St Michael's Church (Church of England)

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream” – these words from Amos kept echoing through my mind as I looked through today’s Old Testament and Gospel readings. And alongside those two words ‘justice’ and ‘righteousness’ comes mercy or loving kindness; the Psalm for today puts these words together summing up the character of God – “the Lord is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger and of great kindness...;he is just and righteous in all his ways and kind in all his doings”. God’s justice and righteousness are balanced by his love and pity – the truth of his character makes it unthinkable for him to tolerate or ignore sin and evil, but when repentance is present then, too, is God’s compassion and mercy.

But Jonah didn’t like that one little bit! It wasn’t fair! “They’ve been bad – at least punish them a bit!” “Isn’t God supposed to be a just God? Where’s the justice if they’re going to get off scot free?” Jonah really felt that God wasn’t playing to the rules and was moving the goal posts; instead of zapping them he was treating the ‘wicked’ in the same way with the same mercy as he did his chosen people; and what made it worse was that the people of Nineveh were Assyrians, the ancient enemies of Israel. Not fair!! So instead of jumping up and down with glee, Alleluia! Praise the Lord – all that sort of thing – when Nineveh repented and turned to the Lord, Jonah goes off in a fit of sulks. And God has to remind Jonah that repentance is always a 2-way street – return to God and God will return to you – that is what his Covenant relationship with Israel is about, and is extended to everyone.

Jonah’s reaction is really no different to that prevailing in today’s society. We live in a culture of vindictiveness, people want revenge – you only have to read some of the comments posted on news items on your computer to see this; mercy, compassion and kindness are regarded as weak, namby-pamby do-gooding that have got this country into the mess it’s in, according to them. Of course, the law has to be upheld or there would be anarchy, but there also has to be fairness – justice in the complete sense of the word. Quite a few police forces have adopted the Restorative Justice Program, where the person committing the crime is required to meet with the victim (if the victim wants) and make an act of contrition and reparation. Justice has to be done – and seen to be done. After the recent riots concerns were expressed that justice didn’t appear to have been done in some cases: for instance a person stealing a ‘T’ shirt the week before the riots would have got one sentence – be it caution, fine or whatever – but if it was taken on the night of the riots the sentence was far harsher, so on the face of it it would appear that vengeance, or making an example of, in some form had crept into the verdicts.

As Christians we are called to be counter-cultural; to make sure that our dealings with one another are tempered by justice and mercy and not vengeance, to encourage our children not to seek revenge in their relationships, and to be a voice: standing up and speaking out when justice isn’t seen to be done; and to offer ourselves (if and when applicable) as magistrates or Advocates and to offer support to those who are. As Amos said,: “what is it that the Lord requires of you? – to act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God”.

But there is another side to justice and righteousness that comes through in the Gospel story. Here the owner of the Vineyard negotiates a just payment for a day’s labour; it’s enough to put food on the table for that day and a bed for the night; the workers are happy with that and off they go. The problem arises when they see that other workers who had come later in the day and therefore worked less hours than they had, are getting exactly the same amount of pay. Their response is the same as Jonah’s: - it’s not fair!

But the owner says – you have what we agreed upon and were happy enough till you saw what I gave the others – but it’s my money to spend as I will – and actually I have been just in all my dealings. The owner is generous but not over the top: he’s not making them rich, just giving them enough to live for that day; he paid them what they needed – and that is justice. The employer’s action should be seen as the first stirrings of justice to the poor. Righteousness and justice are highly personal and relational terms; it is ‘doing right’ by a person; about actively trying to reverse the conditions, risen out of human selfishness, which deprives many of their human dignity and the basic necessities of life.

God’s justice may be expressed in deeds that liberate the weak and vulnerable from bondage – remember Jesus’ words right at the beginning of his ministry: “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”. – and this is our call too.

As I reflected on the men and the hours they worked I thought of our culture. A recent study has shown that workers in Britain work longer hours than anywhere else in Europe; unemployment is rising as redundancies increase, and one person is now often doing the work that 2 or 3 did previously. I know of many people who leave for work at 6 in the morning and don’t get home till 10.30 or later at night; they get a basic wage for, say, 40 hours a week and as a condition of their job they opt out of the European Directive on maximum hours worked, so they don’t get paid any more for those extra hours, they often have to work at the weekend but don’t get paid or time back and their pay may therefore actually dip below the minimum hourly wage, yet somehow it’s all legal. But the consequence is that we are seeing stress, illness and family break-up on an unprecedented level. Yet society sees it as ‘normal’; personally I see it as Institutionalized Injustice – the theological phrase is Structural Sin – and I think the Church should stand up and say ‘Enough is enough’ – and possibly begin with itself with ministers themselves modelling a healthy work-life balance instead of also working crazy hours –but they can only do this with the help and support and co-operation of the local church community!

There are so many issues of injustice in the world and within our own local community where men and women are ground down by conditions that are imposed upon them by others or by the circumstances of their daily lives: – work/life inbalance, fuel poverty, a huge reduction in services and resources for the mentally ill who are already among the most vulnerable in society – and our faith tells us it should be our concern to speak up and try to right them. Now I know we can’t take in everyone who is sleeping rough, hungry or destitute; equally we can’t be like Ebenezer Scrooge who said: “are there no workhouses? Those who are badly off must go there; it’s not my business”. We are all made in the image of God and therefore profoundly interconnected; we are called to be their voice and do what we can; and I am encouraged that so many Christians in Beaconsfield are doing that.

One of the strands of the Diocesan initiative Living Faith is ‘Making a difference in the world’: and states that it is: - “understanding that there’s no mission without social justice and that social justice and prophetic witness can’t be seen as a speciality but is actually at the heart of the calling of every Christian”. As St Paul said in today’s 2^nd reading: live your life in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ”; then, in the words of Martin Luther King – “with this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope” .

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