Perhaps we can take this moment to think about the question the murder of George Floyd sparked all across America: Which lives matter?
- Do black lives matter? The very reason such a movement with this title is needed, however, like the Civil Rights movement before it, is that by many objective measures black lives do matter less in our society.
- Do white lives matter? Yes. But for the majority of white Americans not part of the right-wing politics of white grievance, that has never seriously been in doubt.
I hope we might all agree that ALL lives matter equally to God (although white Christian nationalists dispute this idea, reading Scripture in such a way that conjures white Christians as the new Israel, God’s new “chosen people”).
Tragically, although “all lives matter” to God, the same cannot be said for most of God’s people down through history. (I include myself among this group.) Beginning with ancient Israel and ending with America in 2021, God’s people have easily looked the other way rather than face up to the injustice of some lives mattering more than others.
God is on the side of the oppressed.
1. The Exodus
The exodus is the pivotal event of the Old Testament. It took me a long time to really absorb the reality that the exodus is not only God being faithful to his covenant to Abraham Isaac and Jacob, but also fighting for justice.
“You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. And I am well aware of my covenant with them.
“Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.” Exodus 6:5-7
How anyone can read these words and then believe God is OK with oppression and slavery? At this pivotal moment, the God of the Bible is identified as the one who overcomes oppression and gives his people justice.
2. Judgment of Israel and Judah
Dr. Ron Sider in his book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger puts it well:
“When they settled in the promised land, the Israelites soon discovered that Yahweh’s passion for justice was a two-edged sword. When they were oppressed, it led to their freedom. But when they became the oppressors, it led to their destruction.”
Much of the rest of the Old Testament story is how God’s people , who benefited so greatly from God’s justice, we’re so unwilling to offer that same justice to others. Both the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah were overrun by pagan empires (Assyria and Babylon) as God’s judgment. God’s prophets proclaimed this coming judgment over and over. For example, the prophet Isaiah:
What sorrow awaits the unjust judges
and those who issue unfair laws.
They deprive the poor of justice
and deny the rights of the needy among my people.
They prey on widows
and take advantage of orphans.
What will you do when I punish you,
when I send disaster upon you from a distant land? (Isaiah 10:1-3)
In one of the best-known verses about “let justice roll down like waters,” the Prophet Amos speaks for the Lord against people who seem to be sincere worshippers but disregard justice for the people among them:
“I hate all your show and pretense—
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.
I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.
Away with your noisy hymns of praise!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice,
an endless river of righteous living. (Amos 5:21-24)
3. Jesus, God in the Flesh
The fullest revelation we have of God’s own nature is not the Bible, but Jesus himself , the Word made flesh. Far from contradicting God’s special concern for the poor and oppressed in the Old Testament, Jesus announces his mission in the synagogue at Nazareth by reading from the Prophet Isaiah:
“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering a slight to the blind, to set at Liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18- 19)
Certainly Jesus also came to free those who are spiritually oppressed by sin. But that is not the meaning of these verses. Jesus is directly quoting the prophet Isaiah and (as seen above) Isaiah is not talking about spiritual oppression, but literal, physical oppression.
Not long ago when I mentioned to someone the particular Presbyterian denomination in which I’m ordained, she replied, “Oh, that’s the social justice church.” She spoke matter-of-factly, but the meaning was clear: social justice was not quite “truly” Christian.
Perhaps she’s heard that more liberal Christians seem more engaged in social justice ministry than they do personal evangelism, which, in my experience, I find is often true. Perhaps she’s heard of the Liberation Theology movement in the 1960’s that elevated social justice to the primary [even the only] biblical calling. As with many false theologies, liberation theologians started with a basic truth of Scripture, but took it too far until it was no longer true.
Perhaps she’s been enveloped in a worldview that pits “personal salvation” vs “social justice” in an “us vs. them” way. In our country today, Christian leaders who try to split apart personal salvation and social justice often act from political motives as much as biblical ones. Of course, even the tiny sampling of passages above explode such ideas. Justice and salvation are inseparable and both important to God. They are “both/and” not “either/or.”
Jesus taught us to pray “Thy will be done, thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” In heaven, justice reigns supreme. Jesus teaches us to pray that the same will happen on earth!
God Hates Injustice
“Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.” Lev. 19:15
Listen to Ron Sider comment on this verse. I encourage you to ponder thoughtfully as you read:
“God is not partial. He has the same loving concern for each person he has created. Precisely for that reason he cares as much for the weak and disadvantaged as he does for the strong and fortunate.
By contrast with the way you and I, as well as the comfortable and powerful of every age and society, always act to the poor, God seems to have an overwhelming bias in favor of the poor. But it is biased only in contrast with our sinful unconcern. It is only when we take our perverse preference for the successful and wealthy as natural and normative that God’s concern appears biased.
God, however, is not neutral. His freedom from bias does not mean he maintains neutrality in the struggle for justice. God is on the side of the poor!
The rich neglect or oppose justice because justice demands that they end their oppression and share with the poor. But that does not in any way mean that he loves the rich less than the poor. Salvation for the rich will include liberation from their injustice. Thus God’s desire for the salvation and fulfillment of the rich is in complete harmony with the scriptural teaching that God is on the side of the poor.”
God is not biased. All lives matter! Every human being is created in the image of God and accorded exactly the same value and dignity.
But God is not neutral. Because all lives equally matter to God, God hates it when human beings give some lives more value and dignity than others; therefore, God will always be on the side of those who suffer injustice.
Tragically, although “all lives matter” to God, the same cannot be said for most of God’s people down through history. (I include myself among this group.) Beginning with ancient Israel and ending with America in 2021, God’s people have easily looked the other way rather than face up to the injustice of some lives mattering more than others.
God is on the side of the oppressed.
1. The Exodus
The exodus is the pivotal event of the Old Testament. It took me a long time to really absorb the reality that the exodus is not only God being faithful to his covenant to Abraham Isaac and Jacob, but also fighting for justice.
“You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. And I am well aware of my covenant with them.
“Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.” Exodus 6:5-7
How anyone can read these words and then believe God is OK with oppression and slavery? At this pivotal moment, the God of the Bible is identified as the one who overcomes oppression and gives his people justice.
2. Judgment of Israel and Judah
Dr. Ron Sider in his book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger puts it well:
“When they settled in the promised land, the Israelites soon discovered that Yahweh’s passion for justice was a two-edged sword. When they were oppressed, it led to their freedom. But when they became the oppressors, it led to their destruction.”
Much of the rest of the Old Testament story is how God’s people , who benefited so greatly from God’s justice, we’re so unwilling to offer that same justice to others. Both the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah were overrun by pagan empires (Assyria and Babylon) as God’s judgment. God’s prophets proclaimed this coming judgment over and over. For example, the prophet Isaiah:
What sorrow awaits the unjust judges
and those who issue unfair laws.
They deprive the poor of justice
and deny the rights of the needy among my people.
They prey on widows
and take advantage of orphans.
What will you do when I punish you,
when I send disaster upon you from a distant land? (Isaiah 10:1-3)
In one of the best-known verses about “let justice roll down like waters,” the Prophet Amos speaks for the Lord against people who seem to be sincere worshippers but disregard justice for the people among them:
“I hate all your show and pretense—
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.
I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.
Away with your noisy hymns of praise!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice,
an endless river of righteous living. (Amos 5:21-24)
3. Jesus, God in the Flesh
The fullest revelation we have of God’s own nature is not the Bible, but Jesus himself , the Word made flesh. Far from contradicting God’s special concern for the poor and oppressed in the Old Testament, Jesus announces his mission in the synagogue at Nazareth by reading from the Prophet Isaiah:
“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering a slight to the blind, to set at Liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18- 19)
Certainly Jesus also came to free those who are spiritually oppressed by sin. But that is not the meaning of these verses. Jesus is directly quoting the prophet Isaiah and (as seen above) Isaiah is not talking about spiritual oppression, but literal, physical oppression.
Not long ago when I mentioned to someone the particular Presbyterian denomination in which I’m ordained, she replied, “Oh, that’s the social justice church.” She spoke matter-of-factly, but the meaning was clear: social justice was not quite “truly” Christian.
Perhaps she’s heard that more liberal Christians seem more engaged in social justice ministry than they do personal evangelism, which, in my experience, I find is often true. Perhaps she’s heard of the Liberation Theology movement in the 1960’s that elevated social justice to the primary [even the only] biblical calling. As with many false theologies, liberation theologians started with a basic truth of Scripture, but took it too far until it was no longer true.
Perhaps she’s been enveloped in a worldview that pits “personal salvation” vs “social justice” in an “us vs. them” way. In our country today, Christian leaders who try to split apart personal salvation and social justice often act from political motives as much as biblical ones. Of course, even the tiny sampling of passages above explode such ideas. Justice and salvation are inseparable and both important to God. They are “both/and” not “either/or.”
Jesus taught us to pray “Thy will be done, thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” In heaven, justice reigns supreme. Jesus teaches us to pray that the same will happen on earth!
God Hates Injustice
“Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.” Lev. 19:15
Listen to Ron Sider comment on this verse. I encourage you to ponder thoughtfully as you read:
“God is not partial. He has the same loving concern for each person he has created. Precisely for that reason he cares as much for the weak and disadvantaged as he does for the strong and fortunate.
By contrast with the way you and I, as well as the comfortable and powerful of every age and society, always act to the poor, God seems to have an overwhelming bias in favor of the poor. But it is biased only in contrast with our sinful unconcern. It is only when we take our perverse preference for the successful and wealthy as natural and normative that God’s concern appears biased.
God, however, is not neutral. His freedom from bias does not mean he maintains neutrality in the struggle for justice. God is on the side of the poor!
The rich neglect or oppose justice because justice demands that they end their oppression and share with the poor. But that does not in any way mean that he loves the rich less than the poor. Salvation for the rich will include liberation from their injustice. Thus God’s desire for the salvation and fulfillment of the rich is in complete harmony with the scriptural teaching that God is on the side of the poor.”
God is not biased. All lives matter! Every human being is created in the image of God and accorded exactly the same value and dignity.
But God is not neutral. Because all lives equally matter to God, God hates it when human beings give some lives more value and dignity than others; therefore, God will always be on the side of those who suffer injustice.
As the Bible clearly shows, God’s most severe judgement is often addressed to the injustice perpetrated or condoned by his own people. Where does this leave you and me?
If “salvation for the rich will include liberation from their injustice,” and since all Americans (whatever our income) are among the very richest people on earth, our ongoing salvation must include liberation from injustice, whether that injustice is perpetrated by our active involvement or condoned by our silent acceptance of it.
Change begins as we each search our own souls.
