Making the Performance Genuine: True Justice and Righteousness
August 16, 2020
Isaiah 56:1, 6–8
Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. And the foreigners who joined themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant — these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be known as a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.
In the past twenty-five years I’ve been privileged to visit many places in the world and in some of them experience Sunday worship service in the local tradition. I have many memories including a Mass in Port au Prince, Haiti; a Confirmation service in Slovakia; a baptism service in a grass hut church in sub-Saharan Africa; an overflowing, standing-up only (no pews or chairs) Russian Orthodox mass in Yasi, Romania. In all the worship services I attended in other countries I’ve haven’t understood a word.
Here in the American Upper Midwest, I don’t encounter language barriers anywhere I go, though I realize I know bits of other languages. For instance, Spanish. Some of you speak the language. But we all know some Spanish: burrito, quesadilla, margarita.
And Italian? We know rigatoni, marinara, al dente, alfredo.
The bible’s original languages are Hebrew and Greek, and like the ethic foods we know in their native tongue, there are some Hebrew and Greek words we probably know, too. You know some Greek: Feta, gyro, baklava. Are you hungry yet? You likely know more Greek: chronos (time), Christos (Christ), Kyrie (Lord), koinonia (community), agape (love).
In Hebrew, the original language of the Old Testament you may know Torah (Law), Yahweh, (technically, untranslatable but it refers to GOD), Amen (So be it).
Now I want to expand your Hebraic vocabulary. Here are two words every Christian should know: misphat and tzedekah (pronounced za-di-ka). Mishpat means “justice.” Tzedekah means “righteousness.” These two words are central to the biblical story and Isaiah makes clear that mishpat and tzedekah are values that are to form the character of everyone who professes to believe in God.
Before I go any further, it important to have clear definition for these two terms as they were intended in the Old Testament:
· Justice — we often associate justice in our society with legal proceedings and one’s rights. But in the realm of justice that the Bible puts forth, it is not only giving to others their rights, but justice involves actively working to establish the rights of others.
· Righteousness — this is one of the chief attributes of God and concerns ethical conduct. When we are directed to be righteous people, God desires from us the best of ethical action.
Together justice and righteousness (misphat and tzedekah) are to be part of the inner core, as well as an external sign of living in a grace-filled relationship with God.
Isaiah writes, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Maintain justice and do righteousness.’” And the reason this is commanded is because (God says) “… my house will be known as a house of prayer for all peoples.” The result of maintaining justice and doing righteousness is the inclusion of all people coming together in the worship of God.
In Isaiah’s day, people of surrounding nations — foreigners — had come to live among the people of Israel — the “chosen people.” But the foreigners were being excluded from worship. They were made to feel they were not good enough to be with the chosen people. What was particularly upsetting to God, Isaiah tells, is how the chosen people treated others who were on or near the bottom rungs of society. While they could pose as just and right when they worshiped God, the chosen people lacked mishpat and tzedakah; they didn’t work to establish justice for others and their worship was more of a good pose than a sign of righteousness.
Eleven-year old Thane had just been picked up by his dad at the new skateboard park in town. No sooner than closing the car door, Thane regaled his dad with stories about all the amazingly spectacular as well as all the embarrassingly inept moves various kids had been displaying. Then suddenly Thane got very quiet. After a momentary pause, Thane looked at his dad quite seriously and asked, “I’m not a poser, am I, Dad?”
For a kid new to skateboarding, Thane wasn’t concerned about being good or bad with his board. He wasn’t focused on developing great skills. None of that mattered as much as whether Thane saw his performance as genuine. In his identity as a skateboarding kid, the worst thing he could imagine was being a “poser.”
To attempt to be something you are not — this is a “poser.” For an adolescent skateboarder, a poser has the fancy board, the right looking trunks and all the paraphernalia for boarding. But the poser never does much with the board. Rather, such a person looks good and makes sure others notice. This, to Thane was posing.
Do you know any posers? Most of us have acted as posers. Skate park sincerity aside, adolescence is a prime time for posing — trying to fit in, trying to stand out; trying to act grown up when you think you should, trying to act like you don’t care when you do. And the posing we learn so well going on through high school can follow us into our adult lives and careers. Nobody really knows how they get to be a grown-up, we all just keep posing until one day the pose is all we have left.
Anyone trying to work their way up in a profession knows about being a poser. In the sincerest instances when we are trying to know what to do but just can’t, we can always cover up by relying on our poser-skill. Look, sound, and act like you know what you’re doing and lo and behold, people assume you do.
Putting on layer upon layer of posed persona and camouflaged character may get us through a lot of life’s hoops. But at what cost? There is an internal and external, a private and a public cost. When we are so skilled at being posers, we end up with a big hollow center and a vacant soul. That is the internal, private cost. And the public cost? We fail in being the people God called to mishpat and tzedekah — those two basic elements that are to form our character and guide our actions. Without the compass of justice and action of righteousness, we cannot carry out the work of extending God’s mercy for all.
When Isaiah railed against God’s chosen, the people of Israel, he was calling them posers. They looked good as believers in God. They did the motions of worshiping God. They prayed. They made offerings. But they were posers and Isaiah pegged them. They didn’t do justice for others and failed at righteous, ethical action when faced with making space in the community for people not like themselves. This displeased God greatly.
Life requires us to play many parts, be many things, take on many challenges and responsibilities. But to hold it all together, to have a soul and maintain justice and righteousness as God directs, we cannot simply fake up the pose as people of God. Mishpat and tzedekah must be essential elements in the character of the person of faith.
All through the Bible we can trace God’s unwavering claim on God’s people through the covenant/promise and through the giving of the Law. Both set forth how God wishes for us to live with ethical behavior, marked by actively working to establish the rights of others. But the Biblical story tells us how God’s children rebelled and fell into selfish ways, so God sent the prophets like Isaiah to press God’s claims and to call for justice and righteousness. Then later when the people ignored the prophets, God sent Jesus into the world to demonstrate once and for all the character of God’s grace and the expansive yearning God has especially for the poor, the excluded and the powerless.
Mishpat and tzedakah — justice and righteousness are still sorely needed in the human family and the Christian church. The world is always at the door of our lives and faith communities. It is there with all its problems and shortcomings and its people in need. But the news is good: we are to take the justice and righteousness God has for us and enact it for the sake of others, especially the poor, excluded and powerless. In doing so we will move this world toward the vision God proclaimed: “ … these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.”
That is the mishpat and tzedekah God intends for the world.
