Just

The scriptures referred to are Sirach 10:12-18, Psalm 112, Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, and Luke 14:1, 7-14.

It's pretty obvious that I like superheroes. And I often use them as illustrations in my sermons because they are the mythology of our times, in the same way the Greek or Norse heroes were in the past: powerful, larger than life and deeply flawed. That said, I prefer the heroes without superpowers. The reason the Batman films can be a bit more realistic (but only a bit) is that the hero has no superpowers and thus can go up against somewhat more plausible human villains. When you are as powerful as Superman or Captain Marvel, you need a villain who is just as powerful to make things challenging.

That said, Bruce Wayne does have a superpower of sorts: he is a billionaire. And in the real world, it would make much more sense if, instead of prowling the streets and personally punching muggers and thieves, he used his money to make Gotham a better place. Rather than building Batmobiles, which have got to cost more than a yacht, he could do something about the poverty and despair and rampant mental illness that blights his hometown. For one thing, he could improve the conditions and security at Arkham Asylum, where so many of his adversaries are sent to and continually escape from. Batman is a bandaid on a seriously sick city.

However, in the latest Batman film, he realizes that he needs to be more than an object of fear. He needs to be a symbol of hope. Batman is so focused on the criminals that he ignores their victims. Which is the whole point of the recent film. The villain is, in a twisted way, seeking justice, but his emphasis, like Batman's, is exclusively on punishing the bad guys. Justice is about more than punishing people who take advantage of others; it is also about helping the those who are taken advantage of. The reason justice is symbolized by an old fashioned set of scales is that it involves restoring balance in a community.

In Psalm 112 we do see both sides of justice, though the mention of enemies and the wicked are restricted to only 2 of the 10 verses. Most of it is about those who are righteous. But the interesting thing is that in Hebrew the word for “righteous” and the word for “just” are both derived from the same word: tsadaq, the word for “justice.” It means “to make (something) right morally.” And in Greek “righteous” and “just” are the same word, dikaios, which basically means equitable or fair. So it is impossible to be personally righteous and not try to make things right for others. That's why in our psalm those who are blessed with wealth and riches (v.3) give freely to the poor (v.9). They have more than they need and know that God expects them to share with those who have less than they need. To truly be upright, you need to maintain balance.

Which is why I really wish our scripture insert printed out the alternate passage from the Book of Sirach. It was written about 200 to 175 BC. While, unlike Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans and Episcopalians don't accept it as part of the Biblical canon, it is considered good to read for its instructions on living, though not for establishing doctrine. The passage starts by saying, “The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker. For the beginning of pride is sin, and the one who clings to it pours out abominations.” It goes on to say, “The Lord overthrows the thrones of rulers, and enthrones the lowly in their place. The Lord plucks up the roots of the nations, and plants the humble in their place.” That sounds a lot like the song of Mary, which we call the Magnificat. (cf. Luke 1:51-52) And the passage from Sirach concludes by saying, “Pride was not created for human beings, or violent anger for those born of women.” The word translated “pride” is better rendered “arrogance.” It's not about taking pride in one's achievements; it's about believing you are superior to others and have no need of them, or, for that matter, of God. It is the opposite of humility and so C.S. Lewis called it “the complete anti-God state of mind.”

So the passage from Sirach makes a great contrast with Psalm 112. It balances things out by painting a picture of the unjust while the psalm delineates the just. But why does arrogance lead to unjust behavior? Because the arrogant don't think that they got where they are by God's grace or mercy; they think they deserve all they get and have. And since they deserve the best, then those who don't have the best must not deserve it. So they don't see ignoring or exploiting the poor as unjust. For example, while involuntary labor was universal throughout history, racism was invented to justify enslaving non-Europeans. Those who needed super-cheap labor for their plantations said that Africans and the natives of the Americas were not smart enough or moral enough to be anything but slaves. And so those enslaving them thought they were doing them a service!

The arrogant believe the world, not should be, but is a meritocracy. Those at the top are smarter, stronger, and better than those below them. The best rise to the top and are in charge. But we all know that's not true. You only have to look to the news to see that the unworthy often get into positions of power. And not a few of us have had bosses who were not very good at their jobs. Some evidently got there through nepotism, or deception, or flattery and self-promotion. When the film 9 to 5 came out, it was called a feminist fantasy. But I think a lot of people, male and female, have at times thought that at least one of their coworkers could do a better job running things than their boss.

The righteous or just, our psalm says, are merciful and full of compassion. Why? Firstly, because only the just recognize injustice. The unjust do not, the way a conman or a swindler or someone in the Mafia would not recognize unethical behavior. That's just the way you do business, they would say. Never give a sucker an even break. If a business owner can't pay the outrageous interest on a loan from a loan shark, break his fingers. But the just see when people are being cheated or intimidated or harmed and try to fix it.

Secondly, knowing that the world is not always fair, the righteous realize that their good fortune is not entirely of their own doing. They may have been born into wealth or with loving and helpful parents or sent to a good school or just have hit the jackpot in terms of intelligence or natural talent or good looks. These things are beyond their control and even if they then took these gifts and did a good job developing them, the wise ones realize that not everyone had their advantages. The compassionate ones help those who are disadvantaged.

If you were in a grocery aisle and saw a little person staring at something on the top shelf, you'd ask what they wanted and reach up and bring it down to them. You'd have the empathy to put yourself in their place and act on that. And our New Testament and Gospel readings today are basically applying that principle to other situations.

Hebrews 13 says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers...” The Greek word for “hospitality” literally means “friendliness to foreigners.” Foreigners are at a disadvantage when away from home. They don't know the area or the customs and may not know the language. They could use help, the same way you would if you were in a foreign country. It's only fair to do the same when they are in what is to them a foreign country. Indeed God says, “The foreigner who resides with you must be to you like a native citizen among you; so you must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:34) That last sentence is essentially saying, “I, the Lord your God, mean it.” And indeed the foreigner is often grouped with the widow and the fatherless as commonly disadvantaged people for whom God has a special concern. (Deuteronomy 10:18; Psalm 146:9; Jeremiah 22:3; Zechariah 7:10; etc.)

Next in Hebrews we are told, “Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.” Because of this and the previous two chapters on martyrs and seeing hardship as discipline, this plea may refer to Christians persecuted and imprisoned under Nero. The author, who never identifies himself, mentions that “our brother Timothy has been released” (Hebrews 13:23) but he never mentions Paul, who was beheaded about 64 AD. Nero committed suicide in 68 AD and Timothy might have been released after that. But some Christians may still have been in prison and needed things beyond the basic rations provided, like additional food or clothing. So this was probably an appeal for practical support for them. But the author also urges the reader to identify with those suffering imprisonment and torture as if it was happening to them. After all Jesus became one of us and was actually imprisoned and tortured as well as executed. We are not to treat the suffering of others as “someone else's problem.” And a just person wouldn't be able to. They would feel these injustices acutely.

Our passage from Hebrews concludes with “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Considering how much of the letter to the Hebrews is about how Jesus' self-sacrifice eliminates the need for the prescribed sacrifices in the temple, the sacrifices mentioned here must mean sacrificial giving. Indeed the Greek word for “sacrifice” means offering. As Jesus offered up his life for our benefit, it is only fair that we offer up what we have in our lives to help others. A just and fair person wants everyone to have their needs met.

In our Gospel Jesus offers up a radical solution to those in need. Jesus is guest at a banquet given by a leading Pharisee and he says to his host, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Just as a fair and just person would know that if they are in a better position in life, it is at least in part due to advantages they have, they would know that the destitute and the disabled are in a worse position due to their disadvantages. And today we have neurological evidence that poverty and adverse childhood experiences have an impact on children both physically and mentally. Bathed in stress hormones, their developing brains are affected, making it harder for them to learn. The stress of not knowing where their next meal is coming from, or constantly moving in and out of homelessness, or being raised in a dysfunctional home, or dealing with abuse or neglect keeps them in a state of fight, flight or freeze. They develop strategies that may work for them as kids but hamper them as adults.

A friend of mine adopted the 3 year old child of an addict. My friend kept finding the remains of meals hidden in the child's room. One day the girl thanked my friend for feeding her regularly, saying that her biological mom just gave her “triangles.” This confused my friend until she realized the girl meant Doritos. Subsisting on junk food provided as an afterthought by a mother who spent most of their money on drugs, the child learned to stash away what she didn't finish eating for the inevitable times when she was hungry and no more food was forthcoming. That deeply affected the formative years of the child and her ability to trust adults and to think beyond short term survival.

Jesus is asking us to trust God and think very long-term. Share what we have with those in need now and God will repay us at the resurrection of the righteous. Or you could equally translate it “the resurrection of the just.” We are to trust God in the interim, ie, our life.

But does that mean we can earn our salvation through works? No, we are justified by God's free gift of grace accessed through trusting in Jesus. (Romans 3:2-26) But God is not just doing some legal trick in justifying us. He intends to make us righteous and just persons in reality. As Paul says, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10, emphasis mine) We are not saved by good works but we are saved by God in Christ for good works. When we are saved by Jesus, we receive his Spirit and give control over to him and live according to him. (Romans 8:1-17) As Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) And Paul said, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) If Christ, who is righteous and just, lives in us, we will also be righteous and just, not just in our thoughts and in our words but in the works he does through us.

God created a world he pronounced good. He created us in his image, the image of the God who is love. (Genesis 1:27; 1 John 4:8) He did not want us to ruin this world and fill it with sin and violence (Genesis 6:11-12) That is the opposite of love. Nor does he does want us to be merely declared righteous and just; he wants us to really act that way.

When I had my accident I didn't want someone to simply change my diagnosis on paper; I wanted to be made right again. I had to trust doctors to open me up and put me back together. And then I had to follow doctor's orders and work with the physical therapists in order to walk again. God wants us to once again be proper reflections of his image, which means being just and merciful and compassionate like he is. He wants us to walk with him in his Spirit. (Galatians 5:25) The more of us who become just and loving and merciful, the more the world becomes just and loving and merciful.

I have a theory of why Batman generally doesn't generally kill his enemies. Because if they are dead, they can't feel pain. They don't have consciences so he wants them to feel physical pain. He may think this is justice but really it is vengeance. He is taking out his childhood trauma, the murder of his parents, on them. And for a lot of people vengeance is more satisfying and simpler than doing the hard work of real justice. Real justice means not forgetting to help the poor and the oppressed. It means making lives better for their children, which in turn will make it easier for them to grow into healthy and trusting and loving and helpful adults.

As we saw in Psalm 82 a few weeks ago, God calls us to “defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy.” (Psalm 82:3) Jesus calls us to feed the hungry and thirsty and clothe the naked and greet the foreigner and take care of the sick and visit the imprisoned as if they were Jesus. (Matthew 25:34-40) We don't do it to be saved; we do it because we have been saved by the grace of the God who is love whom we see in Jesus, and because this is how people who have his Spirit living in them act.

Jesus began his ministry by reading these words from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) That is his mission statement. And as the body of Christ on earth, it is our mission too. And if we actually did those things, it really would be good news to those who suffer. And just as people did then, they would flock to hear and to trust and to follow Jesus.