God's Call For Justice

“I’ve got mine” justice can build a really nice life for itself, but it takes no responsibility for others. Isaiah tells us that justice is about more than me. And our responsibilities in life never stop with just me.

Isaiah calls for a kind of justice that watches for the oppressed, those who are held down. And what are we supposed to do when we see them? Are we supposed to feel sorry for them? Are we supposed to analyze whose fault it is that they are in that shape? Are we supposed to argue about whose job it is to help them, the government, the church, business or private charity? Isaiah doesn’t let those arguments distract him. What do we do if we see someone oppressed? Rescue them.

And who is that talking about? The idea is someone who is weighed down, held down, doesn’t have a fair chance.

When we lived in Oak Lawn, on the edge of Chicago I had friends from black churches in neighborhoods where the schools were terrible, where even those who endured to graduation were not equipped to compete for good jobs. I’m proud of the work that the United Methodist Church does in those neighborhoods with food pantries to help those kids get a proper diet, tutoring programs to give them a chance at a decent education. And we need to work to even out the school funding in Illinois so that all children get a chance at a quality education. We are shooting ourselves in the foot as a state when we allow millions of kids to graduate from high school who are not prepared to support themselves as adults.

When the BUMYs did the Thirty Hour Famine we saw people trying to make a living in Bangladesh, where the Ganges River floods a third of the country in many years, were crops can be really good if the river leaves you alone, but because it keeps flooding it’s just about impossible to ever get ahead. We learned about people in Zambia where Malaria has run wild and no matter how hard you work, you or someone in your family is going to come down sick and it will keep you from working because you are sick or because you have to take your child to the hospital. I’m so proud that we raised, now it’s $850 for World Vision, to rescue the oppressed. I’m proud of UMCOR for the work it does in poor countries.

If we’re talking about people who are oppressed, how about the people whose homes and businesses were wiped out by tornados 2 weeks ago? UMCOR is there. FEMA will carry the bulk of the assistance, but UMCOR is great about finding the people who fall between the cracks and for sending in teams long after the immediate emergency to help people rebuild. UMCOR goes straight to the United Methodist Churches who have been on the spot, who know the needs, who know who is hurting, so it can do the most good.

Isaiah gives another example of what biblical justice looks like by calling us to defend the orphan. What theory of justice in this world could say “I’ve got mine, too bad about that orphan”?

Today Africa has some 12 million children who have lost their parents to AIDS. How big a number is 12 million orphans? Take the entire population of Chicago, 2.7 million, and then add the entire population of Chicago again, this time with the suburban area, reaching into far across Illinois, and into Wisconsin and Indiana, 9.8 million. That’s about how many children are AIDS orphans in Africa today. What chance do they have as orphans in villages where there isn’t much hope for kids who have both parents? What justice would there be in a world that does nothing to defend those children? Well, thank God for organizations like World Vision and UMCOR and many others who are there. And let’s do all we can to help them.