustice will continue.

This is part of the work of doing justice, to which we all are called. To recognise the structural and institutional dimensions of sin, and to challenge and redeem the fallen systems that otherwise continue doing our sinning for us.

This is exactly what Jesus was doing when he entered the Temple and drove out all who were buying and selling there. His focus was not, in fact, on the individuals who were operating there, even if some of them were corrupt. That wasn’t the point of his courageous action. Jesus was doing something far more radical than that - he was challenging the entire Temple sacrificial system that had been reduced to an equation of buying and selling. As if God’s grace and forgiveness were commodities that could be bought.

Jesus was quite clear - the entire system had to change! This is what we also are required to do as those called by God to be doers of justice in the world.

Questions for reflection:

1. Think of some experience that you have had, maybe from your childhood, where a system was grossly unfair. What exactly happened? Were you a victim or a beneficiary of the injustice? How did that make you feel? Try to capture the experience in as much detail as you can.
2. What are the systems of injustice within your world that you have particularly noticed? What specifically can you do to name the injustice, expose it, and start the process of its redemption?

Choosing New Paths:

1. Write to one CEO each month this year. Affirm or critique the ethics of their company. (You will need to do a little research first.)
2. Attend a ratepayers / community forum meeting. Think about the questions that Jesus would ask. Then courageously ask those questions.
3. Spend the morning at the outpatients ward at a state-owned hospital. Speak to the people who are waiting there. Allow yourself to feel the disparity in health care that is available to the rich and the poor of this land.

PRAYER (These words are taken from a contemporary worship song by Tim Hughes.)

God of justice, Saviour to all. Came to rescue the weak and the poor. Chose to serve and not be served. Jesus, you have called us. Freely we’ve received, now freely we will give. We must go, live to feed the hungry. Stand beside the broken. We must go. Stepping forward, keep us from just singing. Move us into action. We must go.