Jesus and Justice pt. 2: A Theological Paradigm

As I discussed in my previous post, it's tragic that some white American Christians are especially skeptical and resistant related to living lives of consistent and abundant justice. Ironically, as passages like Amos 5:21-24 clearly state, justice is precisely what communities gathered around Jesus have the joy and responsibility of being. Amos goes on in chapter six to use powerful ancient imagery to drive the point home further: it is absurd for the people of God to not pursue justice. It's like trying to plow the sea with oxen.

Yet, many continue to view justice as unconnected to the gospel and ultimately not worth centering in the life of the church. As Adam Gustine put it in his great book Becoming a Just Church, those who deeply care about justice within these spaces are often pushed aside:

"Our current reality is such that evangelical justice seekers have largely become a sidelined people. Most evangelicals who have a passion to seek the shalom of God in the world have found that their local congregation is indifferent or agnostic to that desire. In some rare cases this congregational marginalization looks like an often-overlooked justice team, but that is probably an exception rather than the rule. The most likely scenario is that justice-minded evangelicals have learned that the local evangelical congregation is not a safe space to work out those passions."

Wow. That's my story. At least so far. I still hold out hope this wayward theological and philosophical ship can be guided back towards Jesus.

Let's get to the meat and potatoes of what I want to offer in this post: a clear and concise framing of distinctively Jesus-centered justice. There are many frameworks, motivations and reasons people have for caring about justice. We should partner with and celebrate all who genuinely and sacrificially care for vulnerable people. Yet, I believe Christians bring something distinct and beautiful to the work of justice. I'll make this personal. What motivates me towards justice as a Christian?

• Founded upon the concept of Imago-Dei. That's fancy for the image of God. This is the bedrock of Jesus-centered justice. In fact, without a conviction that every human being is created in the image of God (Genesis 1: 27) I don't think my commitment to justice could be sustained. For those of us who have grown up in the church this concept unfortunately lands as cliché. Yet image of God theology is a powerful and life-altering infrastructure for a worldview! If the protestant reformation needed to reclaim the importance of justification by faith our current reformation moment must reclaim Imago-Dei theology. As pastor Greg Boyd often says, central to the life of a disciple of Jesus is to agree with God that every human being has unsurpassable worth.

• Motivated by the cultural mandate. Immediately in scripture human beings are tasked to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. This is the cultural mandate. In other words, we are intended to populate the world, discover its potential and care for it in the way that God would. As Andy Crouch puts it, culture is "anything human beings make of the world". Christians aren't called to merely accept Jesus into our hearts in order to cultivate a personal piety and hunker down in our own isolated spiritual communities. Conversely, we are to move out into the world and care for our planet in the way God intends. Shalom becomes an important word at this juncture. This rich concept used throughout the Hebrew bible goes a long way in unpacking God's desire for the world. God wants shalom to reign. Shalom is about completeness and wholeness. It's what it looks like when everything is functioning as God intends. Nothing is broken. Nothing is missing. As Christians live out the cultural mandate we are motivated by a vision in which shalom is a reality. The work of justice is how we get there. As we learn, discover, shape, invent, cultivate and create we do so with God's justice in mind and a vision of the world in which everything is flourishing as God intends.

• Infused by the Holy Spirit. I've encountered a lot of white evangelical skepticism towards justice in my life. When I speak of justice it's often met with concern that we are doing the very same thing everyone else is doing. Aren't we as Christians supposed to be different?. In their minds, unless there is an evangelistic strategy embedded within justice it's ultimately unimportant. In these moments I'm struck by how easily we forget about the spirit of God's activity in our lives. God's spirit motivates us towards justice. All of our activity ought to reflect the fruit of God's spirit. Christian justice is way less about sticking a track in a food bag and way more about partnering with God in collaboration with the spirit to care holistically for those who are vulnerable. I'm convinced that when the fruits of the spirit overflow from Christians engaging social justice that a spiritual curiosity will be cultivated within some of our friends and neighbors. We don't need to evangelize in order to validate justice efforts, but we ought to acknowledge how justice increases the moral authority and credibility to the church.

• Manifested as the Kingdom of God. True biblical faith is following Jesus INTO the Kingdom of God. For certain Christians it looks more like following Jesus into great morning devotionals. Cultivating personal communion with God is critical, but it's not the complete vision for the life of a Jesus follower. We follow Jesus into the Kingdom of God which is a deeply social and communal concept. God entered the world with his living presence (Jesus) who constantly declared the good news of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is what our communities would look like if everything functioned in alignment with Jesus being King. Everyone, especially the vulnerable, are cared for. Enemies are prayed over. Violent retaliation is exchanged for peace-making. We move from fear and greed to trust and generosity, etc. The sermon on the mount is Jesus' manifesto of the Kingdom. Christians who say Jesus was just interested in personal spiritual transformation in order to minimize our inevitable call towards transforming society must be reading a different sermon on the mount. These teaching of Jesus are jam-packed with calls to align our personal AND social lives to the reality of Jesus being King. For Christians, engaging issues of social justice is not a move towards concerning liberalism but a step towards making the Kingdom of God a reality.

• Inspired by the eschatological vision of new creation. Eschatology is the fancy theological word for what happens in the end times. What's the fate of humanity? If Jesus is King where is this whole thing going? Tragically many Christians carry around an eschatological vision that seems anything but good news. I believe God is love and goodness at the core. We have much to be hopeful about. In revelation 7 we get one of the most poignant and powerful eschatological visions: "After this I saw a vast crowds, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the lamb". Categories of race and class the divide us will be totally abolished. Jesus is working to bring about a new and just humanity. God is in the business of restoring all things that have been marred, broken, enslaved and corrupted by sin. Jesus entered death itself on the cross and through the resurrection fully defeated the powers of evil. God is doing in all of creation what He did through Christ and he wants to partner with communities of Jesus followers. New creation is the center of where things are headed. Peter, in Acts 3:21 puts it this way when preaching the good news: "For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets". Jesus-centered justice is inspired by our hope that with Jesus King all things will be healed from the scars of evil. Followers of Jesus are in the process of being made new and we partner with God to restore and heal our communities. In other words, we work towards shalom. Shalom - a rich biblical word that refers to a state where nothing is broken and nothing is missing - is a reality we will experience perfectly in the future. In the meantime we labor to bring about shalom now. Doing the work of justice is how we get there.

• Defined by love (as modeled and taught by Jesus). Greg Boyd recently tweeted: "Kingdom social activism should differ from what usually passes for political activism in that the kingdom activist protests with the hope of seeing both the oppressed and the oppressor set free and she knows that hatred and vengeance only intensify the bondage of both". Greg's comment perfectly illustrate something unique about Jesus-centered justice...both the ends AND the means have to look like Jesus. Christlike ends never justify un-Christlike means. Martin Luther King Jr. got this. He was concerned at how racism in America tortured, suppressed and marginalized people of color. He was also concerned at how racism deformed and shackled white people. Because of his commitment to Jesus he never wavered in his commitment to non-violent tactics marked by love. Some believe that to be effective we must be fueled by anger and resentment. We must direct hatred in proper directions in order to get the work of justice accomplished. Outrage culture tells us that the loudest and most aggressive voices will win. Not so for the Christian. Jesus-centered justice is never divorced from the self-giving, sacrificial and co-suffering love of Jesus. Love is the means and the end. Of course love can be compatible with righteous anger, judgement and accountability. But at the end of the day, if it doesn't look, smell, sound, taste and feel like Jesus it isn't Christian.

I could go on. But I'll leave it with these six key points. I don't know about you but I am too selfish of a person to be about justice in a sacrificial and sustainable way on my own. Without grounding justice within my faith in Jesus I'd likely do charity work occasionally but stop short of abundant and consistent justice.

White Christianity in America needs to rediscover how biblical social justice really is. With a proper theological underpinning we can more passionately engage the justice issues of our day. We can more eagerly find common ground with others to care for vulnerable people. The church can truly be outposts for the Kingdom of God reflecting the love, grace and justice of Christ.