Living in the Spirit
November 15, 2022
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ –Jeremiah 23:5-6
Apparently, what was missing in Israel in Jeremiah’s time was justice—at least the right kind of justice. What is just to me may not be just to you. For example, I do not think capital punishment is just, but its use is legal in my state. I do not think undocumented aliens being sent to jail when they are caught is just when they were brought here to work at below-legal wages with no benefits and no limits on the number of hours required to work for a company that will only get a fine for hiring them. I think the CEO committed the crime and should be the one going to jail. I would vet the undocumented person. If they have a clean record, they should be considered for a work visa allowing them to work for someone who is following the law. If there is no legal job available for them or they do not have a clean record, they should be deported to their native country. Labor trafficking is perhaps less repulsive but is not different from sex trafficking.
Jeremiah is saying that true justice and righteousness are defined by God and modeled for us by the one called the Lord-is-our-righteousness, whom we Christians identify as Jesus Christ. Much of the teachings in the gospels describe Jesus’s interpretation of justice. We love those stories, but do we live them?
Prayer: Lord, help us to study your word to discern your ways of righteousness. 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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.