JESUS & JUSTICE [Sat, 8-30-25]

BEYOND WINTER: The Irrelevant Activities of An Old Man--JESUS & JUSTICE [Sat, 8-30-25]

 

[Following up on the recent column about my attempts to work for fairness… and to increase the use of ellipses…]

In this old age, my ability to work for fairness is diminished to the point of nothingness. I am reduced to voting, donating, and sending ignored letters, and signing useless petitions. Voting and donating are important, but not very satisfying to one who has devoted his life to action to achieve fairness.

Now that may sound strange for a preacher. After all, was not my life supposed to be devoted to building up the church and getting people saved? Yes, which is why I had to work for justice.

We got people saved [a very bad phrase theologically] so they could go to heaven. But they couldn’t go to heaven if they didn’t work for justice on earth. Don’t blame me; that’s what Jesus said. [Mt. 25:31-46; Mt. 6:10.]

 

Anyway, looking back on my life, as old folks must do when we don’t have any life to live in the now, I am asking: Did I work for justice? The answer is affirmative. I wasn’t always effective, but I did try. I was never a ground-breaker. Other folks started justice movements, and I joined at some point. But followers are important, too. A movement doesn’t move without followers.

I think back to the movements I joined and am pleased that I got to be part of them… Integration and Civil Rights… voting rights… Vietnam… abortion rights… equal rights for women… women in the ministry… Central America… cancer… gender equality… veterans… the environment… democracy…

None of these movements has been completely successful. Well, I suppose ending the war in Vietnam… it did end. But we are still dealing with the damage it did to people and families and trust. The other movements…they will be necessary forever, because there are always counter movements by those who do not want justice, who want unfair advantages for themselves and those like them.

One of the great problems we have in achieving fairness is that folks who are working for unfair advantage often don’t know that is what they are doing. It is true that “…if you’ve always had advantage, fairness makes you think that you are a victim.”

I know that I have no reason for pride in my actions. I joined those movements, not from a position of understanding from the inside, what those forms of injustice do to people, but from a position of privilege. It’s true that I grew up in poverty, but that’s only a minor inconvenience if you are a tall, white, straight, bass-voiced, intelligent, good-looking male. [Well, some of that may be questionable; I’m not as tall as I used to be.]

No, I am not proud of my participation in those justice movements. I’m just grateful that I got to be a part of them.

John Robert McFarland

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24