Missio Dei: WK2 - WED
JUSTICE IS NOT OPTIONAL
Micah 6:8 (NLT) “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8 gets quoted so often it has started to feel like a bumper sticker. That is a tragedy, because it is actually one of the most demanding verses in the entire Bible. God is speaking to a people going through the religious motions while exploiting the poor and ignoring injustice around them. His response is not to call for more religious performance. It is to say: I was never asking for that. Justice. Mercy. Humility. These three are held together as one thing. You cannot pursue justice without mercy or it becomes cruel. You can’t practice mercy without humility or it becomes condescending. And you cannot walk humbly with God and remain indifferent to what breaks his heart.
I remember it like it was yesterday. We were having lunch, a few of us, and the conversation turned to housing. A friend started telling me about when his parents first moved to a small town in a midwestern state in America. They had worked double shifts for years to save enough for a down payment. One day they found a house they loved and could afford, but the realtor turned them away. They later found out that the house had a deed that contained a restrictive covenant, preventing the sale to people who looked like them. I asked, with what I now recognize was naive innocence: why? It was the first time I had encountered the phrase. The law had technically abolished such covenants, but in that neighborhood, realtors and the homeowners’ association still enforced the spirit of them quietly and effectively. The law said one thing. The neighbors said another and his parents never did buy in that part of town.
That is structural injustice. It is not bad luck or individual failure. It is systems that could be different, and are not, because people with power have chosen to preserve them. The Hebrew word in Micah 6:8 for “right” is mishpat: civic justice, advocacy for those who cannot advocate for themselves. The widow, the orphan, the immigrant, the poor. Not soft suggestions. Requirements.
For followers of Jesus, justice is not a political preference or an optional add-on for particularly activist types. It is woven into the character of the God we follow. He is consistently, unmistakably drawn toward those the world’s systems have failed. To follow him is to be drawn in the same direction.
Micah 6:8 (NLT) “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:8 gets quoted so often it has started to feel like a bumper sticker. That is a tragedy, because it is actually one of the most demanding verses in the entire Bible. God is speaking to a people going through the religious motions while exploiting the poor and ignoring injustice around them. His response is not to call for more religious performance. It is to say: I was never asking for that. Justice. Mercy. Humility. These three are held together as one thing. You cannot pursue justice without mercy or it becomes cruel. You can’t practice mercy without humility or it becomes condescending. And you cannot walk humbly with God and remain indifferent to what breaks his heart.
I remember it like it was yesterday. We were having lunch, a few of us, and the conversation turned to housing. A friend started telling me about when his parents first moved to a small town in a midwestern state in America. They had worked double shifts for years to save enough for a down payment. One day they found a house they loved and could afford, but the realtor turned them away. They later found out that the house had a deed that contained a restrictive covenant, preventing the sale to people who looked like them. I asked, with what I now recognize was naive innocence: why? It was the first time I had encountered the phrase. The law had technically abolished such covenants, but in that neighborhood, realtors and the homeowners’ association still enforced the spirit of them quietly and effectively. The law said one thing. The neighbors said another and his parents never did buy in that part of town.
That is structural injustice. It is not bad luck or individual failure. It is systems that could be different, and are not, because people with power have chosen to preserve them. The Hebrew word in Micah 6:8 for “right” is mishpat: civic justice, advocacy for those who cannot advocate for themselves. The widow, the orphan, the immigrant, the poor. Not soft suggestions. Requirements.
For followers of Jesus, justice is not a political preference or an optional add-on for particularly activist types. It is woven into the character of the God we follow. He is consistently, unmistakably drawn toward those the world’s systems have failed. To follow him is to be drawn in the same direction.
- Where do you see injustice woven into the systems around you?
- Why is humility necessary in the pursuit of justice?
- How might God be inviting you to advocate for someone with less power or visibility?
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