Social Justice Is at the Heart of the Bible

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The Rev’d. Marek Zabriskie

By: Marek Zabriskie

We have sent a copy of a little book that I edited called The Social Justice Bible Challenge to every pledging household in our church and are starting six virtual Bible studies to allow our members, friends and anyone in Greenwich to discuss it.

It can also be purchased at the Dogwood Books and Gifts. You can join one of our book groups by accessing our church website.

The book deals with a wide array of topics, including racism, immigrants, refugees, gun violence, wealth, colonialization, access to education, etc., using biblical reflections written by faith leaders from across the country.

Christianity calls us to care for the poor and socially marginalized. Sadly, social justice is sometimes dismissed as “political,” despite being rooted in Scripture and church history.

The Early Church commissioned deacons to care for widows, orphans and the poor. They helped with food distribution.

Christians created hospices which evolved into the first hospitals. Monasteries served as pharmacies, centers of learning, food distribution, hostels for pilgrims, and homeless shelters.

Christians started the first universities – Oxford, Cambridge, Bologna, Salamanca, and Paris – while missionaries created schools around the world.

Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, who I befriended in London in 1986, served as a missionary in South Africa, where he helped a young boy named Desmond Tutu attend an Anglican school, which transformed Tutu, who transformed South Africa and helped to dismantle Apartheid.

The Bible has over 2,100 texts that address justice and poverty. Jesus was raised in poverty and steeped in social justice. His parents paid two turtle doves for the rite of purification after his birth – the poor person’s rate.

His mother, Mary, composed “the Magnificat” – an old to social justice.

My soul magnifies the Lord…
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:45, 52-53)

Mary’s commitment to social justice influenced her son.

Jesus embraced the prophets, “…and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”(Micah 6:8) and “Let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)

He began his ministry in a synagogue in Nazareth by reading from the book of Isaiah,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free…” (Luke 4:18-19)

This became his mission statement as he cared for the marginalized, the poor, blind, maimed, lame, women, and gentiles. Jesus said that when you give a banquet don’t invite your friends and family, but invite the poor, the crippled, lame and blind. (Luke 14:13)

Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers, who swindled pilgrims, thus challenging the Sadducees, who oversaw and benefited from the temple finances.

The Christian concept of social justice has Jewish roots? “Mishpat” is Hebrew for justice. It emphasizes action. The Jewish concept of “tikkun olam” means “repairing the world.”

Jews believe that they bear responsibility not only for their own moral, spiritual, and material welfare, but also for the welfare of society at large.

Each time we Episcopalians baptize someone, we reaffirm our Baptismal Covenant and ask the assembled congregation:

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? Everyone responds, “I will, with God’s help.” This is our commitment to social justice.

The prophet Zechariah admonishes, “…do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor…” (Zech. 7:10) Jews were instructed to leave the corners of their property unharvested so that the poor could glean them and survive.

All of us can do more to protect women, refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers, foreigners and the poor. Jesus says, “Whatever you have done for the least among you, you have done for me.” (Matt. 25:40)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit… (Matt. 5:3), but in Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, he says, “Blessed are the poor” using “ptokos,” a Greek word, meaning the poorest of the poor. The poor are close to God’s heart and should be close to our heart as well.

Christian history is full of social justice champions like Francis of Assisi, William Wilberforce, Hannah More, Walter Rauschenbusch, Sam Shoemaker, Albert Schweitzer, the slum priests of England, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Dom Helder Camara, Mother Teresa, Abbé Pierre, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

What can we do to help? We can leverage our firms, family and friends to care for the poor and marginalized and teach our children to care for the vulnerable and those who suffer.

If we work for a large bank, we can urge it to open branches and make loans in poor neighborhoods. If we work for a grocery chain, we can try to ensure that healthy food is available in food deserts. We can lobby our state government to provide equitable education so that a child’s destiny is not determined by his or her zip code.

Social justice is at the heart of Christianity, and our world is better when we embrace it.

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