IJM | Wayfarer

So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.
Jeremiah 34:10-11 (NIV)

I found today’s chapter in the anthology of the ancient prophet Jeremiah’s messages particularly fascinating. It is a series of messages given during the very time that Jerusalem, the capital city of the ancient nation of Judah, was besieged by the armies of Babylon. Judah’s King Zedekiah had issued a proclamation that all Hebrew slaves (in other words, the people of Judah had enslaved their own people) should be emancipated. After initially abiding by King Z’s emancipation proclamation, the slave owners reversed course, rounded up their former slaves, and returned the slaves to their chains.

In his book exploring the nature of evil, M. Scott Peck describes evil people as “pathologically attached to the status quo of their personalities” while “unceasingly engaged in the effort to maintain the appearance of moral purity.” I thought of those descriptors this morning as I read about the Hebrew slave owners who initially choose to appear obedient and upright in following the King’s edict, but then quickly put their own slaves back in shackles and maintained the status quo of the evil of slavery. The Hebrew people, whose ancestors had been freed from slavery in Egypt, had in effect become their Egyptian masters. While maintaining the appearance of being “God’s people” they were unable to see that they had become the very evil from which their own people had been delivered.

This morning in the quiet I’ve been doing a bit of my own gut-check. Somehow I’m sensing that it’s too easy to wag my self-righteous, 21st century fingers at the ancient Hebrew slave owners. Where in my own life do I make effort to keep up appearances of goodness while simultaneously maintaining a destructive status quo in my behaviors and relationships? Ugh.

I may be able to look back and see that have made spiritual progress on this life journey, but I can still look inside, then look ahead, and see how far I have to go. And with that, my spirit whispers an ancient prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Note to my readers: As much I’d like to think that slavery has been outlawed and eradicated by our enlightened society, reading a few stories from groups such as International Justice Mission (an organization Wendy and I support) are a reminder that the evil of slavery addressed in Jeremiah’s ancient message is very much alive in the world we live in today. One practical way to make a tangible difference for good is to make a donation to IJM’s efforts or any one of many similar organizations. Peace.

Wendy's key lime cheesecake. — Wendy’s key lime cheesecake.

O Lord, the God of vengeance,
O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth!
Arise, O judge of the earth.
Give the proud what they deserve.
Psalm 94:1-2 (NLT)

International Justice Mission (IJM) is one of the groups Wendy and I regularly support financially. In fact, because Wendy has developed a bit of a reputation for her amazing cheesecake, she occasionally gets orders for them. She decided some time ago that we will eat the cost of making any cheesecake ordered and every cent of the money she charges people for her cheesecake goes directly to IJM who works around the globe to rescue victims of slavery, exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.

I couldn’t help but think of the work of IJM as I read Psalm 94 this morning. The psalms are all ancient song lyrics that express a wide breadth of human emotion. The lyrics of this one are a heart-felt calling out for God’s justice in a cruel and unjust world. When I hear about the horrors experienced by those IJM has delivered from bondage, it inspires to sing along with this ancient cry for vengeance and recompense.

At the same time, my thirty years of sojourn through God’s Message have taught me many things. One of the lessons learned is that I cannot forget the fact that as I call on God to rain down justice on evil-doers I am asking for judgment upon myself. Jesus used the metaphor of yeast when talking about wrong-doing. Anyone who’s made bread knows that you put in just a teeny-weeny pinch of yeast and it spreads throughout the dough, causing it to rise. In God’s economy, the person who has a pinch of wrongdoing in their life is as guilty as those who have a pound of it. We are all in bondage to uncontrollable appetites of one form or another.

There is something incongruent in my heart with this. I cry out for God to strike down those I see as evil doers while at the same time I cry out for God to have grace mercy with the evil that I do. It is a natural human emotion to desire justice for evil. It is an equally human trait to diminish, ignore and excuse the evil in me.

Jesus said to bless our enemies and pray for persecutors. Jesus Himself had nothing but kindness, love and forgiveness for corrupt and unjust tax collectors, the thugs-for-hire who beat Him, and the Roman soldiers who executed Him in horrific fashion. Jesus’ most vehement and judgmental tirades were exclusively aimed at the good, clean-cut, upstanding religious people… like me.

Today I am pondering cheesecake, charity, and chains. Wendy will continue to make cheesecake and we will continue to support IJM and the work of delivering victims of oppression. But, my personal attitude towards those who do such evil is challenged this morning. I believe they deserve justice, but they also need God. They need God as much, if not more than I do. The evil and wrongdoing in me is well concealed and relatively controlled, but it is still there. If I had been born in a different time and place in different circumstances I might just as easily have been the one enslaving others.