Justice in the Gate
14 October 2012
Proper 23B
Homily preached at Trinity Episcopal Church
The Rev. Dr. Anthony Hutchinson
Ashland, Oregon
8:00 a.m. spoken Mass, 10:00 a.m. Sung Mass
The early Church
Fathers were pretty unsparing when it came to wealth. St. Basil the Great
said that the riches common to all are held by the wealthy not because
the wealthy earned them, but because
they were the first to seize them.
St. John Chrysostom said that the rich do not enjoy what is their
own, but what belongs to others. St. Jerome said that every rich person
is either a thief or a thief’s heir. So much for “I built this.”
This near universal
condemnation of wealth by the early Church is not simply “sour grapes” by poor people.
Some of the fathers came from well-to-do families; all of them benefited from
the gifts to the Church from wealthy believers.
The early Church’s
condemnation of wealth was rooted in the Hebrew Scripture’s call for social
justice, like today’s reading from Amos criticizing the rich for trampling on
the poor, and calling for “justice in the gate.” It comes from Gospel stories like today’s
about Jesus and the Rich Young Man.
Last year, a major
U.S. media pundit challenged his listeners to stand up and walk out of Church if
they ever heard “social justice” being preached. “It’s code language for socialism,” he said, adding “Go and find another Church more
willing to preach God’s word.”
Those of us who read
the Bible seriously were appalled.
Why? Because “social justice” is
a major topic of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament, and in
fact, a defining theme on both. If
Christian ministers are not preaching social justice, they are not preaching
the Bible.
Just in terms of
number of verses that discuss specific things, the Bible is much more concerned
with a just and fair economy and laws, more concerned with how we treat the poor,
than it is about almost anything else, including sexual morality.
The prophet
Ezekiel says that the sin that brought God’s condemnation on the Cities
of the Plain (Sodom and Gomorrah) was ignoring the needs of the poor,
to the point of abusing them, in the midst of abundance:
Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it. (Ezek. 16:49-51)
The Israelites themselves
are defined by their early experience of exclusion and oppression. An
early liturgical fragment says:
My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to Yahweh, the God of our ancestors, and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey (Deut. 26:5-9).
Again and again, the
prophets call to the people, “Do not oppress a
foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were
foreigners in Egypt.” (Exod. 23:9)
Again and again, they
say we must take particular care of the wretched of the earth, the poor,
orphans, widows.
Providing a fair
playing field and then ignoring those who do not succeed is not enough.
We must see the poor, note their needs, and take care of them. Fair
is fair, and we must treat others as we would want to be treated.
Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, is God of rich and poor alike, and is
particularly concerned with the poor because the poor need him most.
There are right and
wrong ways of behaving, standards of common decency. We must not exploit
or take advantage of the weak, ignore them or turn a deaf ear to their pleas,
nor degrade or violate their human dignity.
“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless ... If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.” (Exod. 22:21-27)
For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not relent.
They sell the innocent for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
They trample on the heads of the poor
as on the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
(Amos 2:6-7)
“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and Yahweh your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this. When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.” (Deut. 24:17-22; cf. Lev. 19:19-20)
This is one of the
great differences between Yahweh and the gods of the nations surrounding Israel. The Philistine god Baal cares for the rich
and the powerful. Yahweh cares for the dispossessed and poor. The
Philistine goddess Astarte cares for the sexually voluptuous and fertile.
Yahweh makes the infertile woman a mother of children. The Assyrian
emperor-god Ashur cares for the militarily powerful and cruel. Yahweh
defends the defenseless and the homeless. Every local and tribal divinity
takes care of his own. Yahweh defends the alien who sojourns in a strange land.
In contrast to the
gods that personify wealth, power, and fertility, Yahweh is the God of all, of
rich and poor alike, who takes the part of the weak and defenseless, and can
turns things upside down:
“[God] defends the
cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among
you, giving them food and clothing.” (Deut. 10:18; see also Isa. 25:4; Psalm
10:14; Isa. 41:17).
Our compassion to
others is rooted in and grows out of God’s compassion for us:
“If there is any poor
among you … in any of the towns of the land which Yahweh your God is
giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor
brother or sister; but you shall freely open your hand to them, and generously
give them sufficient for their needs in whatever they lack.” (Deut. 15:7)
The fact is, Jesus, John
the Baptist, St. Paul, and St. James all preach it. It is found on nearly
every page of the Bible.
All these texts are clear.
There are no excuses or exceptions. None of them tell us to help the poor
only if they are hard working, moral, or have complied with immigration and
naturalization rules. None say help the
poor “when you feel you can,” “when you feel guilty about it,” or “once or
twice a year.”
The message is
simple, but insistent: help those in
need. Give them material support and take up their cause.
It's not at all hard to understand; it's just hard to do. We must do it
as individuals. And the government does have a role as well:
“[You kings,] open
your mouth for those unable to speak, for the rights of all the unfortunate.
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and
needy.” (Prov. 31:8-10)
People today often
are urged to make the moral choice in voting. “How would Jesus vote?” is
the question most often posed by those who think Jesus would vote for them or their program.
But based on the evidence
in the Bible, if you wanted to be a Biblical one-issue voter, you'd do well to
make that one issue serving the poor.
I am not saying here
that one party has a monopoly on justice and compassion. None of these
passages clearly says what way of helping the poor is the most effective or the
most appropriate. Those are questions for social scientists, economists,
psychologists, and politicians to work on. But even the most basic
requirements of Biblical justice demand that we all, regardless of our political preferences, must work to help the
poor and alleviate poverty and oppression.
It is not enough just
to give help. We are also called to
“plead the cause” of the poor, i.e., defend their interests and be advocates
for them. When others are silent, do you
speak up for the poor in your work place, your school, your church, your
community, and your political party?
The poor are real
people. The oppressed are real people. It is sometimes too easy to
filter them out of our vision. If they are a different color from us,
speak a different language, have different morals, we can perhaps say they are
not deserving of our attention or our help. But would you like to go
before the Almighty and explain how you did not help someone in need because
they were different from you? Isn’t that the very point of God’s love of
the poor? He wants us to help them because they are different from us. He
wants us to help them because they are undeserving.
Are you unwilling to
help, or have the government help, someone because that person is an
“illegal alien?” Can you imagine having to explain such thinking and
feeling to the God who has been so gracious in giving us all that we have? The very phrase suggests that an
entire class of human beings is “illegal” and thus not worthy of
compassion.
To such thinking, the Bible tells us, “Care for the foreigner in your midst, because you too were once foreigners.”
To such thinking, the Bible tells us, “Care for the foreigner in your midst, because you too were once foreigners.”
Helping others
merely because they are in need is a central demand of our faith. It
is just that simple. Finding the strength
and will to do it has to come from our own sense of gratitude at what we have
received from others, including the talents and advantages God may have blessed
us with. We often fail to reach out due
to fear, especially fear for security.
Love and gratitude drive out fear and enable us to do what God has in
mind for us. “For God, all things are
possible.”
Social Justice is a core
biblical doctrine, and anyone who wishes to truly preach the Bible must be
willing to preach social justice. Anyone who truly wants their faith and
actions to be grounded in the Bible will make it a major part of their
efforts. Anyone who wants closeness to God, will make
detaching from one’s wealth and giving to the poor a key part of their
spiritual disciplines.
Establish justice in the gate. Loose the bonds of injustice, undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, break every yoke. Share your bread with the hungry, share your roof with the homeless. When you see someone with inadequate clothing, cover them. Help the poor and oppressed, and take up their cause.
Establish justice in the gate. Loose the bonds of injustice, undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, break every yoke. Share your bread with the hungry, share your roof with the homeless. When you see someone with inadequate clothing, cover them. Help the poor and oppressed, and take up their cause.
In the name of Christ, Amen.
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