INJUSTICE

From My Perspective - - -

There are far too many instances and illustrations of injustice in the world today. Glancing at our Culture today, one can easily conclude that it is becoming more and more directionless. Disarray and absence of personal disciplines contribute greatly to the situation as it exists. Oppression, ethnic cleansing and persecution exist but are ignored because it seems remote on our horizon. We need to ask ourselves some basic questions: (1) Am I sensitive and knowledgeable regarding what injustice is? (2) Do I view injustice in terms of a growing sense of personal entitlement whether or not one has earned it? (3) If I see injustice, oppression, bigotry, persecution or the slaughter of the innocents – do I try to intercede to the best of my ability to address these activities?

In the eulogy given by Ted Kennedy for his assassinated brother, Robert F. Kennedy, he shared: “In a speech given to the young people of South Africa on their Day of Affirmation in 1966, Robert said: It is a revolutionary world we live in, and this generation at home and around the world has had thrust upon it a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived. Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation; a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth; a young woman reclaimed the territory of France; and it was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the 32 year-old Thomas Jefferson who [pro]claimed that "all men are created equal." The eulogy included these poignant observations: “Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. And I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the globe.” The eulogy included this summary statement: “That is the way he lived. That is what he leaves us. My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.”

In the decade of the 1960s, John Perkins emerged as one who saw injustice in Mendenhall, MS and sought to address it. Wikipedia has this summation of part of his life and activity: “Initially concerned solely with evangelism and Bible literacy, Perkins had a growing conviction that the gospel of Jesus Christ addressed spiritual and physical needs. In 1965 Perkins supported voter registration efforts in Simpson County and in 1967 he became involved in school desegregation when he enrolled his son Spencer in the previously all white Mendenhall High School. In the fall of 1969, Perkins became the leader in an economic boycott of white-owned stores in Mendenhall. On February 7, 1970, following the arrest of students who had taken part in a protest march in Mendenhall, John Perkins was arrested…(and incarcerated) in Brandon Jail.” The details of his life and experiences during that period are detailed in his book, Let Justice Roll Down. The title is drawn from Amos 5:23-24, “Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Isaiah 59 is a chapter that addresses evil, oppression and injustice. Verses 8-9, 15-16 gives a summary of what God is seeing: “The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace. Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom…The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede...”  This is a Messianic Chapter indicating Jesus Christ will enter the world and intercede for the oppressed and those having to endure injustice. An additional question for us to ponder: “Am I a spectator in my culture or am I willing to run or take rests to be and/or to make a difference.” Sadly, there are too many spectators. Consider these things with me.