October 25, 2023

Scripture Reading:

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice, you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

I have spent most of my adult life working with or for the poor. Much of that work has been in seeking justice for them.  J. S. Mills says it is inconsistent with justice to be partial as our scripture says above: you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great. We tend to debase the poor and defer to the rich, great or not. Neither response is right. While we as a nation take great pride in quoting from the Declaration of Independence that All People are Created Equal, we quickly succumb to living in hierarchies of human worth.

The children’s hospital I worked at several years ago was being totally rebuilt, causing staff to park three or four blocks from the building in a rather dangerous part of town. A few special parking places were reserved for the doctors and administrators right next to the building. Many of the staff were older people who were responsible for cleaning the building, spending most of their day doing hard labor besides walking several blocks, both ways, to get to work with poor lighting in a high crime area. Some complained, noting that doctors got close parking places.  The response was that the doctor’s work was far more important than the cleaning staff. Someone spoke up and said the surgeon’s work would not make any difference in the life of a patient if the operating room had not been appropriately cleaned and sanitized.  That same week, small buses were made available to drive people parking in the distant parking lot to the front door of the hospital.

Prayer: Lord, help us to always remember that all people are made in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally and with equity. 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.