Jesus and justice

Our church is reading the Gospel of Luke together in bite size chunks over the course of 89 days. We've only been at it four days, and I've been amazed at a couple of passages that speak to me so loudly of the strong tie between Jesus and doing justice.

In Luke 3, John the Baptist is preaching to the crowds coming to be baptized about 'producing fruit in keeping with repentance'. He goes on to say, "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." When the crowd asks John, "What should we do then?", this is how John answered:

"The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"

"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.

John didn't just say, "Pray and go to church," or "Confess your sins and believe in Jesus." His message of repentance calls for action that turns away from sinful, selfish living, toward Jesus and a life of compassion and doing justice.

And in Luke 4, when Jesus returned to his hometown and stood up to read in the synagogue. He could have chosen from several prophesies from the Old Testament, but he chose Isaiah 61, a passage that oozes with action, compassion, redemption, justice.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

God clearly speaks through these Scriptures to me that his call for me to be a Christ follower is a call for me to follow Christ in his work of redemption and justice.