If God is just, what is the justice of God? How does God’s justice require justice from each of his followers? What is the justice God seeks in us and in the world? How do we understand the justice of God and our call to do justice?
Our God is a just God who seeks justice and requires justice from his children. We are to emulate the justice of God and to be agents of God’s justice in the world. We are called to do justice, because God is just.
God spoke through the prophet Amos saying, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:21-24, ESV).
When Israel sought to worship God, they got right the religious trappings of the appearance of true worship with their feasts, assemblies, offerings, and songs, but they neglected the true worship of enacting God’s justice in the world. God refused to receive the worship of Israel apart from their participation in the justice of God.
The Psalmist wrote of God’s character and attribute of justice, saying, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.” (Psalm 89:14, ESV).
In contemplating the evil of slavery, Thomas Jefferson said, “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever…The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.” (Thomas Jefferson).
Jefferson was tapping into God’s attribute and character of Justice, which Moses spoke of in the law in Deuteronomy 32:4, saying, “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:4, ESV).
If God is just, God’s justice is expected and required of us. God seeks justice and expects his justice to be brought forth in the world by his people. We are to be a people of God’s justice and agents of God’s justice in the world.
In the words of the prophet Micah, may we enact the justice of God, the requirement of God, in our lives as we “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8, ESV).
A Prayer for Social Justice: “Almighty God, you created us in your own image: Grant us grace to contend fearlessly against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and help us to use our freedom rightly in the establishment of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (#43., Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
A Collect for The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, or the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity (Proper 27): “O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
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