justice again.

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

all right. so i was thinking more about justice today and i want to lay some of this out for discussion and to get it out of my head.

There are two terms, i'm told, for justice in the old testament. Mishpat, which essentially means something along the lines of "what's coming to you" and Tzedekal (sp.?), which is more about the character of God and is derived from the word Tzedek or "righteousness." Kevin Modesto was talking about these today and his comment was that both of these seem either deficient (mishpat) or not applicable to us humans (tzedekal). He said he wants "something more than justice. I want shalom (wholeness)." First, my beef with this. Second, my answer to this.

Beef: Kevin agrees with many of the criticisms of justice language that make it seem as if justice is this thing that we can somehow objectively get to or that it is something that is in the category of the "good" or the "bad" which draw on very Platonic dualistic ideas that make these wispy forms of the "good", etc. co-eternal with God rather than finding their origin and life in God. So, God does not do things because God is just. rather, God does things because the act is Just and God is conforming with what is best. God's creation is not good because it is God's. It is good because God made creation to line up with this ultimate Good which God most perfectly embodies. "Social justice" does the same thing. It makes it seem as if "justice" is this place that we can legitimately get to in any sort of substantive way with or without Jesus. Jesus makes it easier, of course, but justice is not dependent on Jesus. It's like saying, "Oh, anyone can love me. But my wife does it the best, so I try to go to her the most. but if other women have something to offer, a new way of loving me, then I don't mind going to them because ultimately, its important that i get loved rather than who is loving me, right?"

Also, the whole concept of Shalom seems to do the same thing. The whole craze around the word Shalom, and i am very guilty of participating in it, makes me wonder why we love it so much. I think we love the idea of shalom because it is not so different from our modern Western liberal ideas of what the point of life is: to seek our wholeness and holistic well-being (no different from "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"). Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all about the "prosperity of the city." but why are we seeking it? Why do we organize so that kids can get better educations? Why do we push to eradicate AIDS and make the border a safer place for families and individuals? Why do we do these things? I'm not sure yet. But I know that we don't (or shouldn't) do them so that we will win and therefore eradicate suffering. As Christians, I think we seek out those that are suffering so that we can walk with them and part of walking with them is working against these things with them. But we don't organize around issues. We don't jump on social justice bandwagons (on non-bandwagons). we work from and with and through and because of people that God loves and wants to bring to salvation. We go to listen to the wisdom of the oppressed and the forgotten. We go to bear them up SO THAT we both might praise God more humbly and purely, live more righteously, love more purely. In our walking with, both parties are brought more close to the life of the Son, transformed more into the likeness of the Son on the earth. And that is where we end. we are not transformed so that the environment will be saved or so that no one will be poor or any other issue. we are transformed because transformation is the end. To become more like the Son and live more and more in the glorious light of God the Father: these are the goals (the ends, the teloses) that we Christians live with and for. If everything in me is returning to the Father--money, time, gifts, talents, everything--then i am succeeding by the strength of Jesus Christ.

Answer: What if our movements and passion do not fall prey to the whims of a liberal-democratic nation-state but rather, we use all of those resources that we have to create societies where it is easier to be good. this is borrowing straight from Peter Maurin, but i think that's the only place i can legitimately land. I want to work to create righteous societies. Take the language of justice out of it. I don't care about justice. I don't care about equality. The Bible seems to take inequality as a necessary thing. Notice it is not a necessary evil, but rather a sort of neutral quality that brings about a textured sort of church.

Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. (1 Cor. 7)

Paul also writes to Philemon that he really wants to make Philemon let Onesimus go but he won't "on the basis of love." Paul doesn't even fight for social justice in the church! So here is my question. If all that we are to be doing is on the basis of love, ultimately serving one another and laying our lives down for one another, rather than organizing against each other and demonstrating power to get what we want, then why do we think that "justice" is so important? I say that we don't need justice. We need a community of Tzadikim, of righteous ones who live righteously and push others to do so, who are the impetus behind a sort of social righteousness that stands up for each other on the basis of love, that stands up for those across the world, even, on the basis of love--a love found in the self-sacrifice of Jesus, who did not consider equality with God (by all means his right was to claim equality with God!) something to be exploited but who became like a human and suffered and died and was then raised to life. Social righteousness, not social justice. For us Wesleyans, Social holiness. This is something we can hang with.

It strips movements of their power. it takes away our need for peace-sign earrings and "love" t-shirts. but it means that we care less about whether or not people see what we are doing and care more about whether or not we are doing it in the best possible ways. We don't need issues. We need love. We need faces. we give time and money, we make a big stink, we write letters, we even vote and protest at times because of love for those that are in these situations, not because of issues. To care and be involved in the lives of those around us is part of being and becoming righteous. it is part of being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. it is part of becoming a follower of Jesus rather than an admirer of Jesus.

Admirers are only too willing to serve Christ as long as proper caution is exercised, lest one personally come in contact with danger. They refuse to accept that Christ’s life is a demand. In actual fact, they are offended by him. His radical, bizarre character so offends them that when they honestly see Christ for who he is, they are no longer able to experience the tranquility they so much seek after. They know full well that to associate with him too closely amounts to being up for examination. Even though he says nothing against them personally, they know that his life tacitly judges theirs. (Soren Kierkegaard)


let me sum up. I don't want shalom unless that shalom is leading us to righteousness. That sort of shalom will not take us away from suffering and struggle. Rather, it will lead us into it. it will challenge and change us, but we must always live with that sort of willingness to be transformed. We need to long to be made righteous and not long for the trappings of righteousness to become a reality in this physical world. Rather than simply planting gardens and working for the welfare of the city, we need to become those that accept what God has given us and begin to work with God's strength to make good out of it, to love in the midst of hate and to teach those around us to love in a way that comes from the one who is love, who is peace, who is shalom. Ultimately, we need to lead people back to God and the welfare and hope found therein and not to the welfare of the city or the hope of a well-planned and -organized social structure.