Eastertide
May 1, 2014

Read Scripture: Isaiah 25:1-5 

For you have been a refuge to the poor,
   a refuge to the needy in their distress,
   a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,
   the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place,
you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;
   the song of the ruthless was stilled. – Isaiah 25:4-5

One of the responses from Micah 6:8 in answer to the question, “What does the Lord require of you?” is to do justice—to do the right thing that is to do the right thing in God’s eyes. The prophet Amos described justice as being like a plumb line And the Lord said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A plumb-line.’ Then the Lord said, Amos 7:8 ‘See, I am setting a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by;… Doing justice is a part of who we are as followers of Christ.

In our scripture today when God’s people do justice, the poor are given refuge and help, the homeless are sheltered, and the oppressed aliens and the disenfranchised are protected. What justice have we done recently? How have we brought comfort to the poor, homeless, and the oppressed? Are we actually even acquainted with anybody that falls into one of these categories? Do we have a clue about the challenges they are facing or that those who are trying to help them are facing?

The beginning of justice is seeing where justice needs to be done. I was struck last night when listening to the news about the USA’s negative feedback to Egypt regarding what we perceive as their overuse of the death penalty. We also raised questions about whether these sentences were the result of due process. The other news I heard last night was that the execution of a convicted murderer here in Oklahoma had to be stopped because the lethal injection had been botched. This was the first time the specific combination of drugs had been used. The convicted man died of a massive heart attack later after the drugs did not work. His lawyers had filed for a stay of execution until the drugs and the company that produced them could be checked out. The appeal was denied even though similar problems had occurred recently in other states. Is that justice? Are we being a blessing to the rest of the world by setting an example such as this?

Prayer: O God, forgive us for seeing the splinter in the others eye and not the one in our own.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.