Undeserved Justice a Contradiction in terms

A young person in our confirmation class this week made a statement that I think is important to unpack. We were appreciating the characteristics of God especially as understood in the Old Testament and we came to the notion that this God we believe in must be a God of Justice. And we started to unravel what Justice means. I tied it into our understanding of God’s call to love our neighbour. And one youngster posed the question, “Why should we love somebody if they don’t deserve it, if they have made bad choices or are lazy. Lets say I have worked hard to achieve what I have got – why should I have to give to those who don’t deserve it?” A good lawyer this young man will make but not a good lover I am afraid to say! I don’t think it is a question of the young but it is a question of any hard working, law abiding, moral seeking person seeking to understand why others don’t pull up their socks. Justice should be to reward the hard working, the righteous, the upstanding! But, this God of the Old Testament continue to bring undeserved Justice again and again. It is especially difficult for a young person to appreciate how privileged they are. They haven’t yet come to see the deprivation of other peoples beginnings and the lack of resources available to them, not of their own choosing, but of their unfortunate circumstances. I thank God, that Jesus claimed to be God. That Jesus was able to give us another take on this God who loved the most undeserving. Sometimes there is no more undeserving than those who think they are deserving but God loves them nonetheless.

Loin chops

I listen to a great daily devotional on the internet that is run by the Jesuits called ‘pray-as-you-go.’ It is not verbose or evangelical but a soothing meditation that causes one to stop and meditate on a section of scripture and then to dialogue this within oneself. You can download it on your ipod and take it wherever you go. This morning I was listening to a part of Jeremiah that spoke of God telling him to ‘gird up his loins.’ Although sounding rather odd to the post modern, post liberal, post existential (whatever) ear, this phrase literally means to get dressed and face your challenge. Sometimes we are called out of our sleepy eyed stupor and stand before this world’s darkness and oppression. Now, before I start sounding like George Bush junior, heaven help me, let me clarify that girding up ones loins does not mean to pack your lunch box with plastic explosives and surprise the ‘infidel’ at school with your combustible sandwich. It is rather a call for the faithful to bring judgment upon all that degrades life, the environment and human freedom onto which is added the gracious ointment of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Sic transit gloria mundi

I am not a man of ancient languages nor for that matter modern ones. I am still trying to get English under my belt let alone Latin. I picked up this Latin phrase in a commentary on the story of Naboth’s vineyard, which should rather be titled with this caption which means, ‘Thus passes the glory of the world,’ or in more common understanding, ‘Fame is fleeting.’ King Ahab grabs hold of the deceased Naboth’s vineyard but the moment of glory soon turns to his own demise for allowing such an atrocity to happen. God is seen in and behind the words of this story, not influencing the free will of the characters but certainly passing judgment on their choices. Ahab’s blood is soon to be licked up by the dogs in the same place that Naboth was slaughtered. He got what he wanted but the joy of possession did not last long. It is an old tale retold in many a tradition, a tale that warns against greed and getting things without considering the ethics of the means. It cautions us in how we use our free-will and the limited power we have. Each of us have a ‘power zone’ if you want to call it that. We can have sway and influence within a certain radius around us. For some it is vast like King Ahab and Jezebel. They can call a fast and stir a nation into action. For others their only sphere of power and influence is the home, brothers and sisters, or ones children. This story plays itself out in the micro narratives of our lives. The tragic stories of fathers who abuse their children, mothers who neglect their children for the sake of their own interests, children who manipulate their parents with vain threats just so they can get what they want. Why this story of Naboth is so intriguing is just because we can identify its tale in our own sorry backyards.

"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Painting - Asian woman's resource center. Isn't it great!)

A moody King

"Let justice roll down like waters" ... Amos 5:24 (Painting - Asian woman's resource center)

This morning the “Witness” had as its headline, “No taxis, small march.” Things don’t always work out the way they should in the game of power and politics. The supposed support by the taxi associations turned in upon itself as many protesters could not get to the lunchtime march.
This week I am preaching on Naboth’s vineyard, that so vivid a story of land issues and political machinations. It is such an African story as the possession of land is not just a property purchase but a sense of being one with mother earth and the ancestors. The issues in this story also evokes poignant memories of forced removals in the Apartheid era. Where entire settlements were broken down and moved to other areas and out of the way places because of the segregation act. The Naboth story is also about politics and warped power, those who have and those who have not. It is about ‘tribal’ and ‘urban’ clashes, where King Ahab demands land to increase his wealth, his land and ultimately his power. The issue may not be around wage increases, but the issue revolves around the understanding of who owns the land. Naboth stood his ground with the assurance that it was divinely allotted to him, his clan. Giving up the land would break his religious vows, it would trample on the covenant between his people and their God. The obsession for land and power turns sour in King Ahab’s stomach. He his found sulking on his bed when the infamous Jezebel, the queen gets ear of the situation. Although she is wickedly cunning, she is also misled by the pouting King who only passes on half the information. The information that is inflammatory, not the deeper and more theological arguments that were given to him by Naboth. All she heard was Naboth wouldn’t give the King his land. With that injustice to a Monarch’s pride, the queen sets out to destroy the life of Naboth and the land issue she thinks is resolved. Half information is usually the cause for much evil. Half truths of newspapers, half truths of gossip, half truths afforded by politicians, these bits and bites of information form our opinions, lecture our attitudes and ultimately steer our actions. Lets not play into the hands of such and evil, half truths and greed.

Strike it unlucky

We in South Africa are being crippled by a national strike. Today in Pietermaritzurg the headlines read “ Total City shutdown, 30 000 to march on CBD; fears municipal workers might join strike.” There are no children at school, there is barely a nurse left in the hospitals, the police and defense force are threatening sympathy strikes. This is a complete meltdown of an orderly society. I don’t want to chew too much on opinions already clichéd by editors of newspapers and social gossip columns. Who’s to blame is not an easy answer to give. There is a new elite in South Africa who if one can generalize have lined their pockets with tax payers money. Corruption and exploitations of government funds is rife. The few have again taken from the many. This is what the strike is all about for me. The forces that are in battle in South Africa are between the powers of opportunistic wealth and the powers of the disempowered working masses. It is an unprecedented voice against the greed of some. But, like all good stories the villains are not easily discernable. Power, in what ever clothes it likes to dress itself, can become as ugly as the powers it detests and tries to mitigate against. The worker who decides to go to work is threatened with her very life. The teacher’s who we entrust our children to are foaming rabid at the mouth. Hospital workers are dancing restlessly outside hospitals with jovial glances whilst bodies who’s hearts once beat are being wheeled down empty corridors into the morgues. The villain is also on the other foot by the looks of it. So where is the redemption is such a stalemate? Does justice have to be so cruel and to what ends will justice fight until it realizes it has turned face and become the one infringing on others rights?

These solutions do not lie in the answers constructed by well-heeled politicians and neither are they answered by those obsessed with equal footing. Justice in itself is not enough to heal a country. The religious will tell you that you are seeking for peace in the wrong quarters. Justice without love is not worthy of the glory it seeks. It might gain the world through all the protests its embarks upon, but without Love it is nothing. It is a Paul may say, a mere clashing gong, but it will lack the treasure it really seeks. The other lesson the religious would argue is that the desire for possessions above love is the cardinal mistake of the human soul. The soul that seeks for fulfillment in the values, hopes and dreams of the physical world will often find themselves in places of dire disappointment and disillusionment. This worldly dream is stilted and always has a end. The hope of a new world order needs to transcend the confines of this world, it needs to reach up into the beyond and declare a world that is not dependent on the human ego, but rather transformed and bent by a greater Justice system that calls on its adherents to lift the ‘rights of others’ above our own.
"Do justice ... love kindness ... walk humbly with your God" ... Micah 6:8