Justice in the Gate
13 October 2024
Proper 23B
Homily preached at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
The Rev. Dr. Anthony Hutchinson
Grants Pass, Oregon
9:00 a.m. Sung Mass with Blessing of the Animals
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; Psalm 90:12-17; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31
God, take away our hearts of stone, and give us hearts of flesh. Amen
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. This near universal condemnation of wealth by the early Church is not simply poor people, like Aesop’s fox unable to reach the vine, crying out “those grapes are sour anyway!” Some of the fathers came from well-to-do families; all of them benefited from the gifts to the Church from wealthy believers.
No. The early Church’s condemnation of wealth comes straight out of the Hebrew Scripture’s call for social justice, “justice in the gate” as expressed by Amos in today’s Hebrew scriptures reading. It comes from Gospel stories like today’s about Jesus advice to the Rich Young Man to sell all his goods and give the proceeds to the poor.
A few years ago, a major conservative U.S. media pundit, one with whom I used to share pews in All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Washington DC, 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: “Social justice” is a defining theme of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament. If you are not preaching social justice, you are not preaching the Bible.
Just in terms of number of verses that discuss specific things, the Bible is much more concerned with a how we treat the poor, fair economy, and just laws, than it is about almost anything else, including proper religious ritual or sexual morality. The overwhelming context is so great that many scholars interpret the Hebrew word zadakah, traditionally translated as “righteousness,” as “generosity,” and mishpat, traditionally “judgment,” as “setting things right [especially for the oppressed].”
The prophet Ezekiel says that the sin that brought on the permanent destruction of the Cities of the Plain (Sodom and Gomorrah) was ignoring the needs of the poor, 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. They were haughty and thus committed abominations before Me. (Ezek. 16:49-51) “Sodomy” was thus not specifically sexual abuse of foreigners, but all abuse of the poor.
The Israelites themselves are defined by their early experience of being excluded and oppressed. 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 … numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out … and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our misery… [and] brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, outstretched arm. … and signs and wonders. He brought us to this place. … 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, those separated from their homeland.
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. 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.
“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, [forgive the loan and] 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)
“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and Yahweh your God redeemed you from there. That is why I instruct 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…. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for [those who need it.] When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for [those in need]. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt” (Deut. 24:17-22; cf. Lev. 19:19-20).
This great difference between Israel’s God and the gods of the surrounding nations is this: Baal cares for the rich and the powerful. Yahweh cares for the dispossessed and poor. Astarte cares for the sexually voluptuous and fertile. Yahweh makes the infertile woman a mother of children. Ashur cares for the militarily powerful and cruel. Yahweh defends the underdog, the stranger in a strange land, those without support networks such as family or community. One of the epithets for Yahweh is El-Shaddai, often translated as “Almighty,” but technically “the God of the two mounds, i.e., breasts” and better rendered as “All-Nurturing.”
So we too must be all-nurturing. “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 law-abiding. 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 actual 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 specific way of helping the poor is the most effective or appropriate. But even the most basic requirements of Biblical justice demand that we all, regardless of our political preferences, must work to help the poor in some way.
It is not enough just to give help. We are also called to “plead the cause” of the poor, and stand with the down-trodden, 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.”
Helping others merely because they are in need is a central demand of our faith. It is just that simple. We often fail to reach out due to fear, especially fear for our own 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. Forgive loans
owed to you. Feed the malnourished, if
not hungry. Clothe the shabby, if not
naked. Provide shelter for those without
a roof over their heads. Help the poor
and oppressed, and take up their cause.
In the name of Christ, Amen.
