"What is Justice?" by Dana D Craft

What is Justice? By Pastor Dana Duane Craft Coming to Guatemala, Central America, has poignantly shown me how far the world has traveled from the Biblical view of what is, "justice," for all those who have been lovingly created in the image of God himself.  Why are so many ignored, uncared for and un-ministered to?  Let's look at what the Scriptures tell us about practicing justice. Saint Luke, the 1st century physician, wielded his stylus like a 21st century surgeon.  Precisely choosing each word, each clause and each event to carefully illustrate the Ministry of our risen savior, Jesus Christ (Luke 1:1-4).  In his continuum to his gospel; I believe the two were separated solely due to the cumbersomeness of carrying such a large scroll; the book of Acts, He paints the picture of the early Christian church and its struggles, both external and internal.  And with the same precession as his earlier book Saint Luke's  eye is fiercely focused upon Christ's overarching guidance and eternal perspective in the birthing of the human institution which represents our Messiah's earthly body on Earth. At the heart of this "body" is the concept of justice.  It is not merely an "idea" or even a philosophy but actually a way of life. With this being said, I feel it was no accident that Luke refers all the way back to a single verse containing a significant statement on justice presented in Deuteronomy 15:4, when describing these beginnings of the community of the Holy Spirit.  In Acts 4:34-35 he tells us that, "There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostle’s feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” Now let us compare that to the verse in Deuteronomy, "[But] there will be no poor among you ..." This tiny Old Testament text carries a greater "punch" then it may seem at first.  Within this single statement the Lord is declaring that (if only) his people would listen and obey Him that no permanent poverty could exist in their midst.  This represents the weight of true social righteousness (justice) which expresses the Lord's love for the vulnerable and His zeal to see poverty eliminated. Proverbs 19:7 and 14:31 are bookends to a lot of theology on our Lord's view of poor and marginalized…those who most often are left to eat only of the fruits of injustice.  The first of the verses tells us that if we are kind to the poor, God will see it as if we are being kind to Him.  Whereas the second verse tells us that if we cover the poor in contempt we are actually showing contempt towards God.  “In proverbs we can see God identifying with the poor symbolically. But in the [birth & death] of Jesus Christ we see God identifying with the poor literally," Dr. Timothy. Keller. In the incarnation of the Creator of the universe we can see a God who so cares about justice so much so that He was born in a feed trough among farm animals.  He lived among the poor and outcast of society. To close out His earthly ministry, the Christ entered God’s chosen city by riding on a borrowed donkey. He ate His last meal in a borrowed room and upon His death He was laid in a borrowed tomb. At the cross, unjustly hung, He was penniless and had no earthly possessions except for a single robe, which His executioners cast lots for. Clearly I am not suggesting that anyone needs to go to that extreme (but why not be that courageous) but all of us need to carefully examine “how” we are dispensing justice to those who are unwanted, unloved or even unneeded.  I began thinking about my personal relationship with practicing justice when it came to moving to the mission field of Guatemala.  After nearly 20 years of pushing my professional career I had come to "own" a great many expensive toys and countless other items which came to actually "own" me.  When it came to shipping everything to Guatemala, and paying extremely high rates, per pound, I quickly discovered how much of my life, my time, treasure, and talent I had invested will inevitably just become trash.  This lesson reminded me of the dire need to invest my life only in eternal things. Maybe in investing more of my life in eternity, I can be my neighbor’s answered prayer for his  daily bread (Matthew 6:11). Speaking of, “our daily bread,” while growing up, I always felt telling God to, “give us our daily bread," was extremely arrogant and plainly just rude.  After all, who of us can demand anything of the Lord?  But now that I'm much older and (hopefully wiser) I can see it as a simple and humble prayer where we ask God not for abundance but just enough for the present day. Remember the manna in the wilderness? Whether or not we want to admit it, we are a mirror image of the Israelites wondering in the desert ... if God doesn't provide for our daily needs, both physically and spiritually, we will not rise with the sun the following morning. My wife and I have been overwhelmed with the dire needs which seem to be everywhere here in these beautiful mountains of the Maya and we are but one small family.  Yet in abandoning ourselves to the Lord's purpose we are confident that He will use our hands & feet as His own and that we actually will become the answered prayer for those in need.  Yet we need your help. Yes, donations are our ministry's fuel. Yet, your prayers are what truly, “open the windows of heaven,” to allow the blessings to pour out. Please lift up our family in prayer…that we may do His will and not our own. And ask the Lord to put upon your own heart exactly “where” and “how” you can help your neighbor…how you can be just. 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