To act justly - part one of a three part sermon series.
Luke 18:2-8
We begin with this story to talk about the idea and concept of justice. Justice is a hard concept to talk about, because there are so many different ideas.
What does justice look like in our world? This is hard to determine because everyone has a different idea of what justice should look like.
Perhaps we should begin with what Micah was probably referencing.
God had laid down very fair laws for the Jewish people to follow.
For example, God had laid down very fair laws regarding wealth and land. There should be a "year of Jubilee" every 49 years in which all of the land and the wealth was re-divided. All debts would be forgiven and all stock-piles emptied. The idea, of course, was the final knowledge that God was the giver of all good things. The land and everything on it belonged to God, and no one could sell God's land for all eternity. If you were wealthy because of your faithfulness to God, your wealth would quickly be returned to you. If you were in debt up to your eyeballs - you had the chance to start over and try to be more faithful to God. Historians believe the Jewish people did this ... only once. Oddly, the Samaritans who were despised by the Jews followed this idea for thousands of years. But, for the Jewish people, it was too much for the rich and the powerful to give those things away - so they created some symbol to replace it and they continued the celebration without anything real to celebrate.
It was similar with many of the laws God had handed down. The Jewish people would follow and delight in the laws set down before their God for some time, and then they would begin to go their own way. This cycle continues over and over, and when the people ignore God; things grow worse and worse for them.
But in this call for just acts, we see something larger than just following the rules. We see a greater call to faithful living, and a greater call to make things right in the world.
Micah writes as someone whose town had been destroyed by the enemy - and that enemy had in turn been destroyed by God's hand. And yet, Micah isn't talking about this long-range God-sized justice. He isn't talking about the Justice of God destroying our enemies. He is talking about what we as people must do. As a community and as individuals.
And the world asks, "What is justice?" and our response is usually, "to follow the rules" or when asked what is justice, we see visions of our enemies lying dead in the path of God - but Micah doesn't hold up either of these things as the true justice. The justice God calls us to is something bigger and grander than either of these two visions. Justice is when God's shadow falls on all of the earth. It is when all is as it should be. And this justice, it is God's justice. God will accomplish this - and God will use us to accomplish it.
So when Micah says, "Act justly" - this is talking about us personally. It's not even talking about the bigger, giant changes needed in the world. It's talking about us. That we as individuals and as a group should act justly.
When we act justly, we act as though the world around us is imaginary. We choose the way of justice in the face of the bribery, corruption, and scandal that surround us. We don't say - well, I'll sit around until things get better and then I'll go along with them.
There is an old story of a man walking on the beach. He notices a young boy walking along the beach coming in the opposite direction. The young boy stops every few feet and stoops down. He picks something up, throws it into the ocean and continues on his way. A few steps later he does the same thing. Over and over again. When their paths cross, the old man gives in to his curiosity and asks the young boy what he is doing. The young boy explains that he is picking up starfish and throwing them back into the Ocean. The old man understands that the boy is trying to save their lives, but he can remember seeing hundreds of starfish on his walk just today. He laughs condescendingly and says to the boy, "There are so many starfish, and so many miles of Ocean. Do you really think you can make a difference?" The boy stoops over, picks up a starfish and throws him back into the ocean. "I made a difference for that one, didn't I?"
When we act justly, we are a people of action. We go out and we do something. In our own small way, we act. We speak out in the name of the poor, we give voice to the voiceless. We challenge our governments to make no laws that tear rights away from people - even people we might disagree with or might not like. We work to make the world better in any small way that we can.
When we choose to act justly, we understand that this is our small part. We have no audience. We are not trying to impress anyone. We are imperfect, we are sinful, we often act unjustly. But that doesn't stop us from believing in a better world and acting in our own small way for justice.
Let me give you an example of a small thing I do to act justly. I am especially opposed to bribes when it comes to education. It hurts the entire country when someone can get a degree through bribery and not through their own hard work and merit. There isn't much I can do to end bribery. I'm not in a position of power to refuse bribes, and while I refuse to pay them - this often leaves me in a very hard place. In talking with many students, I heard very good things about the department of translation studies. I did some more research and heard from every student that none of the teachers in the department would accept bribes. Everyone who graduates from that department has earned his or her diploma. I volunteer in that department because I am proud that they do the right thing. In my own small way, I can reward the just choices of the department and, as a native speaker of English, help to make it a little bit better and a little bit stronger. This is not a huge step. This is not some beautiful scene in a movie where the protagonist stares down the nazi tanks. This is just one young person doing something small to act justly.
The movies, they always have the same plot - that there will come some day when you have to make some decision to do something really great. And, this idea is purely an invention of Hollywood. You cannot choose in the dire moment to become brave and to act justly to save the world. Each morning, when you wake and put your socks on you must make the save decision. You must decide to live each day with the prayer "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." You much choose each day to act justly.
Olena Teliha, the Ukrainian poet who was executed at Babin Yar, had many chances to escape to safety. Once, a friend asked her why she did not run and protect herself. She said, "I have told others to stay - and now I must stay myself." In each small decision to act justly, there is also a large decision to act justly. Our small, daily decisions - they form who we are. when we choose each day to live justly, we choose to be people of justice.
I think when we begin down this path that leads to justice, we cannot travel very far without thinking about judgement. About the way our actions are judged by God and by others. If we act justly, I can guarantee you that the world will judge us harshly.
Micah's words, they call us to act justly. In the smallest things, when we act justly - God is preparing us for larger things. And in the end, when we have gone beyond this world; we will hear the words - well done my good and faithful servant. When we act justly, we will be judged rightly. We will be able to stand before our God with open hearts and share in God's embrace.
To act justly means to get our hands dirty. It means to stoop down into the world of the unjust, and to bring back one small thing onto the surface of the just. When we act justly, we do not care what punishment the world might have for us, we only care what good God has in store for this world. To act justly means to act first - to act long before it is cool, popular, or even safe.
On the day before she was executed by Nazi Germany for distributing anti-nazi flyers at her university, she told the high court, "Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don't dare express themselves as we did." Perhaps the ancient words rang through her ears - "all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
These priests and nuns who walked hand in hand with black protesters for equal rights, they were the first to do that.
When we go and share bread and food with people begging on the streets, we are also making the decision that we believe it is wrong that they must be on the streets. Someday, this small decision might lead us to bigger decisions. Perhaps some day, as an adult, you will open your home to someone in need - or you will pass a new law through the Duma to create a more fair system for the poor in Ukraine. Someday you may be asked to give up something truly precious for others.
Micah reminds us what the Lord requires of us. This is all that we need to do. And the first part of that equation is to act justly.
To remind us to act justly, come and place your own handprint on this cloth after you have finished praying.
