The Great Ends of the Church: Social Righteousness

Matthew 11:1-6

Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities. When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.’

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Introduction

In 1944, standing before the National People's Congress in Bloemfontein, South Africa, JD du Toit (a poet and Bible translator) said these words, "Give me a Bible text, 'says the opponent of our color policy,' a text that proves that segregation is in agreement with the utterances of Holy Scripture,' 'I have no text,' is my answer. 'Then I have won the case, says the advocate for equality [...] I answer: [...] 'I don't have a text, but I have the Bible, the whole Bible. My argumentation would proceed from Genesis to Revelation.'" Toits speech, "The Religious Foundation of our Race Policy," was a defense of segregation and what we would know today as a policy of apartheid. 

The Reformed Church in South Africa played a significant role in the formation and defense of apartheid. Lest we forget, of course, the church would play a vital role in the deconstruction of South Africa's policy of segregation as well. Throughout history, the Church, via Christians, has done a pretty good job manipulating the gospel (and God's overall love story for creation) for malicious purposes, which could only lead to the question of skepticism and disappointment heard in John the Baptist's inquiry to Jesus. Was Jesus the one, or was there another to come? And if Jesus was the one, how do we live as faithful disciples that bear hope and truth? How do we live as people of faith who demonstrate a call to social righteousness that seeks to prevent such heinous acts that run counter to the life way of God? 

Disappointment

You wouldn't think it would be hard to love our neighbors as ourselves, but judging by how we treat each other, we apparently have an epidemic of people who hate (or lack love for) others and themselves. So it's no wonder John would have clung so tightly to the well-known promise of restoration in the Book of Isaiah. Talk about a joy the likes of which we've not yet known. People who do not see shall see, people with mobility needs shall walk, and people who do not speak shall sing. It is a vision of hope that weaves together the political (civil) and spiritual inspiration for what the world could and should be in our time. 

Isaiah professed a complete restoration of creation, giving John hope in his ministry. So imagine how John must have felt when he heard that Jesus, the Messiah, arrived. Finally, finally, the one who would fulfill the prophecy has come! But as John sat in prison and looked out from his cell, he discovered a disappointing reality. Some people who were blind were given sight (some being the operative word, not all). Some people were given the ability to walk, again not all. The disappointment in John's question to Jesus stemmed from the realization that not all the broken places in the world were restored. People were still being held as political prisoners, widows and orphans went without food, and the religious leaders were focused more on piety than using their faith to bring about social witness and righteousness. 

Reframing Witness & Social Righteousness

Jesus is not offended by John's question; in fact, Jesus appears as though he is used to this kind of questioning. Unfortunately, however, Jesus doesn't provide the sort of answer that John wanted to hear. The prophecy Isaiah foretold would not take place with the miraculous snap of divine fingers but involve the complex and messy work of discipleship. Jesus draws John into a new understanding of the prophet's vision. Our disappointments and questions can open our hearts, eyes, and ears to the more profound truth and blessing of the righteousness movement our God of life calls us to pursue. While we are not a place where all love our neighbors as ourselves and have not yet arrived at a place where creation is restored, we are in a time where we can co-labor with God in lifting the disappointment, pain, injustice, oppression, exclusion, and fear from people's hearts from at a time right now (giving a foretaste of what is to come). 

Today we are reminded that Jesus came into the world to enable us to carry out the work of healing, reconciliation, and restoration. To stand in the light of the gospel means that we stand in solidarity with the least of these and with the heart of God. Our social witness will take us to places where we evaluate our priorities as individuals and as a church. As I mentioned previously, the same Reformed church in South Africa, which justified and supported apartheid, would eventually become one of the most potent agents of change and dismantling of this policy. Such a shift can be found in the words of the Belhar Confession (written forty some odd years later after it’s initial support for apartheid): 

10.8 Therefore, we reject any ideology

which would legitimate forms of injustice and any doctrine which is unwilling to resist such an ideology in the name of the gospel. 

10.9 We believe that, in obedience to Jesus Christ, its only head, the church is called to confess and to do all these things, even though the authorities and human laws might forbid them and punishment and suffering be the consequence. Jesus is Lord. To the one and only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be the honor and the glory for ever and ever.

We follow in the footsteps of women and men who came before us and modeled what it meant to live in the light of God. Some were teachers; some were doctors and nurses, others were politicians or reformers; others were religious leaders, and a great many more are people like you and me who stand at the precipice with a choice. Do we let our disappointment take hold of our faith? Or do we choose to live boldly and craft a new way forward that brings hope and upholds the righteousness of our God of life? Each and everyday, we make that choice. And each day after that, we decide how we are to live. 

Conclusion

Our pursuit of social righteousness is not an endeavor to create a moral high plane for ourselves. Instead, righteousness, the social righteousness that we hear in this great end, extends to how we operate in the pursuit of bringing to life Isaiah's prophecy. In many ways, the work of social righteousness within the Church and our souls reminds me of the "Garden Song." "Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow. All it takes is a rake and a hoe, and a piece of fertile ground." Person by person (beginning with ourselves), we overturn the brokenness and disappointments of this world one bit at a time. And in doing so, we reveal the brilliance of Isaiah's vision and the promise of a new future that Jesus made to John. May our hearts and our souls be open to receiving that good word of God's unfolding truth.