The Path of Discipleship - Justice and Freedom

“…with liberty and justice for all.”  So ends the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States, a pledge I said every morning in elementary school.  If you are looking to take a stance that America is shaped by Judeo-Christian values, that could be a place to begin.  Freedom and justice.  Unfortunately, most often when people make the claim of America as a Christian nation it is more about an appeal for prayer in school or some form of biblical literalism to shape our discussions.

                Again and again in the prophetic texts of the Bible, calls for religious purity are overshadowed by calls to justice.  Again and again, Jesus chooses to set people free: free from hunger, free from illness, free from religious restrictions, free from guilt, free from death.  One can argue that the narrative line of scripture is all about being set free to set others free.

                It seems our natural impulse is like that of Jesus’ story of the unforgiving slave (Matthew 18:21-35).  He is the one who is set free from an overwhelming debt to his master only to go out and find another slave who owes him something and demands to be paid in full, even throwing the other person into prison.  Too often in our history, we have celebrated freedom by looking for someone else to bind.  In American history, we can look back to the treatment of African slaves (and African-Americans after slavery), Native American nations or even current discussions of immigration.  Too often we have used bad science, bad theology and bad scholarship to treat different groups as less than human, and if less than human, not equally deserving of freedom or justice.

                The 19^th century poet Emma Lazarus, author of “The New Colossus,” the sonnet that appears on the base of the Statue of Liberty once wrote, “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”  At the time, the United States was struggling with the implications of European immigration.  This idea was rediscovered a little more than half a century later by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “No one is free until we are all free.”  It was a sentiment that applied to the quest for racial equality for which King is remembered, but also applied to his stance against the Vietnam War and his work to end poverty at the end of his life. 

                Freedom without justice is imaginary.  Freedom without equality is imaginary.  Freedom without peace is imaginary.  If the Church is meant to continue Christ’s vision of setting the world free, the Church must be involved with justice, peace and equality in society.  We are missing the point of the gospel if gospel only leads us to is Sunday morning worship or a few devotional practices.  The cross and resurrection are symbols of the ultimate freedom, freedom from the fear of death itself.  We have been set free to set others free.

                What does mean in our daily lives?  There are few people who can spend all their time traveling from protest to protest or who can wholly devote themselves to people in need in Mother Theresa fashion.  First, seek to grow in compassion.  Compassion is where the work for justice begins.  Earlier articles in this series point to prayerful ways to develop this virtue.  Second, pay attention to your local situation.   Who is experiencing poverty?  Who is left out of local decisions?  What services are available and who is helping?  Perhaps there is someplace where you can volunteer some time.  Perhaps there are needs that you can help supply.  Third, pay attention to where and when decisions are being made.  There is a power in writing letters, being present and asking questions.

                Finally, do all this in love.  It is too easy to let anger at a situation turn into enmity towards a person.  All people are worthy of God’s love and our love.  The call to justice demands that we treat all people as people, even the ones we are frustrated by, even the ones who disagree with us.  It is the inability to treat people as people that leads to inequality and other forms of injustice.  In Christ we are called to share a different way, one that embraces all people in love.