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1
Gospel
Picture Justice: Embracing Our Global Neighborhood
by
Bethany Hoang
Jesus himself inaugurates his ministry, defining the course his disciples are to follow by declaring that he has been sent to bring freedom to the oppressed (Luke 4:18-20). When Jesus brazenly critiques the ministry of other leaders in his day, their neglect of justice is the first “weightier matter of the law” to which he points (Matthew 23:23).
The fact that anyone is enslaved in our world today is a matter that implicates the whole of Christian discipleship. When Jesus teaches that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor, he makes it clear that our neighbors are not defined by proximity – whether of geography or ideology (Luke 10:29-37). The whole world is, in fact, our neighborhood. Regardless of how we may come to learn of the reality of slavery in our world today – from our couches watching the evening news or from a personal encounter with the slave industry – we are implicated.
The book of James warns against our propensity for ambivalence and inaction. Knowing that Christians all too often profess belief without living-out the actual implications of what we say we believe, he asks, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”(James 2:14-16)
WHAT IS REQUIRED?
Imagine this scenario: a handful of Christians are ministering in a region where there are rumors of people who are forced to live as slaves to other human beings. These Christians hear that it is in fact not uncommon for women and children to be taken - whether by force or by fraud - from their homes, locked behind barred doors, stuffed in a back room, beaten, drugged, and then brought out for customers who give cash in exchange for a half-hour or even a whole evening of treating this human being as their sex slave. Surrounding these Christians is, in fact, an industry of rape-for-profit.
Given the Bible’s clear call to justice, can you think of any reason why these followers of Christ would not do everything in their power to figure out how to intervene on behalf of these women and children in their city – or in any city?
Reading this scenario on paper, it is probably not too difficult to experience rage against the idea of children – or anyone, being enslaved for sex. It is equally easy to respond with a zealous sense of indignation that no, there is no reason why these followers of Jesus would not or should not do everything in their power to figure out how to stop this heinous assault.
But we live with paradoxical souls. And we are all too easily discouraged. These needs may strike us with crystal clear conviction on paper, and yet, at the same time, these same needs are easily pushed aside for lack of close proximity. On the other hand, needs that are actually quite near to us may seem to beg for our attention and action, but the sheer proximity in itself can all too easily feel unbearable to us. In either case, the magnitude of the needs can be paralyzing. We are easily convinced that there is nothing we can actually do to bring change.
The accompanying biblical mandate may convict us. But as more and more Christians awake to the reality of slavery in our world today, we will be tempted to believe that God promises to bring freedom to the oppressed but also believe that it is not we ourselves who are the vessels intended by God to carry this promised gift. We will continually face the temptation to speak promises of freedom in Christ without tangibly bringing the physical, bodily freedom Christ Himself promises to bring.
I fear that, when we say we are following Jesus, Jesus’ ministry is not always what our ministry looks like. Our understanding of discipleship does not bring us into the fullness of the obedience Jesus intends. John Stott has remarked that his “main concern for the church everywhere is that we often do not look like what we are talking about. We make great claims for Christ, but there is often a credibility gap between our words and our actions.”
1
But the prophets are clear and Jesus is clear – Jesus’ ministry is a ministry to those who are deemed least in the world. Together they proclaim, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Isaiah 61:1-3/Luke 4:18-19 ESV)
The credibility gap of which Stott speaks is often a result of our failure to ask the question of where exactly people are agreeing to go when they make the decision to follow Jesus. Karl Barth has argued that, “we do not believe if we do not live in the neighborhood of Golgotha.”
When Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,” he has a particular destination in mind. Golgotha is where Jesus is headed, and it is therefore precisely
this
neighborhood – the neighborhood of Golgotha – that is our own destination when we make the decision to follow Jesus.
To be clear, we are not following Jesus and carrying
his
cross. We are not called to bear the same suffering in Golgotha that he bears. He alone can bear the suffering that accomplishes the redemption of our sins.
But Jesus does ask us to carry our own cross, and he does ask us to join him in the neighborhood of Golgotha. He asks us to willingly go with him to places of deep suffering in our world. He asks us to choose to follow him in such a way that our witness – one of weakness rather than of power – points straight to himself and what he has done in his atoning death on the cross. He asks us to live in the very neighborhood of suffering – and in doing so, to live lives that not only speak of the salvation he brings, but testify to it through our actions on behalf of the very most poor, vulnerable, and oppressed in our world.
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Comments
Todd Colwell
I just read this as I sit here in a little suburban coffee shop off of Main Street in Norcross, GA. Not far to the north is my city, Johns Creek. Here in Norcross, I know where injustice is at work, but it's away from the aroma of coffee. Where I live, it's next to impossible to find anything that our city's culture deems "wrong". I mention my context because it shapes me more than I know. It easily cheapens grace's impact on me and this is why my "cross" has been the exercise of practices of the faith. Why, I find these practices help me in the transitional times. Those times are when I travel the web or roads and come across injustice and the need for me to respond. If my conscience is not shaped by the Spirit of the Kingdom of Jesus, I'm not very good at action on behalf or even with God. But when I am, I'm able to move beyond my culture into the heart of the Father. I agree with much of what Hoang writes here and see once again that justice is not just a good idea but a genuine expression that those of us in God's Kingdom need to act on whenever we face it.
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