For the Kingdom: Social Justice and the Point of Departure

This week I have been reflecting some on social justice after two weeks of featuring invited guests to write on my blog on this topic. One of the guest writers, Katie Kilpatrick (a staff member with Buckner Foundation), referred me to another blog that seemed to intersect with the issue I have been raising. The website is called “For the Kingdom”.  The writer suggests that Jesus did not do social justice, he is social justice. He suggests that the point of departure for social justice is Jesus himself as opposed to doing social justice and then looking for ways Jesus agrees with our cause (sort of like doing social justice isogetically rather than exegetically).

I could not agree more. The idea of social justice began to swell up in my soul the year I was elected as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 2005. I began reading the inaugural sermon of Jesus found in Luke 4 and could not put it down, could not get away from it, could not read it and move on without considering the implications of what Jesus was saying his agenda would be in his 1,000 day ministry: preaching good news to the poor, giving sight to the blind, freedom for the prisoners, liberty to the oppressed, and proclaiming the acceptable year of our Lord’s favor. I encouraged members of the BGCT Executive Board to make the Jesus Agenda our agenda for that year and to find ways we could do what Jesus was recommending in his inaugural speech. Remember, this was the first time he would preach in public. So, if you only had 1,000 days to do your ministry what would you say in your first sermon?

Keasler is right on target. If you want to do social justice, start with Jesus. Do what he did and you will find yourself in the middle of bringing the Kingdom near. Doing what Jesus did forces us to consider the issues of poverty and economics, sickness and healing as well as prevention of diseases, criminals and prisoners, any system that is oppressive, and of course, speaking of the Lord’s favor like the angels announced…Peace on earth, good will toward men upon whom his favor rests…”

As I think about the future of Buckner, I am taken immediately to the inaugural sermon to ponder how we can accelerate its energy toward living out the Jesus Agenda among children at risk, orphans, and families. We will need the best business minds available to us to create economic systems and infrastructures to reverse poverty where we have influence. We will need to collaborate with medical professionals who know how to bring about healing.  We will need to consider how we can serve the needs of families of prisoners wherever possible, and we need to consider systems of oppression that keep the poor and the powerless in vulnerable situations. We will need management, pastoral, missional, and social service professionals to help with healing as we bring the Kingdom near.

Reflecting on these issues will be challenging and require a systemic and personal response. The good news is that Buckner is already doing many of these things by impacting lives everyday through family programs, community programs, empowerment programs, and aid programs. We are looking for churches, pastors, and leaders to collaborate with us in order to do social justice in an incarnational way, just like Jesus.

Comments

[Mark]

Dr. Reyes. Many commentators state that "the year of the Lord's favor" refers to the Jubilee year. The Jubilee was to be a radical act of social justice as the "haves" give over to the "have nots" forgiveness of debts, money, land and the like. Jesus, calls us in his inaugural sermon, back to God's vision of justice and healing between the rich and poor... which as you noted so well is only possible through kingdom life in Jesus himself. What a joy it is to be part of Jesus and his kingdom project, and part of Buckner which is right in the midst of it!

[Albert Reyes]

Very good word, Mark! Thanks for shedding more light on social justice and the Kingdom.