Message: Navigating God’s Justice System



I have found myself amazed at how the scriptures each week speak to our time in history. Perhaps all sermon writers experience that amazement, as the scriptures often feel timeless in their call and in their messages. Though this particular political and social climate gives us quite a lot to work with.

As is my weekly practice, I read through the passages for this week last Monday and felt overwhelmed by the depth and possibilities that they hold for our exploration. People have written whole books on the Beatitudes alone, the passage of Matthew 5:1-12. Where do I start?

I’ll start here. One thing I love about pairing the passage of Micah 6:1-8 and the Beatitudes is that there is a flow from God’s condemnation to God’s instructions for redemption to God’s blessings of the redeemed. It is a strategic plan, a kind of map for those of us who don’t know quite what we can do right now. It teaches us how to navigate God’s Justice System, with God as prosecutor, jury and judge.

Step One: Stand Trial

“Stand up, plead my case before the mountains;

let the hills hear what you have to say.

Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation;

listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth.

For the Lord has a case against his people;

he is lodging a charge against Israel.

My people, what have I done to you?”

A few of the sources that I’ve been reading use the metaphor of standing trial, accused by God of our indiscretions. The phrases “plead my case before the mountains,” “Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation” and “the Lord has a case against his people” invoke the image of a courtroom with God as the prosecutor. Imagine God standing up and asking us, the defendant, “What have I done to you?” There is the feeling of a deeply disappointed God accusing us of unfaithfulness, accusing us of not listening, accusing us of straying from covenant that God made with us.

It is a quick trial, for we must plead guilty, now as in then. We have not lived up to the God’s vision for a just, righteous and peaceful society. We have let our communities down; we have let our neighbors down; we have let ourselves down with our inaction. We have not created the social fabric needed to bring about change. We have put our beliefs in single individuals of power, but have not done the work ourselves. We must pled guilty to our apathy, to our unconscious and conscious participation in oppression and to the violence we have acted towards others and to ourselves.



Step Two: Serve Our Sentence

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.”

Our sentence though is spelled out simply. It is not one of eternal condemnation. Our God is disappointed and perhaps even angry, but our God still loves us and wants us to grow and flourish in our faith. So we are sentenced to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly” with our God. We are sentenced to be brought back into right relationship with the Divine and reengage with God’s vision for the world.

Act Justly: מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), which is the root of the Hebrew word used in this passage to mean “justly” has meanings of judgment and justice. Here there is a call to bring others to justice; to bring others to that Divine courtroom; to bring others into the process of transformation. What God does to us with his accusations, God prompts us to do to others; we must hold ourselves and each other accountable, for our misgivings, our failures, and wrong doings. Yet God does not stop there in our sentence. We must stand up and call out the injustices that exist AND we have work to do to bring those who are carrying out those injustices back into right relationship with God, with our communities, and with each other.

Love Mercy: The word משׁפט (checed) in Hebrew refers most commonly to being kind to those who are oppressed, poor and vulnerable. Some folks translated this idea of mercy as loving kindness, like the Insight Buddhist practice of mediation: sending goodwill and kindness to others in order to cultivate compassion. To love mercy could also refer to a generosity of forgiveness, acting like God acts towards us with an unfailing belief that we can change; we can grow; we can walk in right relationship with God, with others, and with the world. To love mercy can mean to hold that fierce Quaker belief that there is “That of God in everyone.” The belief that no one is lost, no one is condemned to be evil forever, for no one is redemption impossible.

Walk Humbly: The term in Hebrew צנע (tsana) for humbly is used only twice in the Hebrew scriptures both with meanings similar to our English usage of the words humble and modest. Yet the use of צנע in Proverbs 11:2 connects the action of being humble with wisdom. Some translators then translate this word in Micah 6:8 to read “to walk with wisdom.” I’ve also seen it translated as prudence, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “acting with or showing care and thought for the future.” For me in today’s world, this is a twofold call: to discernment and to accompaniment. We must spend the time discerning wise action while also not assuming that we, people of privilege know what is right. Accompaniment in the peacemaker sense means to ask others what they need, to ask what would be helpful, and to be invited in. When we look at joining movements, it is wise is to join and use our privilege to uplift those around us, instead of assuming power and suppressing the voices of others. We must humbly join others in the needed work of change, while with wisdom understanding and discerning how our own privilege plays a role in our presence.



Step Three: Integrate into Existing Social Structures

And then we are given the Beatitudes as the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Here, as we are serving our sentence and learning day by day what it means “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly” we are given example of those who have fully integrated God’s instructions into their work in the world. Who are the blessed today? Who is Jesus referring to in context of today’s world? Here I offer some examples, not meant to be exclusive at all, but examples to start your own thoughts about who today are the blessed.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: Traditionally the poor in spirit have been interpreted as those who are economically poor and spiritually humble. From Inclusive Christianity’s document on The Beatitudes: “Depending on the context in which it is used the Hebrew connotation reflects one who is being oppressed by the rich and is needy or one who is humble and pious. On more than one occasion, Jesus teaches the value of being ‘spiritually poor’. People who are humble in their spirituality acknowledge that they don’t have all of the answers and therefore they are willing to look to God for guidance. This will enable them to see God’s vision for the world and they will be more disposed to follow his way. The wealthy and self-righteous assume they already have the answers so they stop listening for God’s word.”

I grew up watching many different versions of the Christmas Carol and there is a bit of dialogue that I think of when thinking about who the poor in spirit might be. Scrooge is talking with the Ghost of Christmas Present:

”Is there a peculiar flavor in what you sprinkle from your torch?” asked Scrooge.



”There is. My own.”



”Would it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?” asked Scrooge.



”To any kindly given. To a poor one most.”



”Why to a poor one most?” asked Scrooge.



”Because it needs it most.”

What was being sprinkled was the spirit of Christmas, and for those who needed it the most, the most was given. For those who are economically poor there are needs that set them apart from others. And when these needs are fulfilled there is an experience of appreciation that surpasses the experience of those of us whose needs are fulfilled regularly. It is the Kenyan family that I visited who while they had nothing, gave what they had in the joy of hosting visitors. They are the Jordanian sheep herders who find joy in roaming with their flocks. And people like my friends who live in the woods of California, making less than $15,000 a year yet beyond joyful spending time in community, hiking the mountains and playing music by the fire. They are the communities of Quakers world-wide who praise God in their dirt floor churches or under the stars, singing and celebrating their blessings.

Blessed are those who mourn: The term used for mourning can mean mourning for a particular loss or the general lament of the state of society. It is in this collective and individual mourning that we recognize what was and what is and then grow into what could be. Today the blessed could be those who mourn for this country, those who recognize the injustices and set about to correct them, those who hold the collective sorrow of our society and work for healing. There is intense grief work that needs to be done in reaction to the recent presidential inauguration; there is grief work that needs to be done as executive orders are signed; and there is grief work from decades and decades of systematic oppression. Blessed are those who hold the grief for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek: Our use of the word meek, such as “meek as a mouse” has confused our interpretation of this word in the Beatitudes. To be meek is more related to the word humbly in the Micah passage, to act discernibly and wisely. As Theology of Work’s bible commentary says, “Many assume the term means weak, tame, or deficient in courage. But the biblical understanding of meekness is power under control. In the Old Testament, Moses was described as the meekest man on earth (Numbers 12:3). Jesus described himself as ‘meek and lowly’ (Matthew 11:28-29), which was consistent with his vigorous action in cleansing the temple (Matthew 21:12-13). Power under God’s control means two things: (1) refusal to inflate our own self-estimation; and (2) reticence to assert ourselves for ourselves.” Today, then, who might the meek be? Perhaps the nonviolent resisters, the leaders of social movements, the executives of non-profit organizations, volunteers, and people who are conscious of their privilege as they offer to serve others.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: This could apply to so many people and groups today. Black Lives Matter participants; Standing Rock activists; local, regional and national advocacy and activist groups. People seeking court decisions on human rights cases. People seeking ease of travel, documentation change, and the ability to live in the wake of to gender misidentity. People seeking to marry the people the love. People seeking to work without harassment, with equal pay, and without discrimination. The list could go on and on and on. Blessed are these people and communities and organizations, for they will be fed.

Blessed are the merciful: Here is a nod back to Micah 6:8 again. Blessed are those who offer an abundance of forgiveness, who believe that everyone, without exception, can be transformed. That everyone can grow their metaphorical hearts from three sizes too small, like the Grinch, to one that is full of compassion, love, and right relationships. “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy,” says Jesus. It is cyclical process of forgiving, and being forgiven; of believing in other’s Inner Light and being believed in; of loving others and being loved.

Blessed are the pure in heart: Many commentaries talk about the pure in heart being folks who are solely focused on Jesus and the Gospel. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in The Cost of Discipleship that those who are pure of heart are “only those who have surrendered their hearts complete to Jesus that he may reign in them alone.”) I would argue that those who are pure in heart defy religious silos. Simon Tugwell in his book The Beatitudes: Soundings in Christian Traditions writes about being pure in heart, “There is an interaction between seeing and being. The kind of person you are affects the kind of world you see... And conversely, what you see affects what you are.” So being pure in heart is having integrity—it is walking the talk, talking the walk, and being fully and authentically, inside and out, the person that God calls you to be. It is about being so authentically you that, as Marianne Williamson writes, “as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

Blessed are the peacemakers: As a life long Quaker, this part of the Beatitudes was the place where as a child I could point and say, God is talking about Quakers! It was the line in the scriptures that convinced me, proved to me that the peace and justice work of Friend was sanctioned by God. That ultimately God wants peace and blesses those who work for it; that God claims the peacemakers as his family. This is our family legacy, our claim of belonging, our call to action. We as Quakers do not hold monopoly over this term; rather we unite with others who have answered the call into this family, this work, this communion, this coming together as children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness: And finally we round out the Beatitudes with a blessing for the persecuted. The list of modern persecutions is growing day by day… people of color, the LGBT community, Muslims, immigrants, scientists, the EPA, national parks, Planned Parenthood, world health care organizations, Mexico, and the list continues. In the coming days, months and years, who else will be blessed? Who else will be granted access to the kingdom of heaven?

It’s a strange thought that the increase in persecution, denial of freedom of speech, oppression, violence, and so on causes more people to fall in the category of blessed. I haven’t unpacked that completely and will continue to think on it in the days to come. What does arise for me though is more questions: As we navigate through God’s justice system, how can we join with others who are blessed? How can we walk justly and bring others through the system of redemption and transformation? How can we love mercy and believe that even the most evil, oppressive and mean people, people we see on the news every day, can be redeemed? How can we walk humbly, recognizing our own privilege and joining with others in supportive, sustainable, transformational work that God calls us to do? How do we answer Jesus’ call into the family of the blessed?