The commission of hope

Hope came into this broken world, with a message of love and justice, when Jesus Christ was born at Christmas, but it did not end there. Hope remained and became even more powerful through Christ’s death and resurrection at Easter. Conquering sin, death and injustice, Jesus’ resurrection represents new birth, redemption of creation, and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

With this renewed sense of hope at Easter comes a renewed call to promote love and justice, bringing hope into our churches, communities and nations.

Old Testament roots:

The centrality of justice and love is very evident in the Old Testament Scriptures, from the edicts of Moses to the calls of the prophets.

Practices such as Sabbath year and Jubilee illustrated the need to care for others. At these times, debts were to be forgiven, slaves freed and land restored to original owners. These practices assured that caring for people was more important than material wealth. In between these times, the people were still commissioned to help those in need, especially the most vulnerable – widows, orphans and foreigners.

These practices were re-emphasized by several of the prophets, such as Amos and Micah, as the people of God were not always practicing justice. They were supposed to be a light to the nations around them, but instead became a people preoccupied with religious rituals, while at the same time oppressing the poor and vulnerable within their own nation.

The resurrection and the mission of the Church:

The New Testament continues to promote love and justice, but with a renewed calling through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Christ entered this broken world to redeem creation and bring an end to suffering. His death on the cross, out of love for the world, was a moment of redemption. His resurrection generates the hope of restoration of creation, the coming of the Kingdom of God, and our call to participate in spreading the message of hope through words and actions.

British Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright, in his book Surprised by Hope, argues that the physical resurrection of Christ is the first step in the ushering in of the Kingdom of God and the restoration of creation. By conquering sin, death and injustice, the world can begin to be restored – physically.

If creation is being restored by the work of Christ, then our commission is to help bring about such restoration. So often Christians focus on what comes after this life that they do not recognize the need to make things better now. And it goes beyond just making things better, but working to restore and heal our wounded world. This is where justice and love come in. Working in these areas, we can bring a sense of hope, restoration and God’s Kingdom, bit by bit.

As Bishop Wright says:

What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God's future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts it…). They are part of what we may call building for God's kingdom.

Shane Claiborne, co-founder of The Simple Way, a Philadelphia-based movement promoting community living and care for one another, echoes these sentiments and also challenges us to bring a message of hope through love and work against injustice by changing our perspectives.

Part of this is the restoration of our minds, in having a complete understanding of human dignity, based on the Biblical truth that all people are made in the image of God. Claiborne then challenges us to address issues like economic growth and creation care through a human dignity lens, putting other human beings above material wealth as a way to restore hope.

Call for renewal:

The Church is the body of Christ, the place where Christians meet to serve God together. In recent years, due in part to difficult financial times, the work of justice, especially around issues like poverty and creation care, seems to be falling off the agenda of churches across Canada. Budget and staff cut-backs on social justice issues are evident. Church-based organizations have also reported recent drops in funding and support.

Public justice speaks to issues of injustice within our communities, cities and nations, and calls all of society to speak out. As community organizations, churches and their members are called to act as well.

How can churches and individuals become more involved? It may be simpler than it seems.

Shane Claiborne talks about being “radically ordinary.” This work is radical in the sense that it is a call to participate in the bringing in of God’s Kingdom. But it is ordinary in that we all can participate through the renewing of our minds to act out of love in the interests of justice to bring hope.

Let us rediscover the spiritual foundations of movements of love and justice that bring hope, through Old Testament teachings to New Testament actions and, especially at this time of year, the hope and promise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.