If you’re like me, ‘justice’ is an idea that stirs up a complicated mix of hope and resignation—especially lately. The pain and struggle that I see when I look at the world around me do make me long deeply for justice and healing. But they also make that healing feel so far away—barely out of reach even at the best of times.
Part of how I deal with that is by turning to the Psalms that The Episcopal Church invites us to steep ourselves in, through the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer. The psalms capture and give voice to this deep tension between frustration (even despair) and hope. One of my favorite examples is Psalm 10:
Why do you stand so far off, O LORD, *
and hide yourself in time of trouble?The wicked arrogantly persecute the poor, *
but they are trapped in the schemes they have devised.The wicked boast of their heart's desire; *
the covetous curse and revile the LORD.The wicked are so proud that they care not for God; *
their only thought is, "God does not matter."…
They lie in wait, like a lion in a covert;
they lie in wait to seize upon the lowly; *
they seize the lowly and drag them away in their net.The innocent are broken and humbled before them; *
the helpless fall before their power.They say in their heart, "God has forgotten; *
he hides his face; he will never notice."Rise up, O LORD; lift up your hand, O God; *
do not forget the afflicted.Why should the wicked revile God? *
why should they say in their heart, "You do not care"?Surely, you behold trouble and misery; *
you see it and take it into your own hand.The helpless commit themselves to you, *
for you are the helper of orphans.…
The LORD will hear the desire of the humble; *
you will strengthen their heart and your ears shall hear;To give justice to the orphan and oppressed, *
so that mere mortals may strike terror no more.
The early Church Fathers used to talk about the psalms as prayers of utter humanity, expressing our deepest pains, sorrows, joys, and hopes. One observation along those lines that’s been particularly helpful for me was the fact that the psalms are the very prayers that Jesus, as a 1st century Jew, would have prayed on a daily basis during his earthly life. He said… prayed… sang… these words with us in our humanity—lamenting the apparent victory of the wicked and powerful and yearning for justice. Jesus—who we as Christians believed was the fullness of God joined perfectly with the fullness of humanity—joined us in voicing our lament.
This knowledge is of such great comfort for me when I feel lost in despair at the darkness in the world. Even my despair has been taken up by God.
But in our faith, the comfort and hope doesn’t stop with God commiserating with us in our dejection. Just as Christ walks with us in our distress, he also leads us on the way out of it. The Blessed Virgin Mary, when the angel Gabriel announces the coming of Christ in Jesus, breaks out into song, proclaiming that:
[God] has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
Jesus, who prays with us for relief in our distress, is also proclaimed as the agent of that relief. The Kingdom of God that he proclaims lifts up the innocent who have been humbled and nourishes those who have been deprived. The humanity of our discouragement is wrapped up in the divine victory promised through Christ — the victory that we taste now in part and will taste in full on the last day.
Looking at justice and injustice through this lens of the Kingdom of Heaven really brings out an “already-but-not-yet” dynamic in the slurry of despair and hope I feel when I look at the world.
It helps.
It doesn’t make that slurry go away. But it does give me perspective that keeps my head above the proverbial waters. The Kingdom of Heaven is coming—and is now at hand—when the innocent will be protected, the lowly lifted up, and the hungry filled with good things. This is the task we have at hand: to look forward to this justice… and to work towards its realization… all the while grounded in the experience of God’s reconciliation… and the certain hope of its eventual fulfillment.
So, let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord.