Christmas
December 29, 2014

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-14

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
   and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
   and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.’
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
   and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. — Jeremiah 31:10-11

First the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and later the Southern Kingdom, Judah, were overthrown by mighty empires. These countries were not just overthrown, but their best leaders were taken into slavery. Exile they called it. Almost three thousand years later we now watch on the evening news how people overthrow people, force them into joining their armies, requiring them to denounce their faith, or raping and killing them. We are appalled by such behavior but it is just the worst state of injustice. It does come in smaller doses more palatable to our sensitivities and easier for us to ignore.

Even before King David died the country of Israel was full of intrigue. The King himself took another man’s wife while sending the man to the front lines to meet sure death. After King David was gone the country fell into outright civil war. It finally split into two nations that both got too full of themselves and lost sight of their covenant with God. There was lack of justice in both Israel and Judah before they were seized. It was not a surprise to the prophets that these governments were eventually overthrown.

It seems to me that all oppression gets its start from people who have a need to achieve power and property well beyond what they need. In so doing they knock out of balance the scales of justice and nothing is right when the home, the community, the city, the state, the country, or the whole world is without justice. Doing justice is a choice. It requires a commitment to delve into life and identify what is right and work to sustain it. It is work we as followers of Christ have been called to do.

Prayer: Lord cleanse our hearts and our minds so that we can see your justice. Grant us the courage to work toward it. 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.