Is justice inevitable? Is it true, as Theodore Parker (a Unitarian
minister) first said, “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends
toward justice!” One sees a touch of
realism in that statement, that to get to justice we will have to wait quite a
while. There is also a touch of
optimistic idealism, or even fatalism, that the force of morality is heading in
a positive direction.
Idealism is a slander used against
Christianity, usually by Marxists and certainly non-believers. Christians affirm that we are idealists, but
only in the sense that we think prophecy and Scripture, via the revelation of
God himself, is not chance or luck, but certainty. The Reverend Parker’s statement however seems
to be an echo of Christianity, almost there, but not quite. He has its optimism, without its
certainty. Maybe he has its hope, but
based on what?
In the Christmas season we sometimes hear
this passage from Isaiah 42…
“Behold my servant whom I
uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he
will bring forth justice to the nations.
[There it is!] he will not cry
aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he
will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will
faithfully bring forth justice. [There
it is again!] He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established
justice in the earth; and the coast lands wait for his law.” (verses 1-4).
If this is true, then Jesus, the one about
whom this passage promises, “will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has
established justice in the earth…” Now
that is a reason for optimism, and hope, and endurance. I take it that this means Jesus will not stop
till His work is done. So, how is he
going to do that exactly? Is this solely
the work of his Second Coming? Is this a
passage about trusting in the power of God to finally, completely, and
inevitably bring about justice in the earth, by his power and intervention?
And
does that mean that the only thing we need is the faith to believe it? That in spite of the centuries of war, of
invasions, oppression, slavery, racism, colonialism, genocide, and the rape,
pillaging, execution, and dehumanizing of one’s person, family, people, clan,
ethnicity, and nation by other human beings we are simply to wait in constant
faith? Is this supposed to give us
contentment, peace, and some kind of consolation as we bury the bodies?
The Reverend Parker was an
abolitionist. This means he was an
activist of sort, not someone who was content to simply wait for that “institution”
to outlive its usefulness. He wanted to be an agent of justice, to be an
agent of bending that moral arc toward the correct inclination.
As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, as a
believer that we are the body of Christ on earth, as a believer that as God is
a God of justice so also his people are to be people of justice, that as the
Church of Jesus Christ we are to proclaim the Kingdom of God throughout the
earth, and that we are to make disciples of every ethnic group, and that as the
Church we are to teach these disciples “everything that I have commanded you,”
then the task of Jesus in pursuing and completing justice in the earth is also
our task.
We do this with a certain hard faced
realism about that task, its difficulty, its horrendous price of martyrdom, its
discouraging and frustrating delay, but also with a faith beyond our abilities,
determination, and patience. Our trust
in the triumph of justice is because we rest in the triumph of Christ. Our energy is found in confidence that he
will accomplish some of that work through us.
As Isaiah puts it, “he will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has
established justice in the earth.” “The
earth,” the place where we live, in the place that needs justice so desperately,
the Lord Jesus is on campaign. It is a
place where we do grow faint, fall apart, panic, throw up our hands, and curse
the world and others. Yet Jesus does
not, and therefore as he lives in us, we will not.
I just want to encourage you. The work of
Jesus is the work of justice, and it is going to happen no matter what anybody’s
army says about it. We need to be about
his work, preaching the Gospel, making disciples, speaking truth, living the
Kingdom, until the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth like the waters cover
the sea. It is going to take time; that
is what that little word “till” means.
That word also means that there will be a definite conclusion to the matter, and
that is when the world is finally healed from its sorrow, turmoil, and pain.
END.
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