Race. Grace. Justice. Jesus. Намуна

  

Justice & Jesus

The more I think about race and justice, the more I realize how much I need Jesus.

In recent years, God has slowly chipped away at my ignorance regarding race, justice, and the history of America. Through dozens of books, blogs, podcasts, documentaries, and personal interviews, I caught a glimpse of the heartbreaking injustice that too many of God’s sons and daughters have lived through.

At the same time, I dove into the deep end of the Bible, researching and reading every single passage that used the word just or justice or nations or authority. (Yes, that took quite a while!)

Then George Floyd died. I watched the video footage alone in my kitchen in stunned disbelief.

But while my heart was broken, my hands were frozen. Because the more I studied, the more I didn’t know exactly what to do. My soul, compelled by the love of Jesus, wanted to love my neighbor, no matter what that neighbor’s color (1 John 4:19). My ears heard Micah’s cry to “act justly” and relayed that call to my heart (Micah 6:8). But what step did God want me to take? to diversify my circle of closest friends? to read books by black authors to my white children? to preach on racism’s sinister ability to adapt and hide in plain sight in a post-Jim Crow culture? to protest racial disparities in the American judicial system? to weep with those who were weeping? to march with those who were marching? to say nothing and just sit with those who were grieving?

I cared enough to do something. But, honestly, I didn’t know what something to do.

Which is why I realize how much I need Jesus. Maybe you’ve come to realize this too. Because if there was ever a person who understood the complicated intersection of race and justice, it was Jesus.

Just think of Jesus. Although Jesus brainstormed the idea of diversity with his Father, he entered the human story from a particular mother who came from a particular father who came from a particular branch of Adam’s family tree. That meant that Jesus, as human as you and I, had skin of a particular color. If ancient censuses tracked such ethnicity, Jesus would have checked one box and not all the others.

But Jesus’ people weren’t the only people around. His story was filled with diversity, from the Romans who begged him for help to the Samaritans who rejected his help to the Egyptians who offered him sanctuary when he needed help. In the first century, few issues were on the forefront of people’s minds more than how different people dealt with each other. The tension of those questions surrounded Jesus too.

So did the topic of justice. Unlike grace (getting a gift you don’t deserve) or mercy (not getting the punishment you do deserve), justice demanded what was deserved. Guilty people should not be applauded. Innocent people should not be punished. God called justice to be blind, unconcerned about the color of your skin, the place of your birth, or the square footage of your home. And Jesus cared about justice as much as he adored grace and treasured mercy. 

Here’s the proof:

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations” (Matthew 12:18).

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory” (Matthew 12:20).

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former” (Matthew 23:23).

“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?” (Luke 18:7).

Jesus proclaims justice and brings justice and magnifies justice and brings about justice. Jesus was, and still is, many things. One of those things is just.

That’s why I want to talk with you about the intersection of race, grace, justice, and Jesus in the days to come. Jesus provides unique hope as we deal with the heartbreaking headlines, hope that is certain about the future without overpromising answers in the present. Jesus’ teaching is equally empowering and humbling, forcing us to look into the mirror and then back to the cross and then across to our neighbor. Jesus explains why justice must be impartial and why justice will always be partial, at least until the Day when he himself returns to judge the world “with justice” (Revelation 19:11).

This journey will not be simple or convenient or easy. Love rarely is. But giving the world a glimpse of the justice of Jesus will be worth it, a bright light shining in a dark time in history. 

My prayer is that you can join me in “practicing justice,” as our Savior put it, while relying on mercy and grace at the same time. Our world desperately needs that.

We desperately need Jesus.