The Radical Christian #5

No Justice, No Peace

I’m not racist at all, but it scares me when mobs of blacks and other minorities take to the streets in the hundreds or thousands to protest something. They carry signs and chant slogans: “No justice, no peace.” Does that mean that they will continue their violence until they get their way? Sometimes they set fire to buildings, overturn cars, and hurt other people. Sometimes it goes on day after day, night after night. Remember the CVS they set on fire in Baltimore? What’s going on in this country? If I lived in any urban area I’d be terrified every night, and even suburbia is getting scary. You don’t see white people doing this when they’re unhappy; why can’t we all be law-abiding?

DISCLAIMER: the preceding paragraph is not my opinion; this is my paraphrase of a WHITE REACTION to what’s going on around us. Sometimes it’s spoken and sometimes it remains a silent but visceral revulsion. But it’s there, even among the most “progressive” among us.

Let me suggest another understanding. Radical Christianity pays special attention to the most fundamental teachings of Jesus, virtually ignoring the Christological crud which human beings have encrusted upon him.That way, when we worship Jesus, we are not worshipping an idol, but instead the very essence of the incarnated God. In this way, the incarnation continues to bless the whole world through Jesus’ teachings.

Two of Jesus’ most basic (and therefore most radical) teachings are peace and justice. And for good reason.Peace is the most prized of human values, precisely because it encapsulates all of God’s goodnesses together as the pinnacle of God’s love of and for Creation. And justice is one of those goodnesses without which peace cannot be fulfilled, Let’s take a brief look at both and then come back to the questions raised in the first paragraph.

Peace is a fundamental goal of all major religions. In Islam, the word is salaam; in Judaism, it’s shalom. Shalom means much more than peace of mind or cessation of hostilities. It also gathers up harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare, and tranquility. Author Cornelius Plantinga calls shalom “the webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight.” The Talmud explains, "The entire Torah is for the sake of the ways of shalom.” The Abrahamic religions, and others, owe much to the Hebrews for our present-day understanding of peace. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, those to make peace (not just believe in it) are God’s own progeny.

Justice is a concept of cosmic wholeness; it is not according to the laws of men, but flows from the love of God for all Creation. Accordingly, it is above all human-made law. “Obey God rather than any human authority.” (Acts 5:29) Unlike our “Lady Justice” image where the scales are balanced, God’s scales are decidedly UNbalanced! They favor the poor and downtrodden and make clear God’s intent that the order will be completely upset: those who are treated unjustly, according to God’s law, will share victory with those who seek justice. Clearly, there can be no wholeness without justice, and peace suffers unwholeness without it. Without justice, there can be no peace.

“No justice, no peace.” A spiritual truth. Throughout human history, the cries of the oppressed have been heard in the streets. The cries may differ, but the meaning is the same.”No justice, no peace.” The vast gulf in wealth between rich and poor, privileged and downtrodden, elite and low-caste will eventually erupt. The oppressor cannot prevail. The targets of the oppressed are the arrogant regalia of the rich: pharmacies from which the poor cannot obtain life-saving medicine, financial institutions which rob even those with not enough to buy food for their children, even a supreme court in Venezuela from which issues not justice, but injustice.

We whites will continue to be uncomfortable because we, in the bloodline of rich slaveowners and murderous corporations, are today’s face of the oppressor. Our response must be to stand on the side of peace and justice, with our black, brown, yellow and red brothers and sisters. Only in this way can justice and peace appear and, for the faithful among us, the only way to stand before God and humankind in righteousness.