Toward a Politics of Justice

A Politics of Justice

Matthew 7:1-5

November 5, 2006

It is, in case you somehow missed it, the Sunday before election day. So, as we used to say in Chicago, remember to vote early and vote often!

I’m just kidding! Of course, in a political season, one has to be very careful about jokes, as John Kerry taught us all last week. When your clerk of session works for the county election board, election jokes are of questionable wisdom, for sure.

So, did you hear this oldie about Florida Democrats and Republicans? How can you tell the difference between the two? The Republicans can’t count, and the Democrats can’t read.

OK, moving right along.

Seriously, elections are serious business and it is important, as well as decent and orderly, for each of us to participate in the process and follow the leading of our hearts as we make decisions about candidates and issues.

It is more important to understand that the coming of the kingdom does not depend upon the results of any ballot question or election – God is not a Republican … or a Democrat. Likewise, elections are but a small part of our responsibility to the body politic and our responsibility, as people of faith, for building a politics of justice.

In campaign seasons we hear a lot of high-minded talk about significant public issues. Weighty words such as justice get tossed around quite a bit. But somehow, the discourse always seems to revolve more around “just us” than it does “justice.”

You know, “it’s just us married straight folks who merit the legal protection and social standing of marriage.” And “it’s just us affluent folks who deserve decent housing in places such as Northern Virginia.” And “it’s just us folks with health insurance who merit decent health care.” And “it’s just us Americans who get to wage preemptive war.”

When questions of justice are framed as decisions that may be contrary to the interests of “just us,” then our politics devolves into the sound and fury of swear and counter-swear seldom signifying a clear “yes” or “no.”

And what of the Biblical image of justice? Walter Brueggemann provocatively suggests that justice in scripture amounts to this: sorting out what belongs to whom and returning it. So, what of sorting out and returning?

If marriage belongs to those who long to commit their lives to one another, then the Biblical image of justice demands that we craft an institution to bless and sustain that commitment no matter the sexual orientation of the partners. If housing and health care belong to folks who are homeless and hungry, then the Biblical image of justice demands that we craft policies and institutions to house and to heal no matter the economic means of the hungry and homeless. If peace belongs to us all, then the Biblical image of justice demands that we seek peace and pursue it, no matter the perceived risk to national interests.

In the powerful words of The Confession of 1967, “The church, in its own life, is called to practice the forgiveness of enemies and to commend to the nations as practical politics the search for cooperation and peace. This search requires that the nations pursue fresh and responsible relations across every line of conflict, even at risk to national security, to reduce areas of strife and to broaden international understanding.”

When it comes to how we treat one another – whether in broadly public or intimately private matters – Jesus demands clarity. It is not enough to offer up eloquent promises sworn in the name of a grand theme or even in the name of God. Instead, Jesus demands a simple clarity of purpose and, as the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount makes clear, a clarity of action as well.

In other words, it does us no good to talk about the sanctity of marriage in public and to swear on the alter of family values to uphold the institution, while neglecting our own loved ones and damaging or destroying our own intimate relationships through our own faults and failures, our own deceits and deceptions, our own brokenness and sin. This is equally true for Republicans or Democrats, for conservatives or progressives, for straights and gays, for women and for men.

As the Confession of ’67 reminds us so clearly, “Anarchy in sexual relationships is a symptom of alienation from God, neighbors, and self.”

If we are not living into the reality of reconciliation, of overcoming that alienation and meaninglessness, then our relationships will break and remain broken – whether they be heterosexual relationships or same-sex relationships.

Even beyond the confusion of sexuality and the question of marriage – this is true of every human relationship, relationships between parent and child, relationships between friends, relationships between colleagues. If we are not living deeply compassionate lives, full of grace and mercy and open to God’s reconciling love, then we can preach family values all we want but still find ourselves leading lonely and broken lives shaped by broken and debased values.

In the same way, it does no good to swear on the altar of nonviolence and publicly decry the present war, while, at the same time, treating colleagues or family members violently in word or maneuver or action.

As Gandhi famously said, “we must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Our “yes” must be “yes,” and our “no” must be “no” with an unmistakable constancy. If we want marriage to be compassionate and loving, we must be compassionate and loving. If we want a world of peace, we must live peacefully in every aspect of our own lives.

A politics of justice must be built on a foundation on such constancy of purpose and of action. Moreover, such a politics must be understood broadly as the ordering of our common life.

Politics is not the narrow pursuit of self interest nor the partisan pursuit of power. Politics cannot be reduced to elections. Instead, politics is the constant working out of our common interests and it demands of us a broad and generous spirit that seeks always the intersections of our deepest self interests.

That’s why Jesus can speak of reconciling with opponents, loving enemies, walking second miles. For our deepest self interests are always common interests. The personal is, always already, political.

So come Tuesday, vote your deepest self interest as it is shaped and informed by your deepest values; and come Wednesday, no matter the outcomes of the races you care about, live each moment out of those same deep values.

Together we can build a politics of justice by living lives that are about more than just us. Amen.

Rev. Dr. David Ensign