Creating Justice
Psalm 146[1]
It’s hard to
watch the suffering of other people and not ask where God’s justice and
compassion are. We’ve seen millions of
people affected by a catastrophic storm in the Northeast this week. Events like hurricanes, earthquakes, and
volcanoes have provoked the question of God’s justice for centuries. There’s even a separate subject in the study
of religion for it: it’s called “Theodicy.”
It means “justifying God.” The
premise is that, if God is both good and all-powerful, then natural disasters
that destroy people’s lives and create massive suffering should never
happen. So some conclude that God must
be all-powerful but not good. Others
conclude that God must be good but not all-powerful. Either way, when we start out like this, we
paint God in a corner. Or maybe we paint
ourselves into a corner!
The Psalmists
have a very different view of God’s justice.
Part of the reason for that is they begin with the conviction that God
is the one who created all the heavens and the earth. And this God is the one who “remains
faithful,” which means that God reigns over all this beloved creation with
goodness, power, and love.[2] And if you want to know what that looks like
in specific terms, the Psalmist spells it out in our lesson for today. It means that the hungry are fed, the
prisoners are set free, [3]
the blind receive their sight, those who
are bowed down are lifted up, the “strangers” or resident immigrants have
someone to watch over them, and the widows and orphans are supported. [4]
The idea is that God is always working
to create justice, peace, and freedom for his beloved creation.
And what does that justice look
like? God’s justice means setting things
right. The Psalmist defines it in terms
of concrete steps to help those who live on the margins of social power and
privilege to make their lot in life better. [5] When you look at the suffering in the world
and ask what God is doing about it, the answer is that God is creating justice—a
way of life that makes it possible for everyone to thrive equally. What God is doing in our world is extending
mercy that is tangible, exerting compassion in action.
[6] And this
isn’t just something God does from time to time. According to the Psalmist, God always does
these things.
So if we ask, “Where
is God?” when we see suffering and injustice in the world, the Psalmist’s
answer is to say wherever you see the hungry being fed, that’s where God
is. Wherever the prisoners are being set
free, that’s where God is. Wherever you
see the oppressed lifted up and the immigrants and widows and orphans embraced,
that’s where God is. Those actions are
the very definition of the justice God is always working to create in our
world.
But one question
remains—how does God bring this wonderful restorative justice into the
world? The answer is through people like
you and me! When we look at the injustice and suffering in the world, and we
either question God’s goodness or we get angry that things aren’t different,
perhaps we should be directing our attention toward ourselves. For some strange
reason, God has chosen to carry out the work of justice, peace, and freedom in
this world through flawed and fallible people like you and me. So if there’s a shortage of justice and an
abundance of suffering, perhaps we should be looking to ourselves as the
culprits. The fact is that we all have opportunities to create God’s merciful
justice in this world. And we have these
opportunities to extend God’s goodness and compassion and love all the
time.
So how do we do this?
Well, I think it begins with a change of perspective. Instead of seeing people who are different as
“other,” learning to extend God’s justice and love to all people begins by
recognizing everyone we meet as a beloved child of God. [7]
I think we can only extend God’s compassion to those around us who are
suffering and in need if we begin here.
Then we can go beyond merely feeling sorry for the disenfranchised or
giving money to causes that support the marginalized. Then we can actually go to their side and
enter their homes and find tangible ways to relieve their suffering. Then we can actually put into practice God’s compassionate
justice.
[8]
And when we’re doing that, that’s when we become the hands and feet of the God
who always works to create justice, peace, and freedom for those who are in
need
[1] © 2012
Alan Brehm. A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 11/4/12 at First
Presbyterian Church, Dickinson, TX and at A Community of the Servant-Savior
Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX.
[2] Cf.
H.-J. Kraus, Theology of the Psalms,
147: “it is the will of Yahweh the Creator to renew his creation (Ps. 104:30;
96:10–13; 98:8–9; 146:6–9).”
[3] Cf.
H.-J. Kraus, Psalm 60-150, 552. He points out that this refers to “the
liberating verdict of God by which those human beings are rescued who, though
innocent, are accused and incarcerated.” Even when it comes to those who may be
guilty of wrong-doing, God’s justice comes to them as grace and mercy rather
than condemnation! Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, II.1:375-84:
“According to the witness of the Old and New Testaments, the love and grace and
mercy of God, …, are the demonstration and exercise of the righteousness of
God” (384); Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, 127: “The
opposite of God’s justice is not God’s mercy, but human injustice.”
[4] J.
Clinton Mccann, Jr, “The Book Of Psalms,” New
Interpreters Bible, IV:1264: these verses portray “a God who cares about
human hurt and who acts on behalf of the afflicted and the oppressed.” He adds that they constitute “a policy
statement for the kingdom
of God
[5] Cf.
Robert W. Wall, “Where Wisdom is Found,” Christian
Ethics 2009, 31: “The care of poor and powerless believers is a hallmark of
God’s covenant-keeping people (cf. Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 24:17-21; Psalm
146:9; Isaiah 1:17; Jeremiah 5:28; Acts 2:45; 4:32-35; 6:1-7; 9:36-42).” Cf. also Borg, Heart of Christianity, 139: “God cares about justice because the
God of the Bible cares about suffering.”
[6] J.
Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ,
121; Nicholas Wolferstorff, “Justice as a Condition of Authentic Liturgy,” Theology Today 48 (April, 1991) 16.
[7] Cf. Henri
Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, reprinted
in Ministry and Spirituality, 134,
where he says that we can only exercise compassion when we see ourselves in
others, and see them in us. Cf. also Paul Tillich, Love, Power and Justice, 25, 36, 60. He gives what I think to be one the best
definitions of justice: it means to recognize “the intrinsic claim of every
person to be considered a person.”
[8] Cf.
Stephen Shoemaker, GodStories, 217–18:
One contemporary preacher puts it this way: “There are only two ways you can
enter the kingdom and experience its joy.
One is to be among the poor, oppressed, bruised, blind, and
brokenhearted; those to whom God comes as healing, comfort, justice, and
freedom. The other way is to be among
God’s people who are going to the poor, oppressed, bruised, blind, and
brokenhearted and bringing God’s healing, comfort, justice, and freedom.”
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