A Biblical Perspective on Racial Justice

 

“Chosen one” for service or privilege?

A biblical approach to Racial Justice

 

When I first moved into this country to teach a theological course, one of the subjects the course offered was a racism awareness programme. Since I am a woman of colour, I was asked to co-lead the racism awareness programme along with one of my colleagues. Racism was not a familiar concept in the context in which I grew up, but castism is very much alive and affected me to a great degree. After I moved to this country, I did experience racism in different aspects of my life and I could relate to racism from my experience of castism in many ways.

Although the concepts of caste and race emerged in different contexts, there are similarities between the two. Like caste, race has been used to treat unfairly one group of people at the cost of another. These divisions and discriminations have been forced onto people and the social system we live in. What I see here is an issue of justice for which every human being has to take responsibility.

 Seeking justice in all our relationships is the hallmark of Christian discipleship. Our relationship with God depends on our relationships with our fellow human beings and the whole of creation. Any attitude or action that destroys this relationship is unacceptable in the sight of God. Whether it is caste-based discrimination or discrimination based on race, gender, age, sexual orientation or any other characteristic; if it destroys human relationships it demands justice.

Our relationship with God is only possible through love for and just treatment of our neighbour. Biblical justice is primarily to make things right and therefore it is about establishing the right relationship with God, with each other and with the whole creation.

God is impartial; but when it comes to the matter of justice, God is partial to those who are marginalised and affected by the exploitative human system. The prophesies of Amos and Micah are good examples of this.

Being a student of the Bible, I would like to reflect on the issue of racial of justice from a biblical perspective.

A main question that comes up when we read the Hebrew Bible is: Why has Yahweh chosen the Israelites as special people? Why should they be different from others? The concept of election as a religious affirmation has led many of us to question the universalistic nature of God. If the idea of election presupposes that God has a special relationship with a particular group of people in preference to all the other nations and this has assured them of the privileges of his protection, salvation and other material blessings, does he deprive the other nations? Does election imply the superiority of the chosen? Does he reject and treat the other nations as non-people ? And as chosen people of Yahweh, what should be the attitude of the elected towards these nations and people? Should they consider them to be people who need to partake in the salvation brought forth by Yahweh? In other words, should Israel show signs of exclusiveness and nationalistic triumphalism in their attitude towards other nations, or should they manifest a sense of inclusiveness and universalism to express the belief that these nations are also the bearers of Yahweh’s salvific actions?

To answer these questions we need to understand the purpose for which God called Israel to be special people among nations. We need to be reminded that the Hebrew scripture is the scripture for Jews and Christians and it was written from a Jewish perspective. The Hebrew Bible gives information on Israelites’ relationship with Yahweh and Yahweh’s involvement with the history of Israel. But that doesn’t mean that God is only involved in their history and only with them. If we look at God as universal, we need to look beyond our own tradition and culture.

Called to do justice

The concept of election goes back to earlier traditions, particularly the call for Abraham to separate from his larger family, to start a particular family for a particular task.

The Hebrew word bahar – which is translated as ‘he chose’ – is an expression of God’s love for the people. Two of the Pentateuch traditions understood Abraham and his descendants to be the people of God. But the election also includes all families of earth. It reflects a universalistic perspective as well as attests to the particularity of the election of Israel.

In most of the pre-exilic writings we do not come across the phrase ‘chosen one’, although the concept is present. During exile the concept of election was used in various ways. Particularly the Deuteronomic tradition claimed Israel alone were the people of God, because in exile, the Israelites were oppressed and felt unworthy and needed to believe that they were loved. Emphasising their chosenness and their close relationship with God gave the exiles hope.

But while the emphasis on chosenness expressed a sense of responsibility towards their covenantal relationship in the pre-exilic period, it was not an assertion against their relationship with other nations. It gave the community in and after exile hope to be part of God’s plan rather than privileges. God chose the Israelites for a purpose and election obligated Israel to carry out certain aspects of God’s plan for others. The election of Israel needs to be understood as bringing its people obligations, not privileges. Therefore, election demands challenging injustice, working towards justice and seeking community.

God chose Israel to be light to the nations not because of their goodness or greatness (Is 42:4-7; Deut 7:7-8, 9:4-6) but because once they were a small group of oppressed people who needed liberation. This choice was not based on Israel’s merits but upon God’s mysterious grace, confirmed in their liberation from oppression in Egypt. The idea of election gave hope to the Israelites in the midst of suffering during exile. The very phrase “people of God” became the basis for the foundation of the Israelite nation

That Israelites were chosen for service and not for privileges has been confirmed every time they have rebelled against their obligations. A good example comes from the eighth century, when Israelites forgot their duty of service towards other people. Instead of establishing justice in society, they seemed to think that being chosen people would bring privileges even if they did wrong. The eighth-century prophets disproved this notion by prophesising against Israel’s wrongdoings.

One of the important messages of the Hebrew Bible is that God cares for a just society more than for anything else. If there is injustice, even if the people perform their religious duties regularly, God reminds them of their obligations, warns them about their wrongdoings and judges them according to their work in this world. God intervenes in the world when there is injustice, corruption or exploitation in society – either through prophets or directly. And God deals with everyone the same; whether they are Israelites or non-Israelites: if they don’t practice justice, they will be punished for their sins.

It is acts of justice that should reveal the Israelites’ chosenness; it is through their service to the people that their chosenness should be revealed. Most of the eight-century prophecies (Isaiah, Amos, Micah and Hosea) addressed the Israelites because of the corruption and injustice they created in society at the time. A critical level is reached when there are people within the nation who are crushed by the weight of living off less than the minimum living wage or who have lost their freedom as they have become slaves. Judgement is for all who bring injustice, whether they are the chosen ones or not, and Israelites cannot escape the judgement of God because of their chosenness.

God’s other people

While the Hebrew Bible claims Israelites as a chosen people, it does not deny God’s other people. Take, for example, Amos 9:7:

Are you not like the Ethiopians^[a] to me,
    O people of Israel? says the Lord.
Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt,
    and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir (Amos 9:7)

 

Amos 9:7-10 introduces messages which contradict the belief that Israel occupies a special place because of its exodus from Egypt, and therefore is exempt from judgement of God.

 

Firstly, God declares that the Israelites are just like Ethiopians, who are from a distant land. Secondly, Israel is equated with her close foes the Philistines and Arameans. God not only brought Israel out of Egypt, but also the Philistines out of Captor and Arameans from Qir. Both the Philistines and Arameans experienced their own exoduses. Here Amos makes a clear point about how God is involved with different groups of people.

Ethiopians are known in the Old Testament as Cushites, after Cush, the name for the territory of Ethiopia and Nubia. Cushites are seldom mentioned. An isolated tradition in Num. 12:1 reports that Moses’ Egyptian wife was a Cushite, and that Aaron and Miriam opposed him because of her. In the biblical literatures, Cushites are occasionally referred to as servants and eunuchs in Israel  (2Sam 18:21 and Jer 38:7).[1]

Being compared with Cushites, and being ranked as equal, may have been shocking to Israelites who saw Cushites as inferior to them. But the passage from Amos makes it univocally clear that they are equal to people whom they considered as lesser: “Are you Israelites not like Cushites to me?” This verse has been interpreted to mean that Israelites are equal to other nations.

It also clearly states that the election of Israelites was not just based on their liberation by God from their Egyptian bondage, because God liberated many groups in the same way. The election is instead connected with a greater responsibility; it is dissociated from all privileges over and against other people. The other nations also have a history of salvation, even if they are unaware of it and Israel does not recognise it; their migrations, too, are to be seen in the context of the saving plan of God.[2]

God’s involvement in history is apparent when the exodus from Egypt is listed alongside the migration of the Philistines and Arameans, and therefore put on the same footing.[3] While the prophet confirms that the basic faith of Israel stems from the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, he adds to that the liberation of other people. The basic affirmation of Yahweh’s historical relationship with Israel is neither denied nor taken away by this expansion to include the Philistines and Arameans. What it denies is the theology that Yahweh’s act in the Exodus established Israel in a special status vis-à-vis the other nations. The exodus is set in the context of international history and in this context it becomes a manifestation of Yahweh’s unconditional sovereignty.[4]

The religious claim of chosenness does not create any differences between Israelites and other nations. It is the act of establishing justice in society that makes special people. The emphasis here is that Yahweh is a God of justice and where-ever people are oppressed, he sides with the poor and liberates them from oppression.

I would like to make a few points for our context today:

·         Our call to be a discipleship is for service: to bring justice in society and bring back the right relationship with our fellow human beings.

·         While we recognise our special relationship with God, Amos 9:7 reminds us that God deals with every human being the same and shows solidarity with the oppressed. Therefore, it is important to treat all human beings equally, whatever their background is. No-one is superior or inferior to another.

·         We are called to challenge injustice that is based on race, caste, gender or any other human-made characteristics that divides people.

·         Seeking justice is the main feature of our discipleship.

 

 

Prayers

So God created humankind in his image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.  (Genesis 1:27)

You have created us in your image and breathed into us so that we became a living creature, but today we hear the voice crying, “I couldn’t breathe”.

Forgive us when we destruct your image in the name of colour or ethnicity.

Help us to be stewards of restoring your image in our community and neighbourhood.

Help us to reach for new heights and horizons to form a just world where your image is saved and sustained.

What does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

Forgive us when we fall short of your expectation and ignore the calls to protest against the injustices in our world today and when we ignore the calls to show our love to our neighbours.

Let us be your prophets today as your prophets speak hope into being and let us imagine an alternative future. Help us to be prophetic in our thinking and in our actions.

Creator God, you have made colours to give the world beauty – not for humanity to discriminate against one another nor to create barriers between us, but to celebrate the diversity in your creation. Forgive us for being silent spectators to the division and discrimination in the name of colour, race and gender.

Creator God, diversity is your gift to this creation, weaving us together in harmony, as a symbol of your peace. Forgive us for not affirming unity in diversity, and upholding uniformity and homogenisation of identities.

Creator God, as much as we understand that all lives matter, help us to recognise that Black lives matter because oppression, exclusion, torture, and killings continue unabatedly on our brothers and sisters, which only demonstrates that Black lives don’t matter in our context today. Forgive us for trying to be neutral and for choosing to be undisturbed by the cries and voices of people shouting for justice for Black lives.

Creator God, we remember particularly the Windrush generation, some of whom have been denied justice. Forgive us for being insensitive to the needs of people around us, in particular to the cries of the Windrush generation.

Creator God, help us to open our minds and hearts so that we move out of the stereotypes that keep our imaginations in their clasp. Help us to respect people of all colours with consideration and dignity.

Creator God, grant us your vision so we can see goodness in all of your creation and drive away our prejudices. Fill us with your grace to accept and embrace Black, Asian, and ethnic minority communities with love only. 

Jesus Christ, son of God, born of a human mother, who reached across the ethnic boundaries between Samaritan, Romans and Jews; help us break down the barriers in our community, and help us to experience the Kingdom of God, where justice and peace flow like an ever-moving stream.

Jesus, son of Mary, enable us to see the reality of racism that is embedded in our church and society, and free us from unconscious bias so that we challenge and uproot it from ourselves, our churches, our society and our world.

Spirit of God, help us work towards bringing fullness of life and human dignity in our community.

Spirits of God, help us to break down the barriers, and open the path to walk across borders and bring a new unity of all peoples.

May the Breath of God come alive in the hearts of people today.

May the Breath of God nourish in us new life in Christ.

May the Breath of God guide us to be a witnessing and justice-seeking community.

May the Breath of God hold all peoples together to become a community of love and peace.

 

 

 

Jasmine Devadason

Learning and Development Officer

North West & Mann Region of the Methodist Church

 

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[1] James L. Mayes, Amos: A Commentary (London: SCM Press, 1969), p. 157.

[2] J. Alberto Soggin, Op. Cit, p. 143.

[3] The migration of the Philistines from the Aegean area (Captor-crete) and the Arameans from Qir (a Mesopotamian locale) had occurred early in the twelfth century, not long after Israel’s settlement in Palestine. James L. Mayes, Op. Cit, p. 157.

[4] Ibid, p.158