Justice and Peace: Its because Jesus is Lord (Comments on the January/
February 2004 Horizons Magazine)
by
Viola Larson
Many of the articles in the new edition of _Horizons_, January/February
2004, are about human needs. The focus of the magazine is, ‘Working for
Justice and Peace.” Some of the articles have legitimate concerns about
poverty, racism and the violent deaths of women. On the other hand this
edition smacks too much of the tenor of human manipulation. While great
needs are lifted up, needs which must be addressed and attended to, many of
the answers in this edition had to do with the manipulation of people and
congregations through consulting and selective education. Reading some of
the articles was like reading various mission statements with God and the
redeeming love of Jesus Christ left out. Reading this issue sent me back to
two of my favorite books: C.S. Lewis’ fictional _That Hideous Strength_ and
its non-fictional complement, _The Abolition of Man_. These two works of
Lewis are his rebuff of both logical positivism and social engineering.
Logical positivism, simplified, is a philosophical view that insists that
only what can be verified by sense knowledge is true and has value, while
social engineering has to do with tampering with humanity in physical ways,
by psychological behaviorism, and other means in order to produce an ideal
society.
The needs of poor migrant workers are explained in the article, ‘Fast Food
or Fair Food?” Whether one agrees with the boycott of Taco Bell or not the
fact that these agricultural workers have no voice is important. As author
Ellen Birkett Morris points out when quoting Noelle Damico, ‘Growers are
under no obligation to dialogue with the workers about wages or working
conditions and can fire them for organizing.” (11) The prophets of the Old
Testament had a lot to say about taking care of the poor and the immigrant.
And James thunders in the fifth chapter of that book in the New Testament
about the rich who abuse the poor laborer. ‘Behold, the pay of the laborers
who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against
you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of
the Lord of Sabaoth.” (Verse 4) Also the article, ‘Las Desaparecidas,” by
Ann Crews Melton, focuses on the devastating deaths of many poor women who
come to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to work. Many have been found sexually abused
and dead, while some are not found at all. The need for the Christian
community to care and to do something about these murders, just screams out.
However, it is the first article in _Horizons_ that sets the tone. Kikanza
Nuri Robins in her article, ‘Working for Justice,” focuses on a popular new
method of encouraging diversity both individually and in institutions.
Cultural Competence, as it is called, was first defined by Terry Cross and
was meant to be helpful when working with children of different ethnic
groups with medical needs. Robins who is a consultant using this method
explains some of it in her article, although her explanations are a bit
vague. She writes of her reasons for liking the methods of Cultural
Competence and states, ‘the focus is behavioral not emotional; and it can be
applied to both organizational practices and individual behavior. Her
statement that the Church is called by ‘our communities to reinterpret and
refocus business models for use in the church,” is unnerving to say the
least. (7)
Robins on her consulting web site has links whose owners have mostly Eastern
or New Age world-views. A Presbyterian minister, her list of expectations
for her clients who come to her for spiritual counseling include, ‘Discover
and grow in the presence of Universal love.” Additionally, she offers
wedding counseling and marriage services, which ‘reflects your
spirituality” and ‘your faith tradition.” This is a merger of questionable
spirituality and business slipping into the church together. Tinkering with
human beings is dangerous. Tinkering with human beings in the church without
the transforming grace of Jesus Christ is the Church committing suicide.
Teresa Chavz Sauceda’s article, ‘Becoming God’s Beloved Community,” does
provide an account of the condition of humanity and the reason for human
tragedy. She writes, ‘Just as human sin alienates us from God, it also
alienates us from each other.” Yet, there is little discernment and less
biblical theology in this issue of _Horizons_. Because of that lack there is
little theology offered to back up mission to the poor and abused. Perhaps
it is because of a lack of biblical theology that one of the greatest
injustices happening in this country, the killing of millions of unborn
babies, is not mentioned. The one biblical accounting is the extra material
offered for lesson seven of the Presbyterian Women’s Bible Study. But this
turns into a lesson about radical feminism rather than a study about God.
Magdalena I Garcia, using the book, _Beyond Anger: On Being a Feminist in
the Church_, by Carolyn Osiek, explains the various ways women cope with the
supposed patriarchy in the Judeo-Christian Church. She writes of the woman
in Luke 7:36-50:
It strikes me that the woman in our biblical passage, whether energized
by the anger of the marginalist, the denial of the loyalist, the
idealism of the symbolist or the determination of the revisionist,
storms into the room as a liberationist, embodying a conversion that
begins with the self and exhibits a new way of thinking and a new way of
being. (33)
In other words her conversion is a kind of an awakening, an understanding
that she is oppressed by patriarchy and it begins with her feelings about
herself. In this version of the story Jesus is not the Lord who forgives her
sin accepting her into a fellowship of forgiven sinners, rather he is the
one who accepts her as she is: biblical redemption is not a part of the
story. While it is true that this story pictures the self-righteous Simon
against the One who allows sinners to touch Him that is not the whole story.
The text, rather, is telling us, that it is the forgiven sinner who loves
the Lord Jesus; it is the self-righteous who do not. They offer Him no acts
of kindness, not even the kindness due to any guest. The woman came with
great love because she knew that Jesus had forgiven her.1
The Church doesn’t need social education or manipulation, she needs the
gospel, the words of God, the scripture. She needs it preached and taught,
loved and respected. The Church needs Jesus Christ, clear and simple and
unattached to anyone’s agenda. The editors and authors, who write for
_Horizons_, could offer to Jesus the gift of proclamation, telling of His
wonderful redemption. They could give to the thirsty reader the good tidings
that Jesus Christ is the Lord who died for the love of sinners. Only this
will renew and transform the Church. Justice and peace belong to Jesus
Christ.
_______________
1 ‘According to some commentators love’ is the _ground_ for forgiveness, but
this violates the context (7:41 ff.) and is contrary to New Testament
teaching in general. ‘For (_hoti_) she loved’ is rather the evidence of her
prior forgiveness. Cf. 13:2; Manson; Moule, p.147. Thus NEB: Her great love
proves that her many sins have been forgiven.”’ E. Earle Ellis, _The Gospel
of Luke, The New Century Bible Commentary_, Ed. Matthew Black, reprint,
(Grand Rapids: Wn. B. Eerdsman Publ. Co. 1991) 122.