And it shall come to pass
afterward, that I
will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out
my spirit. ( Joel
2:28,29 )
When I read the Prophets for the first
time, long, long ago, I noticed that their books were not filled mostly with
predictions; I had thought they would be, and saw quickly that such is not the
case. They contained predictions as part of the content of prophecy; I paid
special attention to those predictive prophecies that were directly foretelling
the coming of Christ. But, the role of the prophet was not to act like some
kind of fortune teller; it was to be the mouth of God. I also noticed that a
very large portion of their prophecy, indeed, the largest content of certain
prophets, especially Amos, was to speak directly about justice and injustice to
the poor. Through them God spoke to the conscience of fallen men.
The word translated “justice” is also
translated “righteousness.” The word is Tsadakah.
In the novel, The Chosen, by Chaim
Potok, the old Rabbi who led his people to the
The prophets of the Old Testament, therefore, spoke the word of God directly about justice or righteousness. They cried out mostly against two evils: Idolatry and injustice to the poor. We cannot know what they sounded like, except that often the scriptures say they “cried out.” Indeed, it is difficult to imagine much of their words spoken without passion. Jeremiah tried to hold God’s word inside him, but found he could not.
“Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” Jer. 20:9
So, when they spoke passionately about justice, what did it mean? To modern Americans the working definition of “justice” is often limited to punitive measures taken by the authorities. But, the prophets spoke of justice/righteousness as the same thing, and as on behalf of the poor, the widow, the orphan, those imprisoned (rightly or wrongly, it doesn’t specify) and the stranger from a foreign land. Where else do we see those categories, but in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats?
“…Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me…Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me….” (See Matthew 25:34-46)
Look again at the
Old Testament, this time the words of Isaiah.
“Woe unto them that decree
unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have
prescribed; To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right
from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they
may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in
the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for
help? and where will ye leave your glory? Without me they shall bow down under
the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is
not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.” (Isa. 10:1-4)
What
is meant by “the right” of the poor in that passage? For people living by the
Torah, in ancient
It is of interest that in the modern
But this does not mean that the Church
- which in real life is the local church trying to get by on a budget - can
take the place of the Social Security Administration or of Social Services. It
is not possible, and never has been possible. Unfortunately, like so many
issues of morality and justice, care for the poor cannot be wholly divorced
from politics. So it is, that some people argue that we should not be taxed to
care for the disabled; that the church would do a better job. How unrealistic
that is. Most of our local parishes and missions cannot do much more than we
are doing, helping the poor members of our own churches as well as helping poor
strangers who come to us and ask in times of need.
But, if you swallow an
ideological reason not to be generous, such as blaming all poverty on the
people who have been trapped in it, or perhaps some misguided Libertarian
objection to taxation, the chances are very good that you also will not give a
penny to a starving family. You might give a thousand dollars for something
like a stain glassed window; but you would never give a penny to the poor. Or
so I have observed. The same people who argue that the church, instead of
government, should shoulder the burden of feeding, housing, and providing
medical care to the poor who cannot make ends meet on their own, would never
contribute for that purpose themselves, even if the whole idea was not a
complete fantasy to begin with. And it is a fantasy. Churches simply do not
have that kind of money.
One thing of which you can be
certain is that the Church, from the Day of Pentecost forward, is the modern
home of prophecy. It was Peter, on Pentecost, who quoted those words of Joel
that I have placed at the heading of this article. What does that mean for us?
It means that the Church must be the voice of moral guidance, and that the
clergy (among whom are Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers -
Eph. 4:11) need to speak directly and with moral clarity. Just as we must speak
on other issues of justice and morality, such as the Divine requirement that we
protect innocent life in the womb, just as we teach people how to live morally
in a true marriage rather than to give license to the flesh, so we also must be
willing to pick up the mantle in those words, “I will pour
out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.”
That means we cannot escape all that is meant by that powerful
word in the vocabulary of the prophets, Tsadokah
– justice that is also righteousness. If you find yourself always or by impulse
to be on the side of the rich and powerful, or if you find yourself supporting a system or program or ideology
or party that denies the right of the poor and needy, you had better pay
attention to the Bible much more than you have before: Hear the word of the
Lord. You see, this is about a sin we often ignore. You cannot escape guilt if
you turn a blind eye to the needy. It is for the Church, led vocally by the clergy,
to provide moral guidance with clarity. The old Rabbi was right: The world
needs a righteous man. Who, if not followers of the Son of Man?
No comments:
Post a Comment