Justice and Compassion Within the Kingdom's Framework
Introduction
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6) and “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). It should be noted that Spanish Bibles use the more appropriate word “justice” in place of the English “righteousness,” thus helpfully distinguishing between social and communal righteousness and personal or private righteousness. A clear characteristic of the citizens of God’s Kingdom is a deep desire and commitment to justice—even to the point of suffering, if necessary. A desire to see justice worked out in our context will sometimes beget personal cost. Nevertheless, we should hope that our proclamation of the gospel results in a community committed to Kingdom justice and compassion. Preaching the gospel and seeking Kingdom justice go together. To separate them would be a total contradiction.
Timothy Keller said in the past, “Churches that thrive in cities should be characterized by an integrative balance of four ministry areas: evangelism, community formation, justice and mercy, and the integration of faith and work.”[1] Here, I want to look at justice and mercy not only as a ministry of the church but as a dynamic we should embody and enact within a Kingdom framework and logic. In other words, how should local churches extend acts of love, mercy, and justice to those in need (the homeless, immigrants, excluded minorities, under-resourced single parent families, etc.) within our immediate communities as well as around the world?
A Starting Point
The question of balance in ministry is a common one among church-planting pastors (and pastors in general) as they continually address the question, “How do we balance the tasks of preaching, evangelism, and serving?” Perhaps the question should rather be, “How do we dare speak if we dare not serve?”
The gospel’s credibility to the world does not solely depend on our ability to contextually communicate it propositionally but also on the kind of community it creates—a community of love, justice, and compassion out of which active ministries of justice and mercy arise. This is affirmed by both the Lausanne Covenant (1974) and the Micah Declaration (Oxford 2001). The latter states that the gospel is holistic in nature:
Integral mission or holistic transformation is the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ… Justice and justification by faith, worship, and political action, the spiritual and the material, personal change and structural change belong together. As in the life of Jesus, being, doing, and saying are at the heart of our integral task. [Emphasis added][2]
Once we commit to doing ministry holistically—integrating evangelism and discipleship with justice and compassion—there is still something we can miss. The gospel is not only unique in its very nature (what it is) and outreach (what it says and does) but also in its strategy (how it does it). There is a particular and central Kingdom strategy to social justice and compassion that is gospel-centered, not only because it flows out of proper motivation but because it is conducted in a unique way. In our seeking justice, reconciliation, and service, there is the way of the gospel and there is the way of the world—or as I call it, the way of the Kingdom of God and the way of the world. Many of our strategies for altruism, economic development, education reform, and more emerge from positions and attitudes of power (the world’s way) rather than the Kingdom’s way, which is the alternative community of faith that serves out of weakness and vulnerability. This underlying paradigm is exemplified in two key biblical narratives that illustrate kingdom principles for justice. I call them the Manna Principle and the Five-and-Two Principle.
The Manna Principle
The story about manna raining down from Heaven in Exodus 16 is well-known by many Christians. What readers often miss, however, is that the story involves much more than mere provision of food from heaven. The real miracle was getting the people to use manna in ways that glorified God and promoted community life.
GOD’S GLORY
Soon after the awesome experience of God’s deliverance from the Egyptian empire—and having a “Pentecostal” type of celebration on the other side of the Red Sea—the people of Israel complained and grumbled for lack of food in the desert. The celebratory songs of God’s greatness quickly became dirges of self-pity (Exodus 16:3). It’s not difficult to see how “the Empire” had—and continues to have—a way of captivating the imagination.
Nevertheless, God showed tremendous, loving patience. He gave them what they asked for—bread from heaven—but not before giving them a glimpse of the true bread that sustains life: the shekinah glory of God (16:10). Then, God delineated rules to govern the use of manna. Both the undeserving experience of God’s glory (grace) and the rules for proper use of manna were safeguards to protect and promote justice within the Israelite community. God knew that manna (literally translated means “that thing”) could easily become the thing that defined life in the desert.
GOD’S GOVERNANCE
To prevent the Israelites from turning the blessing of manna into a destructive element in their lives, God reminded them that it is his glory that defines life. He also instructed them to handle “that thing” (manna) with special care so it would not rot in their containers or ruin their relationships. The decaying effect of manna when misused was experienced immediately, and God mandated the rules of accumulation and distribution surrounding his gift of manna:
To gather only enough per person per day (approximately 1.5 pounds)
To trust God for their daily provision of bread, not to accumulate it as a source of securing tomorrow’s provision.
To rest from manna gleaning once a week—the day of Sabbath—as a tangible reminder of God’s role as the ultimate source of life and sustenance.
These rules were important to prevent manna from becoming an element of community destruction rather than community health. These rules protected the weak and less numerous community members. People with bigger hands and those with greater and more able labor force (more family members) were not in advantage over the weak or less numerous families. There was enough manna for everyone within a grace-based system that protected those with less advantage. Idolatry and oppression go hand-in-hand. “That thing” could easily become the overarching thing, an idol that governs community dynamics, destroying harmonious brotherly relationships, and leaving the vulnerable dependent on the compassionate whims of the powerful and shrewd.
IN CANAAN
Though manna ceased raining from Heaven when the Israelites entered the Promised Land of Canaan, the need for rules of accumulation and distribution was even greater and required adaptation. Knowing that comfort and abundance could easily degenerate into idolatry and oppression, God reminded his people not to grow proud and forget the Lord:
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.
—Deuteronomy 8:10-16
Abundance and blessing presented the possibility and temptation to focus their hearts and minds on the blessings (“that thing,” or the comforts of life), to credit themselves with their successes, and to live as practical atheists by forgetting God. Moses reminded the people that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). Again, God’s glory was to be the object of worship and sustenance. And the rules about manna, adapted for their new dwelling in Canaan, were even more important to ensure justice within community life. God mandated economic rules of distribution and accumulation that included:
Harvest laws, stipulating that the edges of fields be left unharvested for the poor and foreigners (Leviticus 19:9-10);
Labor laws that freed slaves every seven years and sent them away with abundant flocks and food to help them break the cycle of poverty (Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 15);
Property laws, the most radical of which was the Year of Jubilee that proclaimed “the favorable year of the Lord” every 50 years; in this Jubilee year, debts were to be canceled, slaves freed, and the poor given back their land that was leased (Leviticus 25).
God created boundaries around the accumulation of wealth to ensure social justice, thriving economies, and healthy communities. The incentive for entrepreneurship and prosperity came out of an agricultural narrative, which underscored God’s people as stewards and not ultimate owners of the land (God owns the land). In the land of abundance, even generosity had the potential of becoming just another form of cover up for domination.
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH
The New Testament Church understood the need for the manna principle to govern community life as well, but now under the power of the gospel rather than the letter of the law. The gospel is the ultimate expression (and incarnation) of the logic of grace that gives a final blow to the logic of the world, which values life on the basis of merit and self-seeking strategies to form identity (i.e., the Babel builders seeking to “make a name for [them]selves”). One of the most impressive manifestations of the presence of the kingdom among the first disciples is that “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need” (Acts 2:44-45). This was a practice not only within a local community of faith, but also among geographically removed communities that understood their relationship to God’s people as akin to a family obligation. One of the first exercises of brotherly love of the church in Antioch was to provide financial help for their brothers living in Judea (Acts 11:29).
How interesting that Paul referred to the manna story when he reminded the Corinthian church of their obligation to their Jewish brethren in need:
13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, 15 as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
—2 Corinthians 8:13-15, quoting from Exodus 16
With regards to evangelism, if churches do not seek to incarnate and promote healthy communities governed by justice and equality within themselves, as well as commitment to one another as family, their capacity to be witnesses is greatly hampered. Howard Snyder says it well when he observes that vital community life is “the verification of that proclamation…a concept of evangelization that sees isolated individuals that share the Word independently around the world, without relation with the life and testimony of the Christian community is a truncated concept that contains the germs of its own destruction.” And in order to be “testimony,”[3] that “life” should be one of filial relations of equality, justice, and compassion that spills out to those outside the church. As Dr. Antonio Gonzalez so well states it,
The biblical alternative to poverty and injustice is the formation, at the periphery of the systems (of this world), of a different community over which God directly rules. It is a society of equality and fraternal love that, as such, should be a contrasting alternative, but of such attraction to all nations on earth, that it invites all to journey towards her… The kingdom of God starts where a different form of life begins, at the margins of the system, over which neither emperors nor coins have any power.[4]
And, of course, the internal liberation that frees naturally selfish, greedy, and idolatrous people to be generous with their resources and to experience a radical inversion of their view of money comes when they experience the true manna that came from heaven: the Lord Jesus Christ (John 6:47-51).
The Five-And-Two Principle
Another important principle churches should remember when seeking to live out justice and compassion is what I call the “Five-and-Two Principle,” based on the miracle of the multiplication of bread and fish narrated in all four Gospels—twice in Mark. (The Gospel writers certainly liked this miracle!)
I believe this story is a microcosm of Jesus’ strategy for mission and gives us a governing principle about resources and relationships in which one of the parties comes from a position of power and the other from a position of weakness and scarcity. The story’s focus is not only on the result (thousands fed) but also—and more importantly—on the process. The Kingdom-centric elements of this miracle can be seen in how this food was provided. Jesus could have solved the crowd’s hunger problem exclusively from a position of power, but he didn’t. As the most powerful man on earth, his strategy was to partner with the weak, vulnerable, and under-resourced community of disciples (his Church) so that they became the main actors in both discussing the problem (Mark 8:2-3) and providing the initial resources (Mark 6:37, 8:5).
Note that Jesus is present; the problem is right before his face—so close, in fact, that he identifies the need of the community and feels compassion both for the spiritual (6:34) as well as the physical (8:2) needs of the people. Out of a position of power, he could have solved the problem from a distance on his own by turning stones into bread (as he was tempted to do by Satan at the outset of his ministry). He doesn’t employ this strategy of power; instead, he discusses the need with his disciples.
The disciples, however, could not yet dream of possibilities outside of the natural world economy. They identified the need, but they could not envision the Kingdom alternative. So, they summarized two options, which are still the only two possibilities within the world’s framework. First, they say if they had the money to buy enough food, they could feed them (the world’s way of serving the poor). But it would’ve taken a year’s salary to buy this solution. This solution is only available for people in power. As a matter of fact, a very powerful person moved out of pity could have solved the problem and the miracle would have been spoiled! But since this option is not available to the disciples, the only other conceivable solution is to send them away. We see this, too, as the most common compassionate alternative in the hands of people with no power or resources—give them the Word, pray for their needs, and send them away.
But Jesus gives the disciples a third way, a Kingdom-based alternative that involves his people: “Give me what you have.” It’s as if to say, “I know this isn’t enough for even you guys to eat, but my compassion shows its power precisely out of need and weakness. The Kingdom’s strategy turns us all—rich and poor, privileged and underprivileged—into joyful servants.” We do not need to submit to the world’s strategy. We do not need to depend on and be governed by proposals and programs that attract resources from the powerful. And we do not need to send the needy away emptyhanded either. The result? More than enough for all—even leftovers!
I believe this tension is at the heart of the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4. Satan tempted Jesus to provide food, attract followers, and assume kingship by way of power, not weakness and death. We can provide food for the hungry, create impressive programs that attract followers, lead our ministries from positions of power and domination. We can even experience results and fruitful ministry. Yet this is not the Kingdom’s way. This is not the gospel’s way. The Kingdom teaches us to pray for “our [not my] daily bread.” When the bread comes to me, it comes to us all as a testimony that we belong to a family under one Father. Those in need who pray together provide for each other.
Imagine a hungry family in need. One of the brothers, who is more able, agile, and gifted than many of the others, finds some food and sits down at the table to eat. His hungry brothers watch, waiting, hoping for some leftovers. Then, when the leftovers are shared, the brother with the food calls it “charity,” “mercy,” or “benevolence” rather than “sharing with my brothers and sisters in need.” Those in need are just that—our brothers and sisters sitting at the same table under one Father.
Conclusion
Here are some final thoughts as to how we are to go about including justice and mercy as one of the key ministries of our churches.
There is a growing interest in churches today to seek ways to alleviate global poverty. Thank God for this awakening! Hopefully it’s not just a momentary fad. But the way the church goes about this should be fundamentally different from the way the power structures of this world go about it. Under Christ’s rule, we exhibit justice and compassion as a witness to the gospel, not following models of domination (paternalism, pity, or “benevolent” oppressors) but incorporating principles of the Kingdom and using the logic of grace. Since Jesus’ strategy was to involve and engage the weak in the decision-making process, so should we partner with poor and vulnerable communities and allow them into decision-making processes. Proverbs 28:11 reminds us that, “The rich are wise in their own eyes; one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are.” We should partner with the poor not to further our own agendas but to develop a common agenda. That’s true Kingdom partnership.
This means that we should look at strategies that come from power with healthy suspicion, even when they seek to do good to the poor. Too many strategies of funding leave the lives of those who benefit from systems of injustice and oppression the exact same as before (systems that make manna the thing of life, counter-Kingdom systems that are built to secure excessive accumulation of manna intended for all in the hands of the few). Many times, those who are the object of our pity are manipulated towards “programs” (quick fixes) rather than “community” (life sharing) where success is measured in terms of “making a name” rather than promoting community and life together. We need to start by making a statement against the structural evils that propagate poverty in the first place. The prophet Isaiah calls us to first stop doing evil, and then learn to do good. “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17). The world has its ways of doing good as a coverup for evil.[5]
Churches—from those small to those mega-sized, from those in urban environments to those in the countryside—are finally beginning to include justice and the poor in their agendas, and this is worth celebrating! But we need to be careful to not use these initiatives in ways that our members’ lifestyles of consumerism and materialism remain untouched, giving only the leftovers from a life of overabundance. From within the mentality of the Empire, we do “good works,” promote “good works,” and even finance “good works” as long as we are allowed to continue to consume, accumulate, own, and sell the manna intended for all.
I end with another sobering thought from my friend Dr. Antonio Gonzalez. Christian love is agape (the highest form of love and care) that creates new social structures from the ground-up in which inequality and poverty disappear. It is not a charity or a mercy that looks on at the poor from above, but a love that makes way for a new society in which all paternalism disappears. By contrast, a love that maintains these differences or simply asks for the powerful to solve them and does not initiate from our present reality with an authentic fraternity is not true love.
Notes
1. Taken from Keller’s article “Integrative Ministry.”
2. Micah Declaration, supported by at least 140 theologians, church leaders, and relief and development workers from around the world at Oxford in September 2001.
3. Translated from Comunidad del Rey (Community of the King), Howard Snyder, p. 171, Ediciones Kairos.
4. Reinado de Dios e Imperio, Antonio Gonzalez, p. 255, Editorial Sal Terrae
5. I strongly recommend an article entitled “Cease to do Evil, Then Learn to do Good (A Pedagogy for the Oppressor)” by Derek Rasmussen. It can be found at http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/voices/derek-rasmussen/cease-do-evil-then-learn-do
About the Author
Robert Guerrero (Vice President, NYC & North America Catalyst) works toward catalyzing networks of existing churches in the city.
Born to Dominican parents in New York City, Robert has spent much of his life in both the U.S. and Dominican Republic. He earned a degree in theology from Moody Bible Institute and during his studies was active in church planting.
Robert is also the co-founder of the Coordinating Community of Del Camino Network for Integral Mission in Latin America with networks in Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic.