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[Back to index of November articles] BEARINGS: By Martin Smith I hesitate to admit that the term "social justice" sometimes makes me feel uneasy, in case people associate me with those who think the church should confine its attention to devotion and charity, and avoid getting directly involved in the civic and political arena. Far from it: I believe that churches should be constantly forming alliances and partnerships with a wide variety of other groups and agencies, to act collectively to redress the numerous inequalities that disfigure our society, confront injustices, and strive for fair standards. No, my unease comes from a queasy suspicion that by sheer repetition we risk enthroning justice as the primary motive for Christian outreach. Justice is of course an ideal that is critical to the churches' capacity to form partnerships with other faith communities and secular bodies to pursue common goals for the health of our troubled societies and our endangered world. The church must be willing to use the language of common ground in its ministry in the social and political arena. But the ideal of justice is not adequate to express the core of Christian mission or the heart of its liberating message. While being ready to talk "justice" we must be still more fluent in talking "grace." The Gospel is not only patently about more than justice; it is a searching critique of the adequacy of justice as an expression of God's will for humanity. A bell went off recently as I turned the pages of an old notebook in which I had written down some quotations from one of Christianity's greatest mystics, St. Isaac the Syrian, a 7th Century contemplative and pastor living in what is now Iraq. In his Mystical Treatises, Isaac frequently goads his readers to question whether in the light of the radical teaching of the Gospel we should even call God just, let alone make justice our primary religious ideal. "And how can you call God just when you come to the passage about the laborer's wages? Where is God's 'justice'? …Do not call God 'just,' for his justice is not made known in your affairs. … He is good, as He says, to the evil and the ungodly." "Mercy and just judgment in one soul is like a man worshipping God and idols in the same house. Mercy is the opposite of just judgment. Just judgment is the equality of equal measures, for it gives to each as he deserves, without inclining to one side or another, or having respect of persons when it repays us. Mercy, however, is pity moved by grace and inclines to all in compassion; it does not requite him who deserves harsh treatment and it fills to overflowing him who deserves good. And if mercy is on the side of righteousness, then just judgment is on the side of evil. As grass and fire cannot stay together in the same house, so neither can just judgment and mercy remain in one soul." Isaac vigorously contrasts two perspectives. One focuses on ensuring that people get what they deserve, awarding them what they are entitled to, defining what their rights are. It is about blind justice that metes out reward and punishment on principle. Another perspective is opened up by the good news of Jesus, showing us a vista in which God is recognized by faith as actively reaching out in promiscuous compassion to each and to all, repairing broken relationships, restoring community, reweaving intimacy, inspiring fresh beginnings and new connections, attracting people into partnership, teaching them how to embrace the dreaded 'other,' making sisterhood out of enmity and brotherhood out of alienation. All this leaves far behind the human categories of rights, entitlements and deserts. God goes out of God's way - so far out that the Beloved One meets his end on a Roman cross, 'taken out' as a dangerous criminal - to reach out for reconciliation. Wherever the churches seem to lean heavily on a shorthand secular vocabulary of "social justice" - one that sometimes veers into a clunky political correctness that can provoke our skepticism or weariness - it is because we are avoiding the task of framing for ourselves a true Gospel perspective. It is seldom appropriate for Christian groups to present our theology overtly when working with others in the public, environmental, political and civic arenas to work for healthy social change, except when genuinely invited to do so. But it is essential for Christians to keep on exploring among ourselves what is the distinctive motive for Christian outreach. We need more theology for our outreach, which means exploring how it is that God is shown in Jesus to be reaching out, to whom and why. Our call to outreach can't mean anything less than a call to act as fingers for God's reaching out. And what is that? Martin L. Smith is a well-known spiritual writer and priest. He is on the staff of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. [Back to index of November articles]
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