But why should I care?

‘None of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice.’ Pope Francis

To kick start our blog, we thought it would be a good idea to quickly introduce why we think it is really really important to stand for social justice as a Christian. So here goes….

First and foremost, it’s Biblical… In the Bible, God is seen to be a God of justice. Deuteronomy 32:4 says ‘all his ways are just….upright and just is he.’ Thus, if God in his very essence is a God of justice, surely it would naturally follow that as his followers, we too should be believers in justice.

But if that isn’t enough, there are also many times in the Bible where we are outright called to be people of justice by God. In Isaiah 1, Isaiah relays the message of God to a people who have seriously been misunderstanding the heart of God. God calls them out saying, ‘“The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” …Stop bringing meaningless offerings!’ God is fed up of being brought offerings and sacrifices (the way they worshiped God) because they are not living and doing these things with the heart and attitude of love he desires. Instead he asks of them ‘Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.’

In the New Testament Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan (if you don’t know it, go and look it up in Luke 10:25-37). In this, Jesus highlights the importance of helping others. The good Samaritan doesn’t know the man he helps, in fact because of their differences, it is socially shocking that he did help. Yet Jesus highlights that the good Samaritan was the man who got it right, the man who had mercy, who loved his neighbour as he loved himself. Thus we too are called to love our Neighbour (Luke 10:27), and as this story shows, our neighbour is anyone, anywhere who needs us. In fact in Matthew 25, Jesus tells us that ‘whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ When we live for, and love others; we are living for, and loving Jesus.

So this is why we believe it is pivotal to stand for social justice today, be that for the Woman in Exeter who has been trafficked, or the refugee who has just travelled thousands of miles to find freedom or life. Like the God of love we worship, we too must be people of love, going to those the world loves the least and sharing the love of God.

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Isaiah 58:6-7